Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey

"Mildly entertaining . . . .very mildly."

Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey, the name sounds awe-inspiring, huh? Well, this game was anything but! Anybody who knows anything about Dinotopia knows that it is a land of peace and that weapons are dangerous even to their owners. So what do you spend the most of your time doing in the game, killing dinos and people. Once you overlook this, you can kind of enjoy it.

Story Line: 8/10

The story line was one of the more interesting points in the game. You think your father has been killed in the rainy basin by dinosaurs and your brother wants to get revenge by joining the "outsider gang". So your dad's friend gives a club with which you defend the inhabitants of the island with. I'll stop here and won't spoil the ending but, it stays interesting.

Graphics: 5/10

The graphics in this game look like they came from the nintendo 64 without an expansion pack. Except, for the skybax levels which followed beautifully. Unique and interesting, the terrain had a mix pastel colours.

Gameplay: 4/10

Their isn't much to this game. As you go along you acquire new and better armor but I never noticed a difference. Three sages of Dinotopia give you more powerful mallet heads and you can put sun stones in these for special abilities. Additionally, you build up an experience bar and get upgrades after it's filled. There are many sub missions you can do but if you don't accomplish them, the story line doesn't change. One weird thing was that when you die nothing happens. You come back to where you died, thats it. No lives lost or penalties given. You can never lose.

Sounds: 7/10

The music in this game is usually calm and peaceful, reflecting the Dinotopians outlook on life. The characters have uncommonly enthusiastic voices, especially the crazy old man. In most games these days the voice actors have no life in their lines. Not so in this game. The dinos are funny to listen to but often are whining. You have a strong Irish accent, but everybody likes that, right.

Buy or Rent: Rent

I beat this game on easy in six hour without doing all the sub missions. If I did them all, it might have taken me ten hours. The game has some free exploring in the tree top village but that's it.

Conclusion

A rainy weekend coming and you've got absolutely nothing at all in the world to do, go ahead and rent the game. It'll will bring back memories of your nintendo 64 with it's cheesy the graphics, but it's not worth buying for more than $5. This game has no real meat, but even dogs chew on the bones.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/13/06