Graphics are probably the worst part of the game. It's not that Extermination looks bad - it simply looks old on the PlayStation 2. You won't notice a drastic improvement in the graphics of this game over what you have seen in games like Dino Crisis on PsOne or Resident Evil: Code Veronica on Dreamcast.

The 3D engine developed by the Deep Space team is able to render without problems and slowdowns big environments, but is way too simplistic to make of Extermination a next generation game. First, the quality of the textures used is extremely low; they are repetitive and flat, and especially the ones used for high-tech stuff (like computer or automated doors) look too much PsOne-style. Second, interaction with the environments is non existent. For example, in the bar of the research base there is a series of bottles like the ones seen in the demo of Metal Gear Solid 2. But if you look close at them you will notice that the entire series of bottles is just a unique, low-quality texture. If you shot at them, nothing will happen, and the same can be said for every single object or surface in the game. While in the environments there are not clear aliasing issues, draw-in problems are evident. If you try using your knife (yes, you can use also a knife during the game) against a wall, you will see the arm of Dennis disappearing into it.

The characters are built with a good number of polygons, and look like the ones of Resident Evil: Code Veronica; but while Dennis' body is created and animated with care, secondary characters like Cindy or her friend Sonia look unnatural, to use an euphemism. In these characters, heads are badly joint to the body, hands are not in proportion to rest of the body (I hate CG girls with manly hands), and movements are always on the robotic side.

The creatures are a complete rip-off of the ones featured in Resident Evil. The human mutants are a copy of the final monster seen in Resident Evil 2, and the textures used for their bodies are close in quality to the ones seen in the old Capcom title; other enemies like mutant-dogs (you know, mutant or zombie dogs seem to be a constant of the genre) or gigantic bugs and psychopathic mutated bats could make you laugh.

If compared with the beautiful CG movies created by Capcom for its many Survival Horror series, the cinematic sequences of Extermination look dull and uninspired.

Maybe I have been a bit too harsh with the graphics of Extermination. The truth is that while they do not shine in any particular department, they do nicely their job, which consists in providing environments functional to the story, and they are close in quality to the ones of Resident Evil: Code Veronica, considered by many players one of the best Survival Horrors to date.

Sound effects and music in this game will not disappoint you. The creatures growl and roar in a "convincing" way; you can hear their steps coming closer and closer, you understand that a room is full of little Hydras just by hearing their shrill cries. Sound effects are brilliantly used to make you know that something strange is hidden into a dark room, or that one of your friends, there at the end of that long tunnel, is in danger and that you have to run if you want to save him. The sound effects are able to create real tension in Extermination.

The music is good Hollywood-style stuff, wisely used during the game. You don't have a theme constantly playing in the background; the music rises only during the most tense moments of the game.

The voice acting during the dialogues is usually very good, but there are some problems of lip-synch. Overall, very good sounds.

The replay value is the weak point of the Survival Horror genre. Anyhow, considered into the genre, Extermination is not a too short game. About 8 hours are needed to finish the game if you run through it, 10 hours if you take care of all the details, looking for all the hidden parts of your weapon. That is about the same amount of gameplay you have in games like Dino Crisis or in most Resident Evil games.