Developer: Rage Software Publisher: Infogrames Release: 09/9/99 Genre: Action Also on: PC, PlayStation
I remember Rage Software as a developer who was all style with no substance. There early days were filled with quality software. But when graphic cards hit the PC market their focus seemed to shift. Rage were quick to jump on any new piece of hardware with shallows games designed to show them off but not something you would want to play very long. Incoming was there day one of the Dreamcast launch and is unfortunately one of the lowest rated games in that lineup. Expendable does not fare much better. It succeeds at being a brainless action game but is longer than it should be and suffers for it.
In the distant future Earth has been conquered by an unnamed alien race. In order to free humanity scientists begin the Millennium Soldier project, cloning two super humans to face the aliens. As an added bonus, since these soldiers are clones they can send a near endless parade of them in succession, hence the title Expendable. There you have the plot but it is not important.
There are around twelve weapons and you can hold five to switch at any time along with three kinds of grenades. Most of the genre standards are present in some form or another like a spread shot, laser, and homing missiles. Some are not as common like the phantasm and particle accelerator. Others drop seemingly every few seconds. Even though ammo is a resource for each weapon outside of the default it is rarely a problem. Weapon drops are frequent to the point you will rarely every use the standard pulse cannon. Collecting the same weapon twice powers it up and there are a few side weapons like orbits that are like Gradius options and a laser sight. They certainly did their homework and this aspect of the game s solid.
Expendable is an old school arcade shooter in 3d where the action rarely stops. If you are an adrenaline junkie the game will satisfy that urge within moments. There is rarely a moment when something is not blowing up in a gratuitous shower of explosions. Enemies explode in a shower of gore, the environments are destructible, and there are convenient barrels that cause even more explosions, hell even the hostages can be killed if you are in to that. In pretty much every level the goal is to reach the exit and fight a boss like the classics. Every so often you might need a pass key to open a door or destroy the environment to open a gate. But these are obvious and hardly slow the pace. They know why you are here. The problem is holding your attention.
Expendable was released at the dawn of the twin stick shooter. Unfortunately the Dreamcast controller only has one analog stick. As a result you cannot move in one direction while firing in another. To compensate you can strafe by holding a shoulder button. It works but is less than ideal in this particular game. Expendable has the pacing of Smash T.V. at times and it is all but impossible to avoid cheap hits. The lack of a targeting laser except on certain weapons makes aiming without strafing tough. This applies to the Dreamcast version. The PlayStation edition has its own problems. With two analog sticks it could have been the ideal version control wise. Instead the game uses the same setup but with tank controls. For the life of me I cannot fathom why. turning is slow which is the kiss of death in an action game.
While the controls are not perfect they are the least of Expendable’s problems. Despite its almost non-stop action the game is boring. The problem is repetition. At their core action games are repetitive as you mow down wave after wave of enemies. Expendable is too long for its own good and it becomes tedious long before its conclusion for a variety of reasons. In Expendable you fight mostly the same idiot enemies over the course of twenty one levels. The setting changes to new planets every few levels but they are largely the same. In addition they become more resilient which slows the pace. The level objectives try to add spice but are forgettable as you will complete them by playing normally anyway. I will not fault the developers for trying to give you your money’s worth. But with half the levels Expendable would be stronger.
In Closing
As an homage to classic action games of old Expendable kind of succeeds. But those games understood pacing and knew how to be concise. The pieces are there for a solid action game but they do not gel together in the end. With better controls and more focus they could have something. As it is Expendable feels like a mid-90s game that has arrived years late to a party that is already over.
