Never played Dead Space, watched the animated movie or read the comics and you wanna know what's the deal but don't need a bunch of boring details? Groovy, here we go; In the future we mine planets for stuff. A colony on the surface preps a giganto chunk of the planet to be hauled off by a big spaceship. One very unlucky colony uncovers a huge space dildo that the space church folks think is a big deal. Someone farts and the thing begins to make people go space bananas while alien space boogers start taking over and turning everyone into alien space zombies that like to kill relentlessly for cheap thrills. The space boogers find their way to the big spaceship and the party continues there.
In the original 3rd person shooter for PC, 360 and PS3, you play as a dude who just wanted to visit his girlfriend that worked on the big spaceship serving space corndogs, but instead winds-up pissing himself trying to "strategically dismember" gobs of alien space zombies only to find out someone handed him the space shit end of the stick. Awesome game that gives Resident Evil a run for its money in the "scare you silly" department, and if you haven't played it yet, gather some household appliances, assemble a make-shift time machine, go back five minutes ago and pimp slap yourself. 
Dead Space Extraction for the Wii tells the story of what happened from the time the colonists find the huge space dildo by allowing you to relive the happy moments from the perspective of different characters who are ultimately going to die - nice. You can call it a rail shooter, they can call it a guided first person experience, but I call it a three hour interactive BBC movie, since DSE is really about the story and people with strange accents. Visceral Games did a swell job making DSE look the best it could using two Gamecubes duct-taped together, bringing us a superior space version of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles with extra bells and whistles. (Flame shield -ON!) Just watch the vid:
I personally prefer DSE to REU, not just because I dig everything with a space taste, not just because of the robust upgradeable weapon selection , not just because of the cool Wiimote interactivity like shaking it to activate your space glow stick or to cut off your hand to survive(best mini-game... EVER!), not just because Lexine is a space cutie, not just... oh wait, those ARE the reasons. The challenge mode, where you fend off waves of alien space zombies, is great fun for instant limb separating gratification and the inclusion of the Dead Space web comics adds a nice touch of class. And, DSE also helps set events leading up to Dead Space 2, which if you miss, I'll travel back to "right now" and pimp slap you myself. Space Cock over and OUT!
Grid: Sorry SC, but while DSE is indeed fun, especially playing co-op and snatching all the goodies as an eight-year-old cries in protest, I prefer the suffocating aloneness of the original. A foreboding sense of terror crawling through one's mind while surviving the chilling dread of isolation is exactly what the doctor ordered. When your fingertips go numb from fear, you will fall in love.
Skull Score
Dead Space Extraction Official Site
