It's unfortunate, then, that the game itself plays way too much like what's come before it. Yes,
Extermination has its innovations, but for the most part the game is strictly standard survival horror fare. Which is a shame, because under the bad camera angles and the weak storyline you can feel a vibrant soul that tried to push its way out. It's a shame that we only get a glimpse of that soul.
You play the part of Dennis Riley, a member of a special group of the Marines called 'Team Red Light'. The game starts and you find yourself in a plane to Antarctica, where something Obviously Bad happened. Of course, Even Worse Things Occur, and the next thing you know your plane goes down and everyone has to parachute out.
Yes, the start of the storyline is pretty weak, and to be honest it never gets much better. You'll find out soon enough in the game--the first time you look at the status screen, for example--that there's an infection going around. This, of course, is central to the plot of the game, and as you explore the Antarctic base you'll be trying to figure out just what went wrong here and why everyone seems to be dying.
The game plays like a more action-oriented survival horror title. There are the obligatory creepy-crawlies that jump out at you, but for the most part the character has much more free reign than games of that genre. For one, the world itself is fully 3D, letting you run around and move the camera as you manuever through the environments. Of course, the camera causes its own share of consternation, but I prefer that to the static screens of Resident Evil.
More action-like is the ability to aim your gun both in first-person and in third-person mode. Since the gun is your basic weapon throughout the game, use of this ability is necessary if you want to succeed. Picking off enemies is actually quite a bit of fun, since your starting sight is nice and the later scope is nicer. Unfortunately you can't move while you have your weapon aimed, which strikes me as amazingly stupid.
And so the game goes. You'll be running around, picking up health items and keycards and whatnot, reading journal entries and examining your maps. You'll be opening doors, solving simple puzzles, and blowing the hell out of a number of infected beasties. And chances are good that you're going to get infected yourself.
Here is where the game departs a bit from the standard. Infection is bad. It will kill you if you let it sit too long; as time passes, the infection becomes more severe, you lose more health, until eventually you're completely taken over by the infection and will die very soon. You can stave off simple infection with booster shots, but the only way to get rid of a serious case is with beds scattered around the game that you have to use vaccine in. Of course, said vaccine is rare, so you want to be careful when you use it.
The game's still pretty standard otherwise, and the ability to replenish your ammo and battery packs (used for both puzzles and saving the game) at particular locations will keep you from having to be overly miserly with your ammo. The game's pretty short, to be honest, and a hard day's play will have you getting through it. The question is if you'll want to play through it again.
