Serving as a prequel to the original Dead Space, Extraction begins when a group of miners are extracting a mysterious artifact from a human colony in the planet Aegis VII. If on an arcade environment characters and plot fall victims to the overwhelming importance of scoring and shooting ridiculous waves of enemies, at home players can take their time, sit back and enjoy the plot underlying all the bullets that are flying. The main point where it becomes clear the game has gained in quality and value due to its migration is the emphasis on story. While some on-rails titles embraced their simplistic nature, Extraction tries to take advantage of the environment where it is meant to be played, without leaving behind the genre’s most important characteristics. The core component that makes Dead Space: Extraction rise above the competition is its acknowledgement that it is a game made to be played at home.

And of all good on-rails shooters that hit the Nintendo Wii, Dead Space: Extraction easily ranks as the very best one. With Nintendo’s decision to create a controller designed around a pointer (which perfectly replicated the gun-in-hand feel on-rails shooters are centered on), and their system’s lesser hardware power, the Wii became the ideal ground for the transition of the genre from malls and arcade palaces to homes. Whether it is the fact those games thrive when played through short bursts of time or due to how much more engaging it is to hold a plastic gun and physically aim at the enemies rather than just move some sticks and press some buttons, arcades and their auxiliary features have always been a perfect environment for those titles, which were always seen by most as a mindless pastime. On-rails shooters have always been considered as more of an arcade experience than a domestic one.

Extraction is the perfect example of the benefits a console environment can bring to a genre mostly dedicated to arcades

Dead space extraction review