Liverpool: the city that brought you the Beatles, Scousers and um... Cilla Black. So what eh? Well Liverpool also holds the UK's most bubbly games developer in Rage Software. Tom unfortunately couldn't make the trip up to the North of England so I stepped in just before my departure from the UK to the US last month. The places a lazy good for nothing journalist gets to travel eh? But enough rambling. My reason for going up to Liverpool had nothing to do with getting stocked up with booze, nor did it have anything to do with getting the crap kicked out of me for being a Londoner in the wrong city. Instead I wanted to find out just what these likely lads had to offer in terms of life after Incoming. Yes Incoming, the very game that has blessed a thousand hardware bundles. However, cast any preconceived ideas about Rage Software being a one hit wonder- they're not. Don't even bother with believing that familiarity breeds contempt because Rage Software only gave the games industry a brief glimpse of what they're about, or better still a little beta test with their 3D blast fest known as Incoming. Rage Software have some ten titles planned within the space of a single year but for this preview I'll concentrate on a little known gem by the name of Expendable.

A picture paints a story eh? And as 'important' as the story is in Expendable, I'll try and be as concise as possible. Basically you rummage around and blow the crap out of everything because nobody likes you and everyone wants your head on a plate. Actually that's not the real story so here's the excuse for the game anyway. The year is 2498 (we'll all be dead by then so what does it matter?) and mankind has expanded into the bleak and barren worlds somewhere in space. And ask Spock where Genesis1 (the center stage for the game) is because I don't have a bloody clue where Genesis1 is. But back to the story. The nearest moons and planets to Earth have already been terraformed and so mankind has sought to eke out an existence deeper and deeper into space establishing meagre mining colonies. And this is where you come in (ready?). You just happen to be passing a planet by the name of Genesis1, which prior to your arrival was populated by some 146 humans and 383 androids (no I didn't count them). The thing is, upon your arrival it becomes apparent that aforementioned inhabitants are all unavailable for comment. They're all dead. But nobody knows why. I'll let you figure out the rest but I'll leave you with a tiny little clue- Aliens. You can go from there and take it any which way you can you know you'll end up blowing everything up to smithereens. I love cheesy stories. They make excellent excuses for making games. But Expendable isn't meant to be taken seriously with an evolving storyline etc... it's meant to be a hands-on blastathon. Killed or be killed, that's not in question.