I don't think I'm going to be able to come up with any cool anecdotes or metaphors for this review, just straight up reviewing goodness. Expendable is one of those games you're going to pop into your DC when you feel like playing video games for about 5-10 minutes. It's in the same vein as Zombie Revenge and Dynamite Cop, only you're not fighting people, you're just shooting them. After those 5-10 you'll be able to write a pretty comprehensive opinion on the game, because it's really not like it's going to develop any real depth 3/4ths of the way through.
It is extremely reminiscent of Rage Software's previous offering, "Incoming". Both Incoming and Expendable are in contention for the coveted "Most Lens Flares in a Game" award. They look nice, but they get really bothersome when you're in an utterly dark world, like the one Expendable is set in.
Control is a huge issue. There seems to be no difference in that number of degrees that the analog stick will move you and the number of degrees the digital stick will move you, the analog stick just moves you faster. As a result, unless you've got some weaponry that does lots of area effect damage it's really hard to hit anything. If you want to see for yourself, just pick up the little laser sight scope and see exactly how hard it is to hit anything with a precision shot, much less a moving target.
On top of that, that camera keeps switching views, ostensibly to show you what's happening in the bacground, doors closing, bosses appearing, etc. It just makes it really hard to control for those areas of the game. The darkness of the world doesn't help matters either.
The powerups are kinda neat, I guess. Every item you can pick up has a lens flare embedded in it, so they only way you can really tell it from the bullets and enemies is that it doesn't move. The weapons I've found so far are a spread laser, a plasma grenade sort of thing, a rocket launcher, and a flame thrower. They all look relatively cool.
So all in all, definitely a rental, unless it's under $15. It's a nice showy game that you can get into for 10 minutes, but there are better games in that vein out there, unless of course you already have those and are just bored of them. You should be able to beat this game in the time span of a rental, and you won't be missing any real secrets or anything. Just another mediocre Dreamcast release, anyone else think that this is getting repetitive?
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