Extinction Squad

Silliness can extend the shelf life of most products, doubly so when it comes to games. As long as the humour's done well, a ridiculous concept can turn an average game into an enjoyable one.

That's definitely the case with Extinction Squad, the latest product off Adult Swim's conveyor belt of highly unique iOS gag spinners. It's a gross, often hilarious, addictive arcade game that really shouldn't be as enjoyable as it is.

It turns out that dodos aren't extinct, after all. Unfortunately, the stench this flightless bird gives off is so unpalatable to the other members of the animal kingdom, they start to kill themselves en masse by leaping off of tall structures.

Cue heroic scientist Chuck Darwin and his elite team of zoologists. You take control of two of Chuck's trampoline-carrying naturalist buddies, who station themselves at the base of the cliffs and buildings the animals are leaping off in order to bounce them to the relative safety of the back of Chuck's truck.

While lighter animals like birds only require a single bounce to fling them into the truck, heavier pandas and kangaroos need multiple springs before they've built up enough power to make it. You're constantly juggling animals, trying to keep them from exploding into meat and blood at your feet.

There are bombs to dodge, too: a single hit from one of them on your trampoline brings the game to an abrupt halt. As well as staying alive, you have challenges to fulfil. Once you've completed enough of these, you advance a level, gaining a wodge of coins in the process.

You can spend coins on a variety of upgrades for your trampoline, and if you can't be bothered earning them, you can pay a bit of real-life money for some, instead.

Extinction Squad is a blast from the second you start it up. Its simple gameplay quickly gets its hooks into you, and while there isn't a great deal of content beyond the base game, it's designed well enough, and strikes the balance between the ridiculous and the compulsive so sweetly, that it doesn't really matter.

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