What Killed the dinosaurs?
Capcom has been a tear recently with some terrific video game releases like Resident Evil Village, Street Fighter 6 and the phenomenal Monster Hunter Rise and its expansion (reviewed by ‘yours truly’ for ZTGD.com). When Exoprimal was announced I was immediately intrigued with the premise and had hope (like everyone else) that it was a part of the Dino Crisis series in some way. While I can confirm it has absolutely nothing to do with Dino Crisis, I also can’t really tell you what it’s about because Exoprimal is probably Capcom at its cheesiest as far as the story goes.
In Exoprimal players will create their own avatar with an extremely limited and dated selection of options to choose from. Seriously, I am almost certain these are the exact same hair styles that were offered in Capcom games from years ago. With customization complete players are thrown into a patrol squad known as the Hammerheads. Strap in because this is where it gets crazy; in Exoprimal in the year 2040 vortexes started appearing around the earth. What poured out of these portals were dinosaurs, some of them had been modified and known as “neosaurs”. This universe’s version of Stark Enterprises known as Aibius Corp develops exosuits to combat the Jurassic threat. But because humans like to do too much, Aibius also develops ‘Levatihan’ an A.I. program that is used to train exofighters and predict where the next vortex will open.
MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $39.99
If this sounds like a lot, well that’s because it is. Inevitably, the AI goes rogue (oh no) and starts picking exofighters up from the future and bringing them back to the past to train them in ‘wargames’ and its this wargame that is the main game mode in Exoprimal, but it will also deliver the story in the most convoluted way possible. If you weren’t aware Exoprimal is an online-only game, to its benefit the developers listened to players of the beta and now players can control if they want to play with a PvE (Player vs Environment) or PvP (Player vs Player) last mission. Each round sees players directed by a watcher to various objectives. These will always involve killing an overwhelming number of dinosaurs, and honestly this is where Exoprimal deserves its praise. It’s a beautiful game graphically and the fact that you will fight thousands of dinosaurs in various waves is impressive as I experienced no slowdown whatsoever on these parts.
The exosuits themselves come in a variety of flavors and types and are broken up into classes. These classes are the classic, Assault, Support and Tank roles that are prevalent in lots of games lately. Of course, there is a tank with a shield who is good for facing off against triceratops, there is a basic grunt who uses a machine gun and grenades, and of course healers who can fly above and rain down heals as well as destruction to enemies. Honestly, I love the suit selection and have my favorite in each category. Each one feels distinct and has their pluses and minuses; what’s brilliant though is players can switch to any suit mid match. Which allows you to fill in gaps and better acclimate to each challenge ahead.
Aside from killing lizards from the past there will also be objectives like capturing and holding points, escort missions and even missions that feel like ‘Overwatch’ while the objective is to escort a payload while fending off dinosaurs as well as the other team. For those that don’t want direct combat with the other team when you choose the PvE option just know that there are a few matches you will have to play at the outset that will only be PvP for story purposes. After that all those matches will be vs the other team but only in time, so you will be tasked with clearing each wave of dinosaurs faster than the opposing team; this is my preferred style of play, I don’t hate the PvP but just sitting back and ripping through some vicious dinos that just AI is kinda nice.
Exoprimal isn’t a bad game at all, it’s just one that is currently extremely one note. Not only that, but the experience also feels like it was made for a different time with its inclusion of loot boxes and a battle pass (it does cost $9.99). While everything in game can only be purchased with the in-game currency known as ‘bik-bucks’ it certainly feels like this was maybe a different type of game at one point with all the costumes, emblems and various other things that players will unlock along the way. The developers have a roadmap for at least three seasons of content which is great, but I don’t know if players will stick around that long. At launch there is only one mode which is the “dino survival’, yet after completing the story players are told they have unlocked the ‘Savage Gauntlet’ which it’s explained is basically a raid with some of the toughest dinosaurs. Sounds cool but when you get back to the main menu it’s locked because the mode isn’t out for another two weeks. So much about this game is questionable, from the backwards ass way the narrative is presented to just having one mode available at launch to the inclusion of a battle pass. I don’t get it one bit, but Exoprimal is on Game Pass and I encourage you to check it out because there is fun to be had, but your mileage will definitely vary on how much you have that’s for sure.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
