Expendable is a third person shooter like the old arcade game, Ikari Warrior. You run around killing aliens with a variety of futuristic weaponry. The innovation over those old sprite based shooters is that everything is in 3D, luscious 3D. I'll get more into the graphics part later. The viewpoint is much like a dynamic version of that used in Resident Evil. The camera moves with you from a distance in some places, and in others it finds a good angle and stays there till you leave the area. Your point of view is usually from above and far away, but periodically moves in closer and changes elevation. Rage did an excellent job with the camera angles. Things you need to see are rarely blocked from view. The main flaw is that periodically the camera jumps from one angle to another abruptly as opposed to its normal swooping change. This can be disconcerting and breaks up the action a bit.

Game play is more fun that shooting monkeys in a barrel. Enemies come at you almost constantly. You pick up weapons laying around in various boxes and blast away. Kill or be killed, as they say. Each mission has an objective, like arm the bomb to blow up the enemy base or grab all the key cards to release the humans. But really, you don't have to pay attention to that junk. All you have to do is run through the levels, grinning happily at the screams of the dying, while picking up every useful item in site and shooting everything else.

Like another old arcade game, Alien Syndrome, you also have to save captured humans from the alien menace. One clever touch of Expendable is that, when you "accidentally" explode one of the human hostages like a blood sausage, and trust us, you will, the words "Mercy Kill!" flash on the screen in large, friendly letters. Sick man, real sick! Fortunately, in makes no real difference whether you save them or not, other than helping your score. That's our kind of mercy!

Expendable is not all rush n' attack. You can't just run blindly into everything, you'll get slaughtered. And you can't hold back too much or time will run out. You have to be on your toes constantly for a new threat without dallying. It's a really great combination.