Extra-Spatials3D

If I was to ask you for a good FPS (first person shooter), the chances are you’d say Halo, Doom or Wolfenstein.

Alright, I hedged my bets a bit there, but you get the picture. However if you like atmospheric games of this genre then I’d suggest for you to give Extra-Spatials3D a go, as it’s really quite good.

You begin the game with a rather epic storyline which basically is as follows – some big bang appeared in space and some Daivas (spiritual aliens) appeared through it. Initially they start losing the war between the humans and themselves so they plan to change their destiny by any means possible.

By chance one of the most fearsome soldiers, Commander Meemo of the UN, along with his team are sent to Morocco to investigate some strange goings on. Unknown to the Commander, this investigation will actually prove to be more crucial to the survival of mankind than could have possibly been imagined.

You play the part of Commander Meemo in this FPS and are charged with exploring the various mazelike levels in an attempt to both eliminate any enemy you come across as well as uncover any objects along the way. In this very well detailed 3D game you do get totally immersed with the very graphically enhanced corridors and walls. The objects you come across, such as ammo, health packs, oil lamps and embryo’s (you’ll understand the reasons behind these more if you play), are a little less graphically advanced, but at least they are quite visible to see from a distance.

You’re armed with a pretty reasonable gun which proves more than a decent match against any enemy you find lurking in the halls and corners of the room. The AI of this game proves pretty good, with you having to move quite quickly to duck being in the firing line or in close combat with the alien beings.

The controls are pretty standard, however I realised that there’s no strafe controls, meaning you can only move forward or backwards and turn left and right rather than facing around the corner whilst running sideways. This for me is a bit of a let-down as nearly every other game has this control feature. However, in some ways it makes the game a lot more challenging and a bit more creepy as you have to try and keep your eyes peeled for any creature that may lurk beyond any turn.

So ultimately this game is fantastic in terms of thumb-twitching shooting action and offers a superbly detailed lair to explore and challenging monsters to shoot at as well as finding specific objects to complete the level.

It doesn’t have all the finer tunings you’d probably expect from similar games but despite these shortcomings it still packs quite a punch.

Rating 75%

Positive

Good graphics

Interesting story and very atmospheric

Addictive and entertaining

Negatives

No strafe controls was a bit of an oversight

The game crashed when tapping the * and # keys

Limited weapons choice and the enemy die with one shot