REVIEW – Exoprimal has the merit of being a brand new franchise from an already successful publisher. It also boldly mixes robots, dinosaurs and sci-fi in a single game; its atypical and absurd cocktail has managed to pique our curiosity… but we have to admit that it’s still missing something we can enjoy. And above all, the passage of time.

Between Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter and Monster Hunter, Capcom is a publisher that can easily rest on its laurels. Despite this, the Osaka-based company continues to take risks with new licenses: think of the intriguing Pragmata, which is sure to arrive one day, or Exoprimal, which has just hit stores.

Yes, we counted, and it’s not the first time the studio has made dinosaurs its leitmotif: Cadillac & Dinosaurs in 1993, the famous Dino Crisis saga in 1998, the entire Monster Hunter franchise in 2000 and 2010, not to mention the appearance of dinosaurs in a game. Exoprimal therefore seems to indicate a kind of apotheosis of love for prehistoric creatures, with a completely exaggerated approach.

A totally WTF concept that is a lot of fun

Exoprimal is clearly a huge, typically Japanese extravaganza, and on paper there is plenty to get excited about because of the childlike love for the concept. It’s an ultra-porn TPS (external camera shooter) set in the future: you play as a soldier stranded on an island with his team, who must travel back in time to 2040 to fight thousands of dinosaurs. All in the name of a manipulative artificial intelligence.

First of all, players will have a choice of ten exoskeleton, ultra-badass armour suits with different weapons and abilities, and will have to team up with 4 other people in each game. In concrete terms, we’re talking about a game in which a team of semi-robots will take on a whole wave of velociraptors in a future megalopolis in a torrent of flames, bullets and blood. Even if it’s not very futuristic, you have to admit that it makes you want to put your brain down and let off steam with a controller in hand.

One game mode for all and everyone for one game mode

However, Exoprimal may not be the game you were expecting: its overall design is indeed surprising, especially if you thought you were just going to smash dinosaurs with your friends and follow a convenient storyline. There is a story, but it all revolves around a single game mode: Jurassic Survival. That’s it. One game mode, repeat.

You may have worked out that this isn’t much, but let’s try to explain: in Jurassic Survival, two teams of five play against each other. They don’t actually meet on the field, but they have the same goals, and the team that completes them first wins the game. You can then use the ghosts to see how your opponents are progressing in parallel.

The objectives aren’t very varied: most of the time you have to wipe out a set number of dinosaurs from the (impressive) hordes falling into your lap. 150 velociraptors, a carnotaurus and 9 pteranodons, for example. From time to time there is also zone protection. Finally, at the end of each game, if you’ve chosen the PvP option (players versus players), you’ll be pitted against the opposing team in a sort of death match. If you chose PvE (basically players vs computer), this death match does not take place.

In fact, it’s by far the biggest problem with Exoprimal that surprises you and makes your stomach hurt: there’s currently only one game mode, and you wonder why, oh why, why Capcom didn’t make more available by default. This seems almost unthinkable, especially for a game that’s being sold at almost full price. It’s simple: the first few hours of playtime are nothing short of excruciating: not in form, but in unabashed repetition, which will likely lead to acid fatigue.

A story with potential, except that…

You should know, however, that Jurassic Survival mode evolves slowly throughout the game. After a few hours, you’ll be introduced to new environments (yes, you have to stay on the same map for a LONG time), new dinosaurs, and even new objectives (like hauntings), but it’s all calculable with the fingers of one hand.

Overall, Exoprimal requires you to do the same thing over and over again, in the same environment, over and over and over and over again. And pretty much always against the same enemies. Unfortunately, it’s not as if the concept of the game allows you to take a breather and play one game after another, risking that the frenetic, non-stop action will border on overdose.

The only relief is in the narrative. To progress through the story, you simply need to play the required number of rounds (whether you win or lose), which unlocks the… loud dialogue. There’s a separate menu dedicated to writing, a menu that simply gives you a headache and doesn’t really help you immerse yourself.

A menu dedicated to history

In addition, the fact that we are rewarded with typical old-fashioned, simple lines of dialogue – 23 moving images to unravel – that are sometimes too damn long, is too meagre a reward in our eyes. It’s worth pointing out that the story itself is particularly complicated, a kind of gigantic muddle to be analysed and understood by force, despite some nice humorous moments. It could have been interesting if it hadn’t gone so much into sci-fi delirium, and if our hero hadn’t been mute (which causes some awkward moments in certain videos), and especially if he hadn’t gone through this rambling and outdated narrative system.

