Previews

Hands-on with Extraction: Project Outbreak for iPhone and iPad

Breaking out the big guns

Hands-on with Extraction: Project Outbreak for iPhone and iPad

“It’s a little like Cannon Fodder, Syndicate, and Diablo”.

Those were the first words I heard as I sat down to play Extraction: Project Outbreak, the debut game from Black Rock and Criterion alumini-formed studio Shortround.

It isn't, though. It’s actually a mixture of Cannon Fodder, Syndicate, and Diablo combined with the stylish executions of Splinter Cell: Conviction and the eye-catching graphics of Anomaly Warzone Earth.

In other words, it’s a perfect cocktail of influences.

The classy gameplay combined with the slick touchscreen-optimised controls left me optimistic that both ShortRound and Chillingo may well be onto a hit.

Get down on it

There’s a plot about a lone operative behind enemy lines, but I’d be lying if I said that was the main attraction of the game.

Viewed from a top-down perspective, your character is given a range of predetermined objectives and placed in procedurally generated levels set across three different locales – Favela, Swamp, and Prison.

As you can see in the screenshots, the graphics look fantastic, with the level of detail on the models and terrain (such as the wooden shacks and boats of the swamp levels) up there with the best on iOS.

This high level of polish carries through to the attention spent on the controls. Rather than take the traditional action game route and use virtual joysticks, Shortround has instead employed a “one finger mechanic” to avoid obscuring the screen.

Tapping anywhere moves your character, while sweeping across enemies marks them out for your bullets. Impressively, you can do this marking before you even enter a room, allowing you to concentrate on moving while your man takes down the various enemies.

There’s also a ‘skill shot’ mechanic that lets you pull off headshots if you sweep at just the right speed when marking foes out. For some weapons, such as the Desert Eagle, this window is quite large, while shotguns require some very deft sweeping.

Uzi lover

Along with the wide variety of skill-tree-esque upgradable weaponry drawn from real life (SPAS-12, Uzi, and so on), you also have access to a selection of support weapons that can help turn the battle in your favour.

The best of a strong bunch (the close support helicopter barrage ranking second) is the remote drone. Dropped on the battlefield by dragging onto the screen, this robot can then have a route drawn out by touching and dragging, allowing you to sneak past as the enemy gets bogged down fighting the rampaging machine.

Even without the entertaining robot, though, Extraction is definitely a game that action-strategy fans should keep an eye on. It’s expected to launch on iPhone and iPad in mid-November.

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Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).