Jurassic Park

"This game's got graphics! ...But not more than that. It's got a raptor! ...But it's too short to thoroughly enjoy..."

Jurassic Park for the Sega Genesis...

It's not the greatest, but it is good... in its own right. Made around the time the movie was shown across the U.S. and everyone was praising it, consumers pretty much gobbled up everything under the sun licensed for this name. Jurassic Park for the Genesis is certainly interesting because it was not nearly based on the movie. It was much farther away than that.

One of the biggest compliments are the graphics. It made me wonder how the developers made the graphics look like that, until I realized that it was a trick in palleting that helped that. But anyway, the graphics look beautiful. Certainly one of the better points for this game. (9/10)

The gameplay... well... will have to be separated into two paragraphs for both Dr. Grant and everyone's second favorite dinosaur - the Velociraptor.

Dr. Allen Grant... I never saw him as an action hero, but in this game, he is. He has a slew of blue and red darts he can use against the enemies. The blue darts are weaker, so more shots are needed to take down the dinosaurs, except the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The red darts immediately take down most dinosaurs. Those raptors just won't stay down, though, if you use about 10 or 15 of the red darts, they could be sleeping until you leave. There are also a slew of grenades. The Gas Grenades can knock any dinosaur out, except the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The Flash Grenades do very little except blind the dinosaurs, but they do stop the T-Rex, so their primary use is just that. The Concussion Grenades are essential to beating the games as well as knocking a dinosaur out for a long time. The stun gun is certainly one of the more interesting shock guns I have seen. Shooting off a huge bolt of electricity at full charge, it allows you to shock raptors across the wall (can only be done once as they walk away from that part after you do that). And, my favorite, is the rockets. One shot, and the dinosaurs will be taking a dirt nap. I don't know what the manual is talking about just letting them sleep for a long time. When I do that, I don't see them ever again.

The ability to play as a Velociraptor is one of the reasons why this was a semi-popular game. I hate to tell you this, but the raptor is overrated. Sure, it's fun to play as a dinosaur, but the fun ends when you realize that a human guard has blasted you about 15 times with his stun gun and you are laying flat on the floor. His limelight is much shorter than Grant's as well. The only worth is that you have played as one... and that's it.

Overall, the controls are much stickier on the raptor than Grant. Grant controls pretty well... for a paleontologist. (6/10)

The story is about one of the biggest ''duh'''s I could produce. The dinosaurs escape and you need to get off the island. No originality. None. And don't give me the ''The Raptor was unique'' crap. So what? Many games have raptors that you could control. Sure, many of them were from Jurassic Park licenses, but there were others. (3/10)

The music is not bad... it could have been better, but it's not bad. (6/10) The sound effects are not bad... but they could have been better. The dinosaur sounds were pretty accurate towards the movie, though, so that's a point up. (7/10)

The big question of the day is if the game is fun. Is it? In the end, it's questionable. Dr. Grant offers a large amount of variety in gameplay with his armory of weaponry. But there is always the raptor, despite the lack of any good levels. In the end, the game has it's high points... and it has its low points. It's certainly not an entertaining piece of material, but it's good for 30 minutes or so. (5/10)

The replayability? There's an actual reason to replay the game over? After you beat the game with both characters, the only other piece of enjoyment you can get is by cheating your (butt) off. Other than that, the replayability is virtually nil. (4/10)

So, under the guidelines of this game, the total score is....

****** out of 10.

Do I recommend this game? To anyone who is a huge fan of the movies and don't mind playing a game based on a movie. If you are just one or none of the above... I don't.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/03, Updated 07/06/03