Since the success of Capcom”s “Resident Evil” series, various imitations have been made by other manufacturers.
- Paul Wong
- Fast as fast can be, you”ll never catch me! Riley can”t run fast enough out of “Extermination.”<br><br>Courtesy of Sony
While few companies have succeeded in creating “survival horror” games, including Konami”s “Silent Hill,” most of “Resident Evil”s” competition has not matched the experience of Capcom”s classic series. This list includes the “Alone in the Dark” series, “Evil Dead” and now Sony”s “Extermination.”
Similar to other games of the genre, “Extermination” features a remote setting (Antarctica), grotesque creatures (this time it is biological mutants) and a hero who works for a task force (U.S. Special Forces RECON team “Red Light.”)
In the game, you play as Dennis Riley, a brash, young member of team “Red Light” on mission to prevent a biological disaster from occurring in Antarctica. Unfortunately the voice acting of Riley and the rest of the game”s characters are unmotivated and boring. This makes the game especially uninteresting as it feels like the plot is based around the second half of “Resident Evil: Code Veronica,” which also takes place on Antarctica with mutated creatures.
Unlike “Code: Veronica,” however, “Extermination”s” game environment is extremely weak. The settings in the game are very bland, mostly consisting of snow, lots of boxes and poorly animated fire.
To add to the horrifying visuals, the game features poorly contrived camera angles. The camera seems too close to the character at many times, making it difficult to navigate. Perhaps if Sony would have used pre-rendered backgrounds as seen in games such as “Resident Evil” and “Final Fantasy VII” the game would have looked more appealing.
To make things worse, the game”s soundtrack and already mentioned voice acting bring nothing extra to the table other than a good laugh.
While “Extermination” is far from being a good game, it does have some cool ideas. To make the game more action based, new movements unseen in “Resident Evil” have been added. Rather than moving at a snail”s pace, good old Dennis Riley runs, jumps and climbs with the greatest of ease.
Another cool aspect of the game revolves around Riley”s choice of weapon, the Special Purpose Rifle 4 (SPR4). Throughout the game you can customize this weapon with a grenade launcher, flamethrower, night vision and more. These customizations are easily accessible through the game”s well planned out option screens.
Finally, the game features an interesting save/activate feature involving battery packs. Throughout the game, gamers are required to find power charges for a battery pack. These charges allow you to open doors, access elevators, save your progress and more.
While this feature is interesting, it can become a frustration similar to the ink-ribbons that save game progress in “Resident Evil” games, for you cannot save your progress until you find the battery charges. But unlike “Resident Evil” games, the gameplay experience of “Extermination” will have you opting to turn off the game and leave it off.