Review: Exoprimal – Dinosaur Waves of Multiplayer

Who would’ve thought that getting together with some friends and fighting legions of dinosaurs would be fun? That’s the question Capcom answered in a goofy way by releasing Exoprimal on consoles and PC. Although the story of the game can be confusing and a little dry, the gameplay is what will keep most people engaged with all of the dino-action. Whether it’s a subconscious affinity for dinosaurs, or a hidden need to see a Dino Crisis remake, there is something uniquely interesting about this game. You might find yourself playing more often than you realize.

Exoprimal has you create a character, with a very shallow character creator, to be part of a team of fighters in an ongoing battle with a rogue artificial intelligence. This sinister A.I. is known as Leviathan and generates portals that constantly spawn hordes of dinosaurs that attack humanity in staged war games. The remaining humans create exosuits to help fight back and are constantly thrown back in time to face legions of dinosaurs while trying to figure out how to take down Leviathan.

Although the concept of Exoprimal is very interesting and sounds like a home run, the execution of the plot in-game is somewhat dull. Getting more plot requires you to play games online through matchmaking, where you can find data packs that open up new information on a grid. Occasionally, there will be cutscenes that progress the story, but they are spread out over long sessions of games you need to play.

It’s a very different approach to telling a story while keeping the focus on the multiplayer, both PVE and PVP modes. But if you’re hoping to just follow the plot of Exoprimal without getting caught up in online multiplayer, you’re going to be disappointed. Is the story worth the effort? It is if you’re intrigued by the setup with Leviathan and why the dinosaurs are appearing, otherwise you might find yourself checking out of the story early on.

But the ultimate highlight in here is the cooperative multiplayer. You and three friends can team up to battle groups of dinosaurs that swarm you fiercely, which can be a lot of fun. Every player can pick an exosuit class with varying abilities at the start, which fulfills different roles that can become a major asset. Whether you’re a damage dealer, tank, or support player; there’s enough variety of exosuits for you to choose from. And even better is that you can switch exosuits mid-game to switch things up if you need. Each exosuit can also be customized with various modifications and cosmetics, but you need to play a lot to level up your profile and exosuit levels to unlock any options to choose from. It’ll be at least 5 or more matches until you have enough options unlocked to truly customize anything.

Controlling each exosuit will require some skill with using your abilities. Playing on a mouse and keyboard feels good on PC, while playing on a controller may feel a bit more stifling for some. Having access to abilities quickly is key to aiding your teammates when dinosaurs begin to really populate the area. Being able to throw a grenade at a large group or heal the team can make all the difference between victory and utter failure. While most skirmishes will be easy by having the team wipe out smaller dinosaurs, eventually a larger and more aggressive beast will appear. This can be a triceratops, tyrannosaurus, or other variant dinosaur that will take more damage and hit you harder. These will require more collaboration between players to bring down, especially when you’re forced into an enclosed area without much room to move around.

Sometimes it’s that very thing which can make Exoprimal difficult to play. Often you’ll repeatedly play on maps with similar objectives, but have areas where things get pushed into smaller areas. This can get chaotic with large groups of dinosaurs flooding the area, especially when a bigger dinosaur appears and starts smashing around. If you’re not mindful of where you’re aiming and moving around, the camera can get obscured by objects, teammates, and dinosaurs in situations like this. This is especially bad on maps with tunnels or caverns that you have to travel through to reach objectives and are blocked by enemies.

But what about the PVP elements of Exoprimal? Instead of straight-forward versus matches, Exoprimal has two teams still fighting large groups of enemies on the map. The game has you fulfilling objectives away from the enemy team at first, and then in the last stride force everyone into conflict while trying to scramble to finish the final objectives. At first, this can be fun, but eventually can feel unbalanced and overly chaotic after playing multiple matches. You’re never truly affecting the other team’s progress in any way until the very end of a match, which will usually come with a number of factors that can make things feel tilted in one’s favor. The final objective is often escorting a key item to a location and completing an upload to win, which can be hindered by enemy players that attack the item directly as you move.

PVP matches also allow teams to use an item called the Dominator, which grants brief control over a large dinosaur to attack the opposing team. While this is fun at various points in a match, it can be a huge factor towards the end when both teams are directly fighting each other. Players will often be ill-equipped to deal with the large dino that is player-controlled, while simultaneously fighting the other players with exosuits.

Large dinosaurs you control with the Dominator can deal massive damage to players and can take a bit to bring down, depending on the dinosaur you get to control. This can be heavily exploited in ways that the CPU doesn’t normally do when a regular large dinosaur appears during objectives, leading to what might feel like an unbalanced match. There are situations where both teams can have an active Dominator at the same time, but it’s a rare instance that doesn’t always line up. More often than not, the team with the Dominator towards the end is most likely going to win.

There is some fun to be had in Exoprimal, but you’ll need to have some patience to truly get to the shining parts of it. The story might not be for everyone despite the overall setup being interesting. The majority of the game is cooperative multiplayer, but you’ll have to engage with the competitive aspects of online matches in order to gain access to everything within the game. This is especially true for all of the customization and narrative features. For some, that might not be too appealing. But for those who like the idea of fighting dinosaurs with a few friends, you can definitely sit down and enjoy what you get in here for a long while.

What do you think of Exoprimal? Is this a very clever idea from Capcom that sounds like fun? Tell us your thoughts about everything in the comments down below!