During Sony’s recent State of Play, Capcom announced a new game, Exoprimal. While many fans thought they might finally be getting a spiritual successor to Dino Crisis, they were instead presented with something very different. Exoprimal will be a four player co-op shooter that appears to follow games like Left 4 Dead, something that many not necessarily work with its dinosaur theming.
One of the most important aspects of any game revolving around combat has to do with the threat and danger involved. The player has to feel powerful, but constantly be under pressure. This can be done in several ways, but one of the most common is to focus on numbers while limiting the number of weapons and ammo available. The player has to work as part of a team and make use of the resources available to them to succeed. This style works well in apocalyptic situations where the lack of resources makes sense and the player characters are vulnerable and unprepared for the situation they must face.
The issue Exoprimal faces is that the players take control of a group of soldiers in heavy mech suits. This gives them access to advanced technology and weapons that allow them to fight off hordes of dinosaurs. The gap in power between the player and the enemies is wide. In reality, dinosaurs would be unable to stand against even current-day military tech, so the game will likely need to rely on numbers or limit each player’s individual abilities to make the game challenging.
While filling the screen with more enemies can be exciting, it’s not necessarily the most interesting and engaging approach. Most media makes use of dinosaurs in a horror or horror-adjacent setting rather than as a direct opponent. This makes sense, as the majority of carnivorous dinosaurs are theorized to have focused more on ambush than direct attacks. Biologically, this would fit, as many modern carnivores don’t waste all their energy chasing prey. A good example of this is the Jurassic Park films where the dinosaurs often hide until the exact moment they can make an entrance.
Exoprimal doesn’t seem to be using the typical (or scientific) approach to dinosaurs, which appear to straight-up attack the player. However, there is an advantage in having the player control something as fantastical as a mech suit. If it is done well, it allows the battles to be visually spectacular. Combined with the mass number of dinosaurs, this could be interesting to see — but it needs to be done correctly to make the game work. The dinosaurs must react realistically and vary their method of attack. While zombies make sense as part of a horde as this is something that has been established in many different forms of media, dinosaurs are less of a fit and as such need to be more natural in their actions.
One of the biggest hurdles for the game, and one that has tripped up many popular titles using dinosaurs, is the escalation. Dinosaurs by themselves are a fixed concept in terms of size and power; it is difficult to advance them too much without taking away from reality. The more recent Jurassic Park movies have struggled with this, relying too much on DNA crafting and new creatures to surprise the audience and make the enemies more threatening.
Dino Crisis also had this problem, with later titles making the enemies more monstrous to increase the tension. This creates a narrative hole, forcing the game to focus more time on how this is happening can lead to frustrating plot holes that detract from player enjoyment. Still, while Exoprimal‘s genre may not make perfect sense for a dinosaur game, it has potential. Shooters like this are popular for a reason, and so long as the developers learn the lessons of past titles will creating something fresh and fun, there’s a chance Exoprimal will defy expectations.
About The Author