In Extremis

The Good
Things start out well with a very nifty animated cut-scene sequence to set the scene. The presentation here is of a high standard. Menus are simple and uncluttered, and the visual design melds nicely with the graphics in-game.

Interaction is a definite high point here. When you interact with computer terminals, a virtual keyboard and typing hand are presented, and you enter in key codes by striking the corresponding letters using movement and action keys.

Some extra immediacy has been added to the gameplay by including an oxygen gauge as well as your usual health reserve. If you take too long to reach the exit point, you can cark it by running out of air.

The environmental textures are nicely detailed and have a very rusted derelict look about them. Other decorative touches like blood dripping from the ceiling, alien slime smeared across the floor, partially decomposed corpses of past inhabitants held aloft by cohesive alien webbing, and other gruesome stuff gives this a decently foreboding atmosphere.

Sound effects are clear and well sampled. The heavy footsteps bounds from your hulking space suit, coupled with Darth Vader type breathing sounds go to lengths in conveying your disposition.

The Bad
Unlike DOOMs and others, you cannot save your progress during the course of the game. Instead, you are given a password every few levels that can be entered from the main menu to continue your campaign.

You’ll find all the areas tend to look quite similar to the last, and things can become disorientating. Trying to remember landmarks like a puddle of blood or a corpse isn't too helpful as they appear fairly regularly.

Although they were probably going for more realism, only being able to carry one weapon at any given time makes for some very repetitious combat. All the different blaster’s tend to have the same overall effect. This side of things becomes dull quite quickly.

All the monsters in this tend to simply charge at you on sight, but can be occasionally evasive, forcing you to make the first move. The designs of the aliens don’t differ enough to generate any real interest, making things stale in that respect.

The Bottom Line
In Extremis is one of the earliest of the called ‘Doom Clones’ that is thematically a knock off of Alien. It is relatively unknown due to very poor market penetration, and honestly would have simply been eclipsed by the big one. In terms of level structure and design, this game is more akin to Wolfenstein 3D, and doesn’t sport the new technical features brought forward by Doom, such as elevated floors, staircases, pseudo outdoor areas, and the like. Blue Sphere went to some lengths to give their game some needed extra character with speccy animated intermissions and some interesting audio visual touches. That not withstanding however, the lack of overall variety in level design and textures (you’ve seen one corridor . . . ), coupled with boring singular monster AI and very high difficulty at the early stages ultimately sinks this one, unfortunately.