Dead Space Extraction for Wii is the prequel to the Xbox 360's Dead Space. The game tells the story of how the Necromorph infection began and ends around the time Issac Asimov arrives at the Ishimura. As I demoed the game, I found that the team is not holding anything back in terms of spookiness, as this rail shooter brings us closer to finding what really happened.
Viscereal Studios Lead Designer Wright Bagwell explains to us that they wanted to make sure Extraction tied in with all the other Dead Space properties. If you are familiar with the series, you will be rewarded with some of the tie in's that happen throughout. He gave an example that certain actions the Extraction characters are doing will set up events for Issac. However, Bagwell also mentioned that none of the properties or following any timeline were needed to fully understand and enjoy Extraction.
The level I played through was about a third of the way through. When the scene opened up, I was pleasantly surprised to see us approaching and being attacked by the Ishimura in our ship. The attack was a similar fashion to Chapter 4, in the first Dead Space, where we had to save the ships hull by firing cannons at oncoming asteroids. The Ishimura was trying to keep us away for they know we do not know that things have gone wrong. After we made it on board, Bagwell explained to me that they wanted to control the camera angles to make for a scarier effect. If something jumps out at you, you can't run. If you run out of ammo, again, you can't run, yet there is a default weapon with unlimited ammo. They said it's pretty wimpy so you want to avoid that from happening. A few new weapons have been added including an arc welder that electrocutes your enemy and anyone that gets near him/her. A timed reload has been added as well. Steady hands will be needed for their side puzzles for opening doors, elevators etc. The one I tried looked like Bioshock's hacking device in which I had to point my cursor along a maze while avoiding laser beams. Just memorize their patterns with precision timing to make it through. Three new enemies have been added. The one that Bagwell could speak about was called The Flyer. He's, obvioulsy, a fast flying enemy that was created to induce panic. Nothing more was said about The Flyer or the other two characters, but it was also mentioned that new bosses with be introduced.
I asked Bagwell why Extraction was a Wii exclusive and he responded that they had always been fans of the Wii and how fun it would be to shoot and dismember enemies Wii style. The team felt that they would be able to do things that they normally wouldn't be able to do and actually provide "movie scares" by controlling the cameras, zooms and placement. I was also told that most of the team that built Dead Space 360, built Extraction so you will also see familiar environments, as well as soundtrack and sound effects.
I also brought up the fact that Mad World and Nintendo had come under some light by the National Institute on Media and Family and how they were upset at such a violent game on the Wii. I wanted Bagwells thought on if he thought they would run into the same controversy and are prepared for it. At this point he brought over PR who replied that even the first game was criticized in Asia, but that didn't stop them from standing behind their game. She mentioned the fact that Wii has the largest install base, so it can't be all children playing on it. Someone made the point to her that, as a parent, they wanted to have a console that their child could play in the day, then be something they could play at night without buying a separate console. There aren't many games out there which are like Extraction and they want to give the hardcore audience something to play on Wii.
Extraction will also be shown this week at E3 and we'll have the opportunity to check out the co-op mode. I honestly don't need to see the co-op mode. I thought the game was great, exciting and had an intriguing storyline to add to Dead Space for 360. Look for