Jurassic Park

"An actual good Genesis game based on a movie?"

We've all seen the movie Jurassic Park, and it's a good movie. And when movies are good, video game companies try to merchandise by making a game of the movie, and more often than not, the games stink. Well, that's not the case with Jurassic Park. Not only is it a good (but not accurate) representation of the movie, but it's fun to play and can have you taking two different paths. Keep reading to see what I mean.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10
For the most part, this game is fun to play. The levels are decently lengthed, but there are not too many of them. The enemies that appear in levels aren't very challenging to beat, with the exception of a few. Now, if only they didn't make so many pits that you could fall through. You're probably thinking you play as Dr. Grant, right? Well, you can, but you can also play as a velociraptor. You heard me right, you can play as a raptor! So, since you can choose between two players, you're probably wondering which one is better. Well, read below and see if you can figure it out for yourself.

Grant's game: Grant is the harder of the two games. His levels are usually longer and harder, plus there are more enemies that take more to kill. (his enemies are all dinosaurs) And once you kill them, they're not even dead. If you walk away from them long enough, they'll just get up and start attacking you again when they see you. Occasionally, you have to do some simple puzzle solving and reflex testing with grant, whether it's figuring out where to move a crate, or having to jump out of the raft at just the right time in level 3. To attack, Grant has a large supply of weapons and different guns. These weapons range from a weak dart gun, to a grenade, to a rocket launcher. You do not have unlimited ammunition for these weapons, so be careful to conserve them. Your main goal is to escape the island alive when you play as Grant.

Raptor's game: The raptor has the much easier game. You only have to play about half the levels Grant has to, and those levels are usually much shorter. Not only do you NOT have to worry about getting devoured by a T-Rex, but you don't have to worry about enemies coming back either. The enemies for the raptor are armed guards for the park, and they are armed with guns and grenades. However, they have an unlimited amount, so be prepared to watch out for a lot of fire power. The raptor can jump much further than grant could and can move much faster, plus when you attack an enemy as the raptor, the enemy dies and isn't just knocked unconcious. Your main goal is to eat Grant before he escapes from the island when you play as the raptor.

Basically, I'm saying that if you want a challenge, play as Grant, and be prepared to copy down some long passwords. If you're the raptor, you might be able to make it through without losing your three lives.

GRAPHICS: 8/10
The graphics for this game are great! The jungle, the power station, the creek and the visitor's center all look great. Some levels, however, look a little wierd. The pump station, for example, looks a little too...what's the color for it?...dark red. The place looks too dark red to be a pump station, and the volcano looks a little plain in the background of it. Grant is modeled pretty well, although not very detailed. The raptor looks very well created, as do ALMOST all of the dinosaurs in the game. Well done here.

SOUND: 6/10
The sound effects and background tracks aren't exactly great. I know Sega tried to make the T-Rex sound real and intimidating, and they did an okay job with it, but not great. Grant makes a small groaning sound when he gets hurt, but a very weird scream when he falls into a pit. The background tracks aren't exactly great. The only ones that I liked were the Visitor's Center, the Creek and perhaps the jungle.

LENGTH: 7/10
Well, this is almost balanced out by the two characters you can play as. The game is really short when you play as the raptor, but it's decently lengthed when you play as Grant. (long enough for a challenge) This makes the game overall a little short.

REPLAYABILTY: 8/10
You'll want to play this game again, either to play as the other character or because you liked it. I don't know what it is about this game that keeps me playing it after all these years, but the game must have something for that. You'll probably want to play through this game at least twice.

Total score: 38/50
Averaged score: 7.6 (rounds up to 8)

Buy or Rent?
You probably can't even rent this anymore, so here's my opinion: if you've got five dollars and a Genesis, buy this game if you don't. You should like it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/28/05