Expendable

I went in expecting a dumb, fast, satisfying twin-stick experience. What I got was a top-down run-and-gun that treats movement more like a tank than a shooter - up moves forward relative to your facing direction, left and right rotate you, and strafing is mapped to shoulder buttons. For a reflex-driven arcade blaster built around constant firefights, that control friction is the first thing you will fight, and it will cost you a few runs before it clicks. Clear your expectations at the door. Strip the control complaints out and the bones here are genuinely solid for a late-90s PC release. The game pushes you across more than 20 levels across six distinct alien worlds, and the weapon roster is not small - 18 collectible tools including pulse cannons, particle accelerators, plasma flamethrowers, and rocket variants. The pickup loop is classic arcade logic: find a better gun, burn through its ammo, cycle back to your default blaster, and hunt the next drop. Boss encounters are large, loud, and appropriately overblown. The explosions fill the screen in a way that still reads as satisfying even by current standards. The ambient techno soundtrack is dark, moody, and genuinely fits the tone. The co-op mode is where Expendable earns its most goodwill. A second player can drop in at any point, and the camera zooms out dynamically to track both soldiers rather than splitting the screen. For a game from this era, that is a thoughtful design call. Deathmatch mode exists too, though the level construction was never really built around competitive play and it shows. If you have a couch buddy willing to grind through the control learning curve with you, the chaos of two clone soldiers torching alien worm-dogs and triggering chain explosions is legitimately fun for a session or two. The repetition is real though. Levels are corridor progressions with limited environmental variety, and the enemy design leans heavily on wave-density rather than interesting behavior. The "find the keycard to open the door" objectives break up the shooting occasionally, but the game never reaches for anything deeper than that. Modern top-down shooters have set a higher bar on enemy AI, level design, and especially controls, so coming in cold in 2025 means recalibrating your tolerance accordingly. This is a product of its time, and Steam's small but enthusiastic user base reflects the nostalgia crowd more than fresh converts. If you grew up on Contra, Smash TV, or Ikari Warriors and want a harder-edged 3D take on that formula, Expendable delivers that specific thing with enough competence to be worth the asking price at sub-five dollars. Go in knowing the controls require adjustment, bring a friend if you can, and do not expect any of the precision movement tech you are used to from modern shooters. Your mouse and polling rate are completely irrelevant here.

Fred · Scout Team

Shooters

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