Amputation in video games: Dead Space Extraction

Dead Space is a video game, entirely dedicated to cutting off limbs.
This is one the best game series in recent years.

I didn’t see the gem at once, though. This game was on my computer some weeks after the release, however, after playing for about 20 minutes and uninstalled it. I expected a first, not third person shooter. It was too dark and the weapons… personally I prefer nowadays conventional guns, not those futuristic stuff. I also hate those save spots. Why don’t they do save at any time no more?

About a year later, when I got my first Xbox-360 and still had to create library of games, a colleague gave me a Dead Space dvd for the console. He was so enthusiastic about the game, that I decided to give it a second chance.

And it hit me. Oh, yeah. The game turned to be awesome in both the graphics, the gameplay, the plot, the novelty, the suspense, the atmosphere… all of it!
The action is almost always deliberate slicing off limbs from monsters. This slows them down. Moreover, many aliens cannot be killed unless dissected.
And that justifies the choice of weapons: you just can’t amputate limbs with conventional guns. Dead Space offers a wide variety of cutters and saws to satisfy the most exquisite taste.
When the second instalment came out, the first one remained one of the best games I played on the Xbox-360 (RIP, damn you Microsoft and your RROD/RDOD). I got Dead Space 2 for PS3 and it was as intense an experience as the first game.

Not long ago, PS3 finally saw a release of Dead Space: Extraction, which is a prequel to first two games. The game remained a Wii exclusive for a long time, until the other two consoles finally got motion controllers.
Extraction differs from the rest of the games – it is a first-person…rail shooter. Rail shooter means you don’t really control the character, only his gun. It’s like watching a movie where you have to shoot people with your remote. Such games were popular back in the early nineties, made mainly by American Laser Games. And that rail thing sucks sometimes, because you really want to look wherever you want and for the time you want. When you like a game, you wish to explore every bit of it. That’s not really possible when you don’t control the camera.
Anyway, Dead Space: Extraction features something unseen in the franchise before. Self-amputation. You have to sacrifice character’s arm to escape a space monster.

This scene is intense. It’s not really clear what to do, especially because you need to use the melee attack which is quite useless throughout the rest of the game.
With the arm gone, the character manages to run around for some time, shooting his way to salvation.
arm amputation video game
This part alone is worth playing through the rest of the game.
Dead Space: Extraction throws some more light on the story from another angle. If you enjoyed the 1 and 2, you’ll probably enjoy this one.