And even if there are bosses and unique stages (which take a long time to reach), the simple principle of playing a resolutely multiplayer mode will quickly become discouraging for most of us, believe me. For our part, we had to play through more than 55 games to the end (about twenty hours), the first half of which was pretty indigestible. Honestly, we probably would have preferred a more traditional linear campaign, with the occasional Jurassic Survival mode thrown in.

Gameplay, a successful and sometimes enjoyable feature

Exoprimal is, first and foremost, a pure action game, and Capcom is simply an undisputed expert in gameplay, so we should definitely talk about this aspect: yes, the gameplay of the title is pretty good. There are ten exoskeletons at the player’s disposal, some of which can be unlocked on the fly. Each exoskeleton has its own moves, weapons and special attributes and is divided into three categories: attack, defence and healing.

Based solely on online cooperation, the aim is to have complementary classes, and this is clearly the case: it’s entirely possible to choose a subtle strategy, and as explosive as the game is, it’s packed with tactics to optimise your team. However, it’s important that players don’t do what they want: at the very beginning, it was very difficult to get homogeneous teams, with everyone doing what they wanted and picking the exoskeletons of their choice.

So much so that we wonder whether it might not have been wiser to revise matchmaking to require a particular class to be somewhat balanced. In hindsight, as we met more experienced players during the game, this was not a problem at all… and all the better for it.

More weapons for more dinos

In terms of team play, Exoprimal works quite well. In terms of sheer execution, the enjoyment is raw and guilty: you’re content to shoot, blast, punch, blast, burn and snipe hundreds of dinosaurs at once in an apocalyptic storm of action. It’s borderline unreadable, but who cares, it’s one of the most explosively generous titles in recent memory.

While we would have loved to have more moves or weapons for our exoskeletons (there are three “modules” that can be assigned to them to upgrade certain areas, but that’s it) to avoid this damn repetition, Exoprimal does pretty well. Just remember to switch ‘characters’ regularly to take a breather every now and then.

Special mention should also be made of some really fascinating phases, those where a gigantic space-time rift causes a completely extravagant tidal wave of dinosaurs. It’s a pity that this happens too rarely… For in many cases, Exoprimal resembles a kind of overloaded, over-exuberant dinosaur music (it’s a quality, mind you), and we at JV like that.

Filled (like Kaaris), but liquid

Speaking of hundreds (thousands?) of dinosaurs at a time, a word about the technical side of things: far from being a technical slaughterhouse, Exoprimal is clean and above all fluid. The RE Engine (the same engine used in the latest Resident Evil, Devil May Cry 5 and even the remake of Ghost Trick: Ghost Detective!) once again proves its ironcladness, with virtually no slowdowns or bugs to be found on PS5. Hats off!

In addition, the design of the characters is very impressive, the skeletons look really good. As for the overall art direction, it takes us to a futuristic city with huge buildings, highways, airports and some piles of rubble, but it’s hard to fully appreciate these when you see the same three environments over and over again for dozens of hours. After a while you’re on the verge of overdose.

As for the soundtrack, we have to say that we are quite disappointed, as the music of the title is quite anecdotal, mostly effective electro-rock, but mostly in the background. At the same time, the structure of the game itself doesn’t really allow the OST to stand out (except for rare scenes), and this is all the more a shame as the theme music is the work of Casey Edwards, the man behind DMC5’s already cult anthems.

And let’s not forget the voice of the game’s artificial intelligence that guides you through the game: although it provides practical information such as the arrival of this or that dinosaur species or your progress in relation to your opponent’s team, its incessant introductory speech and monotone voice soon makes it hard to bear. You get used to it after a while, but still.

All in all, Exoprimal isn’t a bad game in terms of form: it’s just that it’s cruelly lacking in content at launch, and its structure does it a huge disservice. This is all the more outrageous given that Capcom announced a second game mode at the end of July, which should definitely have been included at launch. In the meantime, it is doubtful that players will stick with such a repetitive offering, even if future seasons that have already been confirmed promise a more open and varied experience. In any case, most people will undoubtedly leave the game in favour of more varied titles…

-BadSector-

Publisher: Capcom, Capcom U.S.A., Inc.

Developer: Capcom

Style: TPS

Release: July 24, 2023.