PixlBit

Let's start by saying this: Dead Space: Extraction is a pretty awesome science-fiction movie. It sets a fantastic mood, there's a mystery behind it (granted, it isn't as mysterious if you beat the original), and it has a compelling narrative. As a game, Extraction is also fun. It takes the on-rails shooter genre and makes some changes to it, both good and bad. The end result is a solid experience that lives up to EA's bold claims that it is a "guided first-person experience."

A prequel to last year's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title, Extraction takes place on the colony of Aegis VII as the shit hits the fan and a ragtag group of survivors tries to find their way to safety as they ward off tons of necromorphs, which are gross-looking aliens. The story is always present, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because it is actually engaging. Each character is developed well enough, the writing is good, and it captures the feel of a horror movie with some great cinematography. However, the story sequences often go on for too long and it hurts the flow of the gameplay.

Extraction does a very good job of throwing a wrench or two into your usual on-rails shooter. Each weapon has a drastically different alternate fire that is triggered by tilting the Wii Remote on its side. If you're skilled enough, you can pull off timed reloads, in which you have to time a button press in a bracketed area in the reload cursor to quickly fill up your gun with ammo. Almost every weapon and ability from Dead Space works its way into the game, as you use kinesis to pick up objects and stasis to slow down enemies. You also have to choose between paths from time to time, and there are puzzles that come your way. There isn't any variety to the puzzles, though; it is literally the same puzzle repeated with varying difficulties.

The controls feature the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination, and they are quite comfortable. Motion controls are also used in a few situations to great success. You vigorously shake the Wii Remote when an enemy grabs hold of you, or when you need to light up a dark environment with a glow worm. Both of those work really well and keep you entranced in the game, especially with the spooky green glow that comes off of the glow worm. Lastly, you execute a weak melee attack with a shake of the Nunchuk, which isn't used to great effect in gameplay.

Occasionally you'll enter "free look" sections, where you can pan around the screen and look for items. It's nice because usually the game is in constant motion and these give you a break. However, these sections are tightly timed, so you'll be rushing around trying to pick everything up. The constant motion isn't just frustrating there, as you'll be struggling to pick up items as fast as you can throughout the story. There are also a few spectacular boss battles that are sadly few and far between.

As you progress through the lengthy story mode, you come across lots of items. There are health, ammo, and weapon upgrades in every level. Additionally, there are audio and text logs. As you complete each level, you get a star ranking from one to five. When you get more stars, you get more stat bonuses and unlockables, such as six interesting motion comics and multiple challenge levels that bring wave after wave of enemies after you.

You can also plow through the campaign with a friend, although this is where one of the game's big problems surfaces. Your on-screen reticule is so large that it allows for little to no precision, and when you throw another one of those things on the screen, it gets very cramped. The graphics look great from far away, but the environments don't hold up as well as you get close and the characters look odd most of the time.

Regardless, it's a moody masterpiece, and even though the action isn't consistent, it can still get extremely intense. Anybody aching for a well told horror story with some fun gunplay should look no further than Dead Space: Extraction.