Overall Rating

The end of summer sees the release of "Extermination," Sony's first attempt at publishing a survival horror title. Actually, according to Sony, this game's genre is known as panic action but when it comes down to it, who really cares? Most gamers out there only care whether the game is good or not.

You play Dennis Riley, a US Marine who has been sent to the south pole to investigate a top secret military base that has ceased communications for several days. Awaiting him is a welcoming party of the meanest type: an army of mutant freaks, ripped directly out of the pages of "Resident Evil" and "Silent Hill."

On the surface, "Extermination" might look like an innovative survival horror title that uses real-time backgrounds (which technically, would also classify it as a third-person shooter). But a closer inspection reveals that this game presents nothing new and even suffers the same problems that similar titles have had in the past. This includes highly sensitive control issues, and dodgy camera problems -- a survival horror constant.

"Extermination" also doesn't deliver much in the way of replay value. Throughout the game, dog tags can be found, which would lead the average gamer to believe that a complete set of tags would unlock some sort of surprise. But this is not the case. Completing the game with one or all 15 tags won't win you anything. All you get the second time around are most of your weapons plus some extra ammo.

Graphically, you get a mixed bag. While Dennis and his foes are well modeled, it's hard to get grossed out by the poorly designed, polygonal corpses that litter the game. Moreover, the environments, though detailed, contribute to the game's many glitches

The same goes for the sound. The music is unimpressive and adds tension at the wrong moments. The voice acting is hardly remarkable, looking to pay homage to the infamous voice work of the "Resident Evil" series.

Survival horror veterans will be drawn to "Extermination" right up to the very end, but casual gamers might find this title hard to swallow because of its inconsistent presentation, low replay value and mediocre story.


Extermination
Platform: PS2
Developer: Deep Space
Publisher: SCEA
ESRB Rating: Mature +17

Ratings
Graphics: 3
Sound: 3
Playability: 2
Gameplay: 2
Overall: 2