PC Gamer UK 01.2021 @InternationalPress75

Has there ever been a more
videogames location?

EARLY ACCESS PREVIEW

Second Extinction

EXPECT TO PAY

£19.50

DEVELOPER

Systemic Reaction

PUBLISHER

In-house

LINK

secondextinctiongame.com

NEED TO KNOW

Seventy million years later, it was

discovered by a Victorian palaeontologist

named after – of all people – PT Barnum,

the circus barker from that Hugh Jackman

musical. And a century after that, I’ve just

managed to get one tipped onto its back,

and am hastily emptying my minigun’s

entire belt feed into the glowing weak

spot on its exposed belly. (Oddly

enough, this tactic is kind of

historically accurate, minigun aside

• flipping an Ankylosaur tortoise-
  style was the only way predators could
  get past that armour plating.)
  Playing Second Extinction results in a
  lot of moments like this, where I find my
  mind reaching back over a childhood of
  dinosaur books like a tongue over a cavity.
  Trying to remember whether the
  venom-spitting was a real thing or an
  invention of Jurassic Park’s, while failing to
  sidestep the latest glob of acid catapulted
  through the air. And I’m left wondering
  why I never heard about these raptors
  with the invisibility powers and naturally-
  occurring flashbang grenades.
  OK, you probably won’t be surprised to
  learn that these last two are rather less
  faithful to scientific fact. There’s a flimsy

justification for their existence – all

mutations and a fallen Earth – but

honestly, it doesn’t really matter. What

does matters is that Second Extinction

crams the screen tight with uber-dinos,

and hands you the means to put them

back on the endangered species list: guns,

grenades, and the odd orbital laser.

You and couple of friends pick

characters, each with a smidge of

personality and an expandable selection

of perks and gadgets, then drop into the

enormous map for a self-guided dinosaur

safari. I mean that ‘drop’ bit literally, by the

way – you enter the level in a metal pod,

burning through the ozone and clouds.

JURAS-SICK MOVES

This is a game untroubled by subtlety, the

same way my dancing is after three gin

and tonics. It’s all explosions and strafing

and body parts sent wheeling through the

air (and so is the game, wocka wocka).

Occasionally, you shoot a velociraptor so

hard its tail falls off. Occasionally, they

drop nuggets of glowing loot I’d normally

describe as tickling my lizard brain, but

this is a slightly thorny term given that’s

what I’m currently busy splashing all

over the shop.

This is about the most Second

Extinction ever attempts to engage

your brain. It makes for a perfect

hangout game, with plenty of space for

you to shoot the shit while you shoot shit,

but also means that, without friends, your

mind might start to wander to half-

remembered dino-facts. It’s clearly not

meant to be played this way – alone,

you’ll get absolutely murdered,

something that developer Systemic

Reaction is trying to rebalance a little.

The game is currently in the Cambrian

stages of Early Access – meaning you can

expect to find some really weird-shaped

bugs and the occasional explosion – so it

may be wise to hold off a little before

taking the plunge. But if you’re looking for

a conversational backdrop more

stimulating than that fake beach you use

to mask the state of your living room on

Zoom calls, or have an inner child who

won’t mind seeing their favourite creature

endlessly massacred, then Second

Extinction delivers exactly the thrills you’d

expect at first glance.

Alex Spencer

T

he Ankylosaurus roamed the plains of

what is now North America in the late

Cretaceous period. It weighed as much

as a pair of rhinos, and put their thick

skin and horns to shame with an armoured shell

and bony club at the end of its tail that could sweep

predators’ legs from under them.

For anyone who thought Muldoon

was the hero of Jurassic Park

SECOND

EXTINCTION

I WONDER WHY I NEVER

HEARD ABOUT RAPTORS WITH

INVISIBILITY POWERS BEFORE

PLAYED

IT