Extinction

What could be more fun than dismembering huge hulking monsters, leading up to a decapitation? Extinction is an offering from Iron Galaxy Studios (perhaps best known for their work on the later seasons of Killer Instinct) which is set in a fantasy world where beasts that look like ogres, gargoyles, and orcs run amok, putting the human race on the endangered list. Yep, that's right, it's us and not the monsters heading for extinction. Should Extinction be allowed to go the way of the dodo, or is this one to stand the test of time?

In the game you take control of Avil, one of the last Sentinels, a soldier trained to battle the hordes of monsters known as the Ravenii. Although the Ravenii sound a bit like an Italian footballer, they are actually huge hulking ogres who trounce the city along with small orc-like creatures known as Jackals. The smaller monsters are there solely to terrorise the citizens of the kingdom, who stand around waiting to be killed or saved, and if too many die and too much of the city is destroyed, the mission is over. This is the basic premise of the game: save the kingdom and the citizens while killing the jackals to build up your kill strike ability to wipe an ogre from the face of the planet.

You parkour through the city, running along walls and gliding over the map, and by using a whip you can launch yourself to get to your targets too. Once you come face-to-face - well, more foot-to face considering they're over a 150ft tall - you must dismember the Ravenii to make them fall to the ground so you can decapitate them. If you don't do this quick enough, the limbs will grow back and they'll be off on their rampage again. The further you get into the game, the more the enemies and their minions evolve and the harder they get.

The ogres come with a variety of different weapons, armour, and skills while the Jackals change colours and at some point grow wings. The maps feel quite open, but in reality they're all enclosed within cliffs, so it's more like an arena where you take on the monsters in a brutal fight. The combat is fast-paced, and while there are a number of ways to press the square button to produce different moves, it all feels a little bit like button mashing until the monster is dead. The one difference is the 'rune strike', which on PS4 requires you to hold the L2 button and release it when the target goes red. This is predominantly for when you have to hack off the limbs of the ogres, with time slowing down like a Zack Snyder film for dramatic effect.

The team behind the game seems to have been inspired to make a title in the ilk of Shadow of the Colossus, but with more emphasis on the fast-paced action. The world looks a little bit like something out of Assassin's Creed, but a bit more cartoony - a rich and beautiful environment that can be completely destroyed. Don't expect any of the gritty greyness we've come to know from Team Ico's classic, then.

The combat animation looks pretty fluid and the whole game runs quite smoothly, but the only thing that lets it down is the simplicity of it, just feeling like a hack and slash, pressing the square button over and over again. It's repetitive, and it feels like there's not too much in it to keep you hooked long-term, even if the action of the game is fun enough to enjoy. One thing we did like is that some levels come with a generator function that creates a random task and map on which to play, but this wasn't frequent enough.

There are a variety of different game modes, with the main emphasis being on Campaign. By going through the missions, you can earn points to upgrade the skills of Avil, making the creatures easier to finish off. Other than that, there's also a daily challenge, a multiplayer game where you can compete to get the highest score, and most fun of all: Extinction mode. In this part of the game you face wave upon wave of monsters until you die with no respawn.

There's a story behind the campaign, but it wasn't exactly the most compelling part of the game. There was no real development of the characters and most of the civilians seemed too samey with similar animations and voices. On top of that, we didn't really care when they died, other than the fact it just stopped the mission if too many were slaughtered. Each of the missions had main quests, such as kill four Ravenii, and sub-missions, like a time limit and don't allow x amount of civilians to die, all of which let you gain stars which in turn puts you on the way to that platinum trophy if you collect them all.

The voice acting was decent, but it felt like there could have been a larger variety of phrases recorded, with the characters quite often saying the same thing straight after it was just said. Other than that the audio side of things was acceptable, and we think this is probably the best metaphor for the game: it's okay, nothing special, but quite fun all the same. The music tried to be epic, but in the end didn't really add too much to the feel of the game.

So, to sum up, it's quite a fun title, but just a little bit hollow. You'll have a fair few hours of entertainment, but maybe just wait until the game goes on sale before picking it up. The graphics and the action are fun, but the lack of a decent story and characterisation makes it feel lacking. Combined with the simplicity of the game, it's easy to pick up and play, but if you're looking for something that has a little more depth, then maybe look elsewhere.