Capcom, I can’t believe you’ve don🌺e this. I’ve been struck across the face and left to wallow in my own disbelief at the reveal of Exoprimal. Announced during last night’s State of Play, the reaction to Capcom’s dino-focused multiplayer shooter has been… less than charitable. It’s like we’ve been stood up at a date we’ve been waiting weeks for, with the publisher dropping this trailer in our laps before crawling out of the bathroom window. See ya later, loser. Enjoy paying the bill.
I’m being mean, it does look kinda cool - but in the context of Capcom’s history and the library it possesses, Exoprimal shows a deliberate ignorance of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dino Crisis and🌜 the remake fans have been waiting years for. When the publisher’s name appeared on-screen and a waterfall of dinosaurs began pouring from a portal in the sky I was transfixed, crossing my fingers that maybe this was the reboot. But then I saw a random character hop into an exosuit and drop into a generic city environment before letting off a sequence of hero abilities. It was then I knew that this wasn’t the game I was hoping for, but one that is seemingly focused on current multiplayer trends and 🔜nothing more.
Exoprimal is clearly aware that Dino Crisis exists, if anything it builds upon the foundations of Capcom’s forgotten classic with an aesthetic that clearly apes it. We see an unnaওmed character in the trailer with short red hair and black clothes, a dead ringer for Dino Crisis protagonist Regina. Her presence is likely meant to be a playful nod to Exoprimal’s inspiration, but instead it feels like a slap in the face. Capcom, you can’t bring red-haired heroines and prehistoric lizards to the party and be surprised when we all turn our heads expecting to see Dino Crisis. Instead, we got some form of bootleg Anthem with characters and locations that are already fleeting. This feels like a miss, and not because I’m a spoiled gamer girl who demands my nostalgia be appeased at all times.
The past generation has seen Capcom trade on this very nostalgia to produce 🤪some of its biggest blockbusters of all time. Resident Evil 2 & 3 are complete remakes of two survival horror classics, while a revival of the fourth is set to follow in the years to come. Devil May Cry 5 was a return to its PS2 glory days with Dante, Trish, Lady, and several iconic characters acting like the controversial Ninja Theory reboot never even happened. Combine that with additional remasters and revivals, and it’s clear why Exoprimal came as a bitter surprise to many. That, and aside from Monster Hunter, the publisher’s track record for multiplayer experiences isn’t exactly great. Anyone remember Umbrella Corps? It was fucking garbage. If they turn what could have been Dino Crisis 4 into a terrible online shooter I’ll be heartbroken, and that eventuality seems all too likely right now.
On the surfa𒊎ce Exoprimal feels like a product of focus testing and a wish to penetrate the live-service market. I can’t blame Capcom for chasing this dragon (or dinosaur) because so many others have found ample success here, but when you’re leveraging a beloved property that hasn’t been touched in almost two decades to do so the fan reaction is going to be bad. Dino Crisis admittedly didn’t leave us on good terms, with the third game taking us into space and providing an experience that controlled terribly, looked awful, and failed to capture anything that made the first two games special. It was so bad it killed the franchise, an extinction event to rival the meteor that took dinosaurs out in the first place. Fun fact: Dino Crisis 3 was originally meant to take place in a sprawling city environment, but development was rebooted following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It seems a city being destroyed - even by dinosaurs - didn’t sit well with Capcom at the time.
But Dino Crisis 3 was awful because of circumstances outside its control, forced into a development pipeline that saw original ideas scrapped, and new ones hurriedly brought in to try and salvage the project. Of course it was a mess, but that shouldn’t doꦺom the entire property to damnation. Yet it did, with Dino Crisis not making so much as a timid roar for several generations. Now it’s back, well, a fading shadow of its legacy has lumbered into frame begging to be put out of its misery at least. Exoprimal could be great, and I really hope it is, but right now I’m just stuck wishing it was something it isn't.
