Expendable

This was the first game I fell in love with and probably the start of my love for games in general. Having found it now 25 years later has unlocked my lost inner child.

an android mobile port of this game with an infinitely superior control scheme came pre-installed on my NVIDIA shield portable, absolutely goated device, perfect for emulating retro games. way before the steam deck and these other off brand imitations became so popular. that's p much how i came to know about this game, that was around 2014-2015 or so lol idk this game is a solid twin stick shooter...or rather...it WOULD be a solid twin stick shooter if it didnt use PS1-era tank controls like its resident evil, silent hill or some junk im being unironic when i say the mobile port of this game should be on steam instead of the original 1999 PC release. there's actually quite a few games from the late 90's that have aged surprisingly well in terms of how they play, the ability to completely rebind controls to fit within the modern standard is of those reasons. unfortunately, while Expendable itself is a solid arcade shooter, the controls cannot be salvaged in anyway. its genuinely that bad. the PS1 and dreamcast ports have the same terrible control scheme as well, not made any simpler or more intuitive in my opinion, the games difficulty feels like it stems more from constantly fig…

Expendable, developed by Rage Software and now available on Steam through Funbox Media Ltd, is a loud, unapologetically arcade-style shooter that feels like a time capsule from the late 1990s. Originally released during an era when Dreamcast and PC action games were increasingly embracing 3D technology, it carried forward the spirit of classic run-and-gun shooters—simple objectives, frantic pacing, and a heavy emphasis on spectacle. The narrative framework is mostly decorative, framing you as a cybernetically enhanced commando deployed to distant worlds to eliminate alien forces and rescue human hostages, but the game understands its priorities: the action comes first, and everything else exists to support it. The core gameplay loop centers on pushing forward through linear levels packed with enemies, environmental hazards, explosive containers, and destructible scenery. Movement and aiming are straightforward, allowing players to immediately grasp the controls, and the camera angle—hovering above and slightly behind the character—gives the experience a blend of twin-stick shooting and third-person perspective. Enemies swarm in large numbers, often arriving from multiple direction…

I'm sad because this version of Rage is the 2000 release, not the 1999 release, which is a modified version of the original PC version of the game. When it was release to playstation they modified it, and this is the modified version. Funny thing is the intro in this video is the same as the 1999 version, but after you download the game, you don't get the same thing that you see in this video preview.

The game is extremely hard and I refuse to believe that vast majority of players beat it without cheats. Even the walkthrough I found on FAQ jokes that you cheated when you played it. You have 3 lives per credit and maybe 9 or so credits on the easiest settings to beat the entire game and it took me and my friend on CO-OP mode about 100 credits to do it. Even longplay videos on youtube cheat the credits and just hide it with editing. You can make the game significantly easier by changing into the 3rd person back view from the top-down view, but even that is like a cheat because you can only do it by typing a code. Unfortunately, that back view does not work when you're playing in CO-OP. It also makes no sense for this game to have such an aggressive arcade mechanics, which normally require you to put real money to buy more credits, when the game was never even released on Arcades... Anyway, besides the difficulty another problem is how awkward the game controls. You have tank controls and sidestep. For a top-down shooter tank controls are really clunky, since there is mouse support, I do not understand why didn't they just implement full free look and free movement. But on t…

I just wish the control/controllers worked better for this game :(