If I had to explain it in simple terms, I’d call Second Extinction game the Jurassic Park video game we never really got. There’s something about avoiding and shooting at ravenous dinosaurs that just feels satisfying and super urgent. While rather repetitive, it still stands true to its purpose. How different will this game be after Early Access? Who knows? For now though, here’s what we think of it in its current state.

Second Extinction is co-op based first person shooter, putting you in the boots of one of many operatives in a pursuit to complete various missions. They’ll be completing these missions while dodging and dispatching of large groups of prehistoric creatures. Objectives are the standard fare of what you would expect from a co-op FPS title. Escort this item to location A, turn on power fuses in section B to open door C. Proceed to the next area, survive waves of enemies, etc. Rinse, repeat.

The playable characters are all rather generic FPS badasses. None of them really have any super interesting backgrounds or stories to behold, which is unfortunate. It feels as if they only really serve to give the character some context as to why they’re there. There’s nothing in the narrative to make me care about why I’m playing as these people. The voice acting is also questionable, some lines sounding really forced. It’s almost like they aren’t trying to stay in character.

Where the game shines is it’s intensity and in-game visuals. Dinosaurs are coming at you fast from all angles as soon as you’re in game for more than 20 seconds, and they are aggressive. Smaller foes are relatively more easy to kill but bite just as much as the bigger ones. The game is best played in co-op mode, as being incapacitated while playing alone pretty much provides no chance to revive. The enemies are very persistent and will continue to attack while you’re down. The game’s visuals are rather impressive, with satisfying motion blur and dynamic reflections. However, I never really had a chance to appreciate them as my machine wasn’t powerful enough for the game’s technical demand.

Even when I played at the lowest graphical setting, the game experiences frequent frame rate dips. This was especially the case during enemy spawns and texture loading. Second Extinction is still in Early Access and the game is expected to be patched upon full release next year on Steam and Xbox exclusively.

Second Extinction isn’t a bad game by any standard, it’s just something that we’ve all played before. The idea of teaming up with friends to take on waves upon waves of similarly powered enemies never fails. Unfortunately, there’s just other games that we can play that don’t give us the technical difficulties and unpolished finish of what’s on the table here. My advice is to wait for next year when the game officially launches. The folks at Systemic Reaction need it to be fully fleshed out to be a more enjoyable experience.

Early Access Score: 6 out of 10

Early Access Scores don’t represent the final score of the game, as things are subject to change. We will provide an official final score once the game launches. This score simply stands for the current experience.