Extraction: Project Outbreak

Chillingo’s Extraction: Project Outbreak is a top-down shooter where you take control of a soldier who must deal with creatures born from failed experiments. If you’re thinking: “that sounds a lot like zombies”, you would be right.

Extraction impressed me immediately with its visuals. The top-down angle works well with this type of game as well as allowing you a moment to look at the graphics, which by any measurable standards, are impressive. The game takes you through a poor...  Read More

Chillingo’s Extraction: Project Outbreak is a top-down shooter where you take control of a soldier who must deal with creatures born from failed experiments. If you’re thinking: “that sounds a lot like zombies”, you would be right.

Extraction impressed me immediately with its visuals. The top-down angle works well with this type of game as well as allowing you a moment to look at the graphics, which by any measurable standards, are impressive. The game takes you through a poor village, a swamp, and finally a prison, each with its own aesthetic look. The game does a good job of changing locales right about the time you’re getting tired of seeing one.

The gameplay is really what will draw most people in. It is incredibly simple, and I’ll go so far as to say the entire game can be played with one finger (though I prefer alternating thumbs), but most impressively, it works. You tap the screen to move, and swipe your finger over enemies, both singular and in groups, to shoot them. The same can be said for swapping weapons and throwing grenades. I was surprised to see how simple the controls are, and to their credit, they work well.

The game contains the mix of mission types you would expect: your classic kill x number of creatures, find and rescue so-and-so, escort VIP from point A to point B. For those of you that absolutely abhor a mission type, there is a mission select screen, and it is possible to bypass certain missions.

What really helps to keep things interesting is the game’s upgrade system. You can upgrade your soldier’s armor, gun skill, etc. but most importantly, you can upgrade the guns themselves. You use credits gained from missions to upgrade a gun’s stats before being able to buy better guns.

You are given a main weapon and a side arm which you can eventually upgrade into things like access to missile drones and sentry guns. It’s a good incentive to continue through the story, because the story itself is . . . meh. After you complete a certain sector, (of which there are twenty in total) you’re given a cut-scene that helps to further the story, but in reality, there’s not too much going on.

Extraction: Project Outbreak is a game that knows exactly what it is. It is simple, fun, and can be played even if you’ve only got a few minutes (most missions can be completed in under five). The game even has a multiplayer component, but I found it little more than a minor bonus.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some zomb — err, failed experiments to kill.  Close

Posted February 20, 2012