Exoprimal

Exoprimal, Capcom's foray into the world of PvPvE, leans on what I like to call the Pacific Rim effect. The 2013 movie about giant robots fighting Godzilla-like monsters was never going to send us into an existential crisis, but it was going to provide perfectly insane action that has you feeling like you're back in your childhood bedroom, mashing plastic figures together.

When I first stepped into Exoprimal, this is all I had anticipated, really. It has some sweet mechs, an interesting premise, and the promise of exciting action. As we'll see throughout this review, Exoprimal does hit the mark in more than a few ways, but there are also some problems rooted in its core that have persisted throughout my play sessions with it.

First, though, a quick note before we get started. Exoprimal's servers officially launched on the 14th of July. This is when everyone got access, including us, and while I've spent as much time as possible in the game, and have played it before in preview builds, I have not yet encountered all that it has to offer. Consider this a preliminary review, if you will, one that shall be updated in time should my opinions on the game change. However, with the time I've spent so far, I doubt I will have a sudden epiphany about this game.

At a surface level, the premise of Exoprimal is simple. You are an Exofighter, a pilot of any of the game's ten Exosuits, and you are tasked with killing dinosaurs for the scientific research of an AI known as Leviathan. You are not a willing participant in Leviathan's wargames, however, and have been dragged to them alongside thousands of other Exofighters from other dimensions. This is just the tip of the surprisingly deep iceberg that is Exoprimal's story. It's quite wacky in its setup, but we can forgive that considering the premise. With a larger than life cast of characters, and a plot that feels ripped straight out of a B-list action movie (in the best way possible) I did find myself hooked to see what would happen next to our rag-tag crew in our quest to discover the mysteries behind Bikitoa Island, the dinosaurs, and Leviathan.

To earn your cutscenes and progress the story, you have to dive into Dino Survial, which is effectively the only thing to do in Exoprimal. This boils down to you and four other teammates shooting down hordes of dinosaurs, combined with the occasional big boss before you face off against the enemy team (or don't, if you pick the PvE only option) in a chaotic final dash to win the wargame. As I said before, the mechs you choose from are a visual treat, and each come with their own distinct abilities and playstyles. Deadeye, for example, is your typical soldier mech, with its assault rifle and grenade launcher, whereas Barrage deals great AoE damage with his explosives. Even in the three brackets for the mechs (Damage, Tank, and Support), you can find a great variety in the playstyles. Some like to get up close and personal, while others can drift forever in the sky.

Fun and flashy effects follow everything you do in Exoprimal, and they all look great in the game. From the basic dinosaurs brought in to the deadlier Neosaurs you'll find later, the enemy designs are almost as outstanding as the mechs themselves, and even if the maps do often feel like you're just running down the same corridors from a gameplay perspective, they each have their own immersive and impressive visuals.

Where does it all fall apart, then? Well, unfortunately, at least for me, Exoprimal's core gameplay loop just doesn't live up to how exciting its premise makes it seem. There are a couple caveats to this. The final stretch of gameplay, where your team faces off against another, can be fun in a chaotic way, and fighting bosses later on in the game is fun, too. But, when it comes to what you'll be spending most of your time doing, which is shooting hordes upon hordes of dinosaurs, Exoprimal can feel bland. You'll often end up just sitting there, mashing away with your gun or sword and watching numbers fly up in the air above the swaths of raptors running at you. Bullets feel like paper and nothing really has significant impact. Unlike other horde shooters that manage to make fighting hundreds of enemies feel threatening and exciting, Exoprimal's PvE often feels like busywork, where you just have to do it in order to get to one of the more interesting parts.

Matches also feel incredibly similar. You run from one place to another, kill a certain number of dinosaurs, then rinse and repeat around five times before gunning towards the final objective. Even then, the final objective can sometimes just be to kill more dinosaurs. When Dino Survival is the only thing to do, and the way to continue the story, it can become incredibly disheartening knowing I have to go back to that often lifeless multiplayer experience. It fails to grab you in the way that the kings of live-service do. As well, it seems there's some balancing issues in the game, as should you fall behind at any point, it is incredibly hard to make a comeback. You're always reminded that you're falling behind the enemy team, but rarely does the game give you any chance to make up lost time or pull back an advantage. Even when a supposed advantage is dropped your way in the form of a Dominator, which transforms you into a massive dinosaur, that same device will then be given to the enemy team. While I get not wanting to punish players for being ahead, on the losing side this means that 20-minute matches feel like they're already decided from the first few.

Capcom has had an incredible hot streak in 2023 so far, but it appears this is where that draws to a close. Exoprimal is by no means a terrible game, but it just doesn't reach the heights that you'd expect when you hear about its premise. Its a mixed bag, but if you are looking for a new multiplayer experience and can withstand the Dino Survival mode, perhaps it's the game for you.