Unlike the original game, EA's prequel will present its unique style of space horror in a first-person perspective.
No one can accuse Electronic Arts of giving Wii gamers a shoddy port of their Dead Space franchise, because Dead Space Extraction is being built from the ground up exclusively for the Wii. And as an all new game, Dead Space Extraction will feature a new perspective on the franchise's space horror tenets: a first-person one.
EA has revealed that, unlike its predecessor, Dead Space Extraction will be an on-rails shooter. This actually isn't the first time a third-person survival-horror game has transitioned to a first-person perspective for the Wii audience. In 2007, Capcom followed up their immensely successful Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition port with the on-rails shooter Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.
But despite the change in genre, the developers have plenty that they want to accomplish. In an interview with IGN, executive producer Steve Papoutsis said that the team was working to retain "the core gameplay mechanics" from the original game, including "strategic dismemberment, weapon upgrades, stasis, telekinesis, alternate-fire modes, and more." Additionally, the game will include a new co-op mode, utilize the Wii's motion controls, and feature what Papoutsis described as a "guided and cinematic camera" that would help them enhance "tension and horror."
As a prequel, Dead Space Extraction will explore the events leading up to the first game, focusing specifically on a group of desperate space colonists, the freakish "necromorphs" that prey on them, and a mysterious heroine who may hold the key to survival. But despite a new story, new gameplay, and a new system, Dead Space Extraction is striving for the same violence and horror that marked the original. According to Papoutsis, "the team spends a lot of time trying to push the boundaries of what is acceptable in a mature game."
Dead Space Extraction is currently slated for a fall 2009 release.
EA ANNOUNCES DEAD SPACE EXTRACTION EXCLUSIVE FOR THE Wii
All-New Hero, Story and Characters Extend the Dead Space Universe
Guildford, UK; February 18, 2009 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today revealed Dead Space™ Extraction, an all-new chapter from the studio that delivered the award-winning action-horror Dead Space game. Built from the ground up and developed exclusively for the Wii™, Dead Space Extraction is a prequel that reveals the events leading up to Isaac Clarke's mission on the USG Ishimura in the original Dead Space game released in 2008. Dead Space Extraction will marry the innovative motion controls of the Wii Remote with a frenetic first person perspective to create a new action-packed horror experience.
Dead Space Extraction tells the story of a handful of space colonists desperately struggling to escape from a horrific infection on the Aegis VII mining colony deep in the furthest regions of space. The game introduces a new heroine to the fiction and as the crew fall victim to a mysterious contagion aboard the ship, it becomes clear that protecting her may be their only hope for survival. Dead Space Extraction introduces all new characters, weapons, enemies, puzzles and co-operative multiplayer gameplay.
"We could not be more excited to extend Dead Space into an experience exclusive to the Wii. Nintendo has a wonderful history in the horror genre and we are thrilled to build on that tradition with Dead Space Extraction," said Glen Schofield, VP and General Manager of EA Redwood Shores studio. "As we were developing Dead Space, we realized that there was so much of the story going untold. Dead Space Extraction tells that story with all of the intensity, blood and gore that fans would expect."
Dead Space Extraction is an EA Redwood Shores title and is scheduled to ship in Autumn 2009. This product has not yet rated by ESRB or PEGI.