When the Wii was selling like hotcakes in the mid to late 2000s, there were plenty of attempts to shrink what developers were doing on more powerful consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3 down onto Nintendo’s revolutionary motion-controlled console. Repeated attempts to translate the most cutting-edge games of the generation to a console far less capable resulted in many forgotten ports. Wii versions of showcase games like the original Dead Rising and Call Of Duty 4 all saw huge drawbacks when they arrived on Wii, making them the least desirable way to experience them.
When EA announced that Dead Space was coming to the Wii 15 years ago, players expected another down-scaled direct translation of everything that made Visceral’s survival horror game an instant classic. Instead, co-developers EA Redwood Shores and Eurocom went in a wildly different direction that leveraged the Wii’s unique strengths while retaining the terrifying vibes the series was known for. Dead Space: Extraction is not only a fantastic prequel to Dead Space, it's also one of the Wii’s coolest exclusives.
Dead Space: Extraction is an on-rail shooter set months before the first game. Unlike its Xbox and PlayStation counterparts, Extraction never hands over control of its protagonists to the player. Instead, players are on a pre-determined path narrated by the story unfolding before them. Despite the shift to a first-person perspective, players are using the same mining tools used by Isaac Clarke in the first game. Players also use the kinesis ability from the main game to grab items like ammo and weapons in the distance.
The rail shooter genre was a natural fit for the Wii. Games like Link’s Crossbow Training and the underrated House Of The Dead: Overkill had proved the Wii was perfect for breathing new life into the old arcade genre. But Extraction stood out from the pack by emphasizing storytelling, world-building, and atmosphere.
After kicking off with one of the most clever fakeouts in gaming history, Extraction does the coolest thing any horror game can do: it takes its sweet time building tension. Players spend the first hour of the game as a colonial miner completing menial tasks in the Dead Space universe. Not only does Extraction’s opening level help contextualize the mining tools that become weapons in this universe (you’ll use the plasma cutter and kinesis as they were intended long before using them to cut up monsters), but they also paint a picture of what normalcy looks like in this universe before stuff hits the fan.
When things do go left, the horror is that much more effective. Extraction is less a survival horror game about conserving ammo and staying alive. Extraction is a narrative rollercoaster ride set in the Dead Space universe, complete with memorable set pieces and scares distinct from the rest of the series. The game follows five characters who experience the initial outbreak of necromorphs that Isaac stumbles on in the first game. Seeing these events play out from different perspectives was a compelling way to expand on the Dead Space lore.
Extraction is a fairly short experience, clocking in at just over six hours. But the game uses those six hours effectively. Its shooting mechanics are finely tuned: there are 10 weapons available and each is super fun to use. You’re still strategically shooting enemies' limbs to immobilize them, but combat feels that much more intense when you’re directly aiming weapons are monsters closing in in first person. There’s also tons of narrative variety. One minute you’re in the shoes of a detective, the next you’re playing a local colonial resident ignorant of the unspeakable horrors unfolding around them. Extraction is a fun light guns game that borrows elements from found-footage films like Cloverfield to sweep players up in a believable world under harrowing circumstances.
Extraction was eventually ported to PlayStation consoles in 2011 with PlayStation Move support. But today it stands as an underrated chapter in the Dead Space series. With the first game getting a remake on modern consoles last year, Extraction could make for a great follow-up. The light guns combat and immersive first-person storytelling would make for a great VR game in particular.
Dead Space: Extraction is one of the Wii’s standout games. At a time when most developers were recreating high-end titles on the Wii with mixed results, Extraction is a masterful example of how developers could smartly translate the best elements of traditional games into something wholly unique and memorable.
