Dead Space Extraction is the best lightgun style game I've ever bought.
It's also the only lightgun style game I've ever bought, but we won't dwell on that. While I was nervous at first to see how much I could enjoy such an on rails experience, I soon got sucked into the ride.
Positives:
-Great graphics, nice use of lighting to create atmosphere.
-I enjoyed seeing each character develop and being able to play as each one. Actual story in a game where I didn't really expect any.
-The gameplay isn't just shooting foes - you also have other tasks to complete, extras to pick up, and abilities to use that make the game more satisfying than how I pictured it; merely aiming and shooting. Extra elements like stasis and quicker reloads (if you get the timing right) keep things more interesting.
-Game difficulty is just about spot on.
Negatives:
-Took a fair while to get used to not being able to control movement.
-Most of the bits that felt like they were intended to be scary came off as a bit silly (this didn't bother me too much, as I don't really look for horror as a rule, and there will still a couple of moments that caught me).
After finishing the game, I'm not really sure what to think. On one hand, I found it a quite fulfilling experience - I got to try a new genre of gaming and it was a well polished, well paced affair. The style, while linear, allows the developers to pace things exactly as they want to, which I felt was a bit underused. There could have been a few more personal moments with characters, but this didn't bother me too much.
I wouldn't say that this has instantly converted me to lightgun games - I made sure I read enough reviews of this and picked it up for a low enough price to make sure I was fairly certain I'd consider it a purchase of reasonable value... and I am sure that there are many, many worse lightgun games out there. If you've never tried a lightgun game, and are curious, this is probably a quite sensible place to start.
3 comments:
Have you tried Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles? I quite enjoyed it, and comparatively found the jerking around of the camera in Dead Space: Extraction to be maddening.
Rambo: Yes, this gave some multiple paths, but it still felt a little restrictive at times.
The pacing thing applies to linear games in general, I think, and it has been an argument of mine for some time that linearity is often good as it allows us to develop and pace the story in a way that can end up being much more interesting.
As for the "first" thing, I thought it would be amusing to start each review in a similar way. Don't know if I can keep finding things that are firsts for me, though!
Jezebeau: I have not tried it, but it is definitely on my list of games to get. The camera jerking around was a little offputting for me as well initially, but I soon got used to it. It will be interesting to see how RE: The Umbrella Chronicles compares.
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