|
EXTERMINATION (PS2)
Homepage
Screenshots
Here, you are the endangered species
By JAMES ANTHONY
Don't know about you guys, but maggots give me the creeps. It's not a
personal thing, they may be nice creatures, but finding them feeding on
something dead in the garden usually requires gloves, dark glasses and
a few chunks of nitroglycerine.
Imagine the horror then, when a rescue mission to the maggot-free Antarctic
brings me face to face with not itsy bitsy slimy maggots, but metre-long
beasts that scuttle about and spew green excreta on you.
It's only a bit
of mess, you say. Well, not really.
The green stuff
infects you with a mutation bug and you end up looking like a possum that's
been hit by a truck and run over a couple of dozen times.
How do we know this? Well, we've discovered the wet and weeping remains
of a couple of security guards and researchers within a secret Antarctic
base that is the centre of a distress call.
The buildings look as they have been the scenes of major battles and there
are fires burning all over. In fact, they look strangely similar to scenes
from John Carpenter's cult classic, The Thing.
Anyway, back to the maggots. Actually, we've found out the scientific
name for them is "Hydra" and they are deadly. They have also
infested the icy military outpost and are damned hard to kill. It takes
at least five rounds of ammo to blow the little mothers away and, if you
get too close - urrrppp! - you're infected.
Fortunately, you can find detoxification packs, health kits and other
items on your exploration and they can help you survive, for a while longer,
anyway.
How did I end up in such a maggot-filled hell hole? Well, I plonked Extermination
into the PS2 and then began a journey into fear. And fear it is, despite
the 'feel good' weaponry, as the developers have designed a game that
will have you looking over your shoulder into some very dark areas.
Your rifle has a torch attached, so that helps a bit, but I've been exceedingly
jumpy for hours now - and I haven't played the game since yesterday. Your
M-16 look-a-like gun is actually modular and is very upgradable. This
means you can add new scopes for better range, new barrels for a higher
rate of fire and so on. There are about six interchangable sections of
the weapon and this modular 'Lego' take on the protagonist's weapon is
very cool and adds plenty of excitement.
Extermination is graphically excellent. The characters move well, look
good and - when you are examining the place from the self-deluding safety
of being behind a gun - the third-person view of the laser sight and torch
are terrific.
Both the luminous
torch beam and red line of the laser follow objects in 3D, giving an increased
depth to the environment. The areas you explore are made all the more
memorable by smaller details, like splashing water, translucent fires,
nicely detailed pieces of military equipment, computer terminals and realistically
dented fuel barrels.
The game moves at
a good clip, about 30fps, and while there is sometimes a bit of interlace
flicker here and a few jaggies there, the game is extremely cool to watch.
The illusion of being stranded in one of the most desolate environs on
Earth is very convincing - Kudos to Deep Space for doing a great job with
the eye candy.
The sound is an audiophile's heaven, with snow crunching underfoot, water
sploshing, weapons giving a nicely metallic echo within the sections you
move through and the monsters - I'll never forget that elephantine wailing...
The scripting is a bit cheesy and the cut scenes are, at times, far too
long. Sure, they look nice and cut-in fairly seamlessly, but when the
lead characters rabbit on about clichéd metaphors and lost loves
it interrupts the flow of play and there is no cut-off control for them.
Give me action, not drama!
Extermination does contain a minor glitch or two, but there does seem
to be a big one in reloading your blessed weapon. Don't know where I went
wrong, but in one saved game I could not reload my M-16. And, usually
this translates to a major health hazard, as the maggots (sorry, Hydra)
have grown in size and have become considerably nastier by this stage.
Some resemble inside-out dogs, while others look like purple and green
poached eggs that take some getting past.
The controls are very good, are nicely registered and make things like
changing from a walk to a creep very easy. The perspective is usually
spot on, but you can get into a bit of difficulty every now and then when
situated near corners as the view sometimes becomes blocked.
Despite these minor hassles it's hard not to be enthusiastic about this
game and it is very easy to lose a lot of time playing it. Many of the
developers from Deep Space who worked on Extermination are ex-Capcom programmers,
so if you liked the Resident Evil series, you should have a monster of
time playing this title.
The plot is pretty good, but the pacing of the action will be the aspect
that hooks most serious players. The modular weapon setup is very cool,
the puzzles aren't too hard and graphics rock the house. In all, Sony
Europe and Deep Space have rekindled my love affair with survival horror
games by providing a solid base, and building on it, for what is one of
the best Resident Evil clones ever.
If you liked the
movie The Thing, the game System Shock 2, or survival horror games
in general, then this PS2 action thriller could be just what the doctor
ordered.
ORIGINALITY 70%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 95%
PLAYABILITY 85%
ADDICTION 80%
ENJOYMENT 85%
|
