QCF: Primal Carnage

Is it just me, or has there never been a truly great dinosaur game? Turok doesn't seem to hold up and the recent Jurassic Park game received poor reviews from both critics and fans alike. On the surface this doesn't seem like a valid issue or concern, but when you think about it these prehistoric creatures would make perfect cannon fodder for any videogame. And it's a damn shame I can't think of any fantastic dinosaur-centered games.

Enter Primal Carnage; a first-person multiplayer Steam title that aims to give players the thrill of hunting and becoming one of the lethal predators that stalk various media. A thrill which, unfortunately, has a lot of problems scattered amongst its few fun moments.

Primal Carnage features pretty basic gameplay mechanics. There are dinosaurs and humans, and depending on which team you choose you'll want to destroy every one of the opposing species' gang. If you've had experience with any other FPS then you'll probably grasp the controls and gameplay pretty easily. At the moment it doesn't sport any other modes than your standard deathmatch, so you're probably familiar with the rules before even installing it. It's a shame, then, how the game can be so confusing and disorientating at first since the environments all looks the same, and it's very hard to decipher what's going on. Suffice it to say, it takes awhile to understand how the game wants you to play it (for example, traveling in groups and hiding in bushes); this makes for a bad introduction to your first matches and a shoddy start to any first player's experience.

The game does have some fun ideas; one concept that Primal Carnage plays with is the stark contrast between the two main teams. It's dinosaurs vs. humans, and as such both species have radically different play styles and controls. The humans control from a first-person perspective which works fine and is easy to control. However, the dinos themselves control from a floaty third-person perspective which I could never really get the hang of. I always felt that the humans were way more responsice since they had the tightest controls, giving that team an advantage over the more powerful foes that they face.

The classes are perhaps the most well designed part of the game, with each playable character holding their own unique styles and perks. For example; the Pyromaniac is a stronger character who has a slower style of play, while the Trapper has less firepower but is faster and can rely on his nets to trap foes. These two radically different mechanics work well with a good mix of people, and there's always some fun to be had with trying different strategies on other classes. However, the most fun comes from the dinosaur team who also has a unique array of abilities. The T-Rex is a mighty creature that makes for a powerful punch, which is a contrast to the speedy Carnotaurus and the flying specialties of the Pteranodon. It's honestly impressive that the developers managed to create all these vastly different classes yet keep the game feeling as balanced as it does. Even as the T-Rex I never truly felt all-powerful, which gives the matches a distinct air of fairness to them. It's an amazing accomplishment considering how so many straightforward multiplayer experiences seem to mess this up, yet this one nails it with even more on it's plate.

Unfortunately the playing field itself is not well designed. I often found myself getting lost, and as I previously mentioned most of the map looks like the same area of jungle terrain making navigation a confusing mess at times. I often got lost while just walking from point A to point B, and the lack of a map system doesn't help at all. Having a map would've really helped when trying to find a partner, and while most multiplayer games don't include this I feel that Primal Carnage kind of needed it due to the often confusing level layouts. The main gameplay is fun, but these badly designed stages can often ruin smoothly running matches, breaking the pace and flow of the game itself.

If nothing else, Primal Carnage is a terrific looking game. Even on the lowest settings the graphics are lush, and well-designed visuals give the game a clean and crisp feeling. It runs very well, too, and except for a few visual glitches the game manages to let slip it features beautiful looking textures with full confidence. There are some performance issues, however, but fortunately the servers seemed to hold up competently. I never experienced any real connection problems, which is paramount in a multiplayer-only game like this.

Sadly, the game itself just doesn't have a lot of content at this point in time. While the main matches can be fun, there's little to no variety in terms of modes which leaves the game feeling a bit basic and almost bland. While I appreciate the diversity of classes and characters, you can't do much with them once you've grown tired of the standard matches. I do understand that there's free DLC in the works, which could beef things up considerably, but at this point in time it honestly doesn't feel worth the $15 price.

Despite its potential and fun moments, Primal Cage never manages to deliver on its key features. The matches I took part in often felt confusing, and while it's genuinely fun to experiment with both the dinosaurs and humans it gets dull quickly due to the lack of content and samey environments. Primal Carnage is ultimately not the game it could be and it seems like it'll still be a while until we get that one great dinosaur game. There is promised content in the future that could shake things up, and it's not a bad game overall, but it currently remains kind of average in spite of its promising ideas and impressive visuals.