Dino Crisis

"Regina has a big butt"

Hmm, Dino Crisis. This title is hard to come by nowadays and is pretty cool for a survival horror game. This is a definite purchase for any fans of the genre. Let me see, the first time I played Dino Crisis was on a dark rainy day, my mom new the rain was coming in and decided to go to Blockbuster and rent a movie for the long, wet weekend. I of course opted for a rental.

After I had the game in my possession I got home and was faced with several chores to do before I could even sit down and play. (Mothers have a tendency to do that right before you're about to enjoy yourself) After cleaning virtually everything in the house and pulling up the trashcans from the front curb (in the rain I may add) I was ready to play Dino Crisis, a pretty cool experience. Here’s the breakdown.

The story for Dino Crisis begins pretty weakly but it gets a little bit more interesting as the game progresses. It starts off with some undercover agent working on a research facility on the island spotting a top-level scientist that is supposed to be dead. For some reason this guy needs to be taken off the island by a special elite forces group of about 4 people. That’s where the games protagonist, Regina, comes in. She and the three others parachute onto the island facility and one of the group members gets a little lost, and then becomes lunch for a T-Rex. Then they find themselves in a dino-infested place and the story pretty much stays along those lines from then on. To tell you the truth this games has a lot of similarities with a certain dinosaur movie. ::cough”Jurassic Park”cough:: If I do recall correctly one of the characters said “This is just like that one movie.”

Gameplay-wise Dino Crisis will not fail you. It has a ton of things to deliver. There is a very unique AI system that was developed for the dinos. Raptors are the main things you tangle with in this game and they are a major pain in the [rear]. If you thought it was going to easy just like Resident Evil, think again. In this game you WILL die. When given the proper amount of damage you will begin to bleed and it will make a little trail that the dinos just love to follow. Another thing you got to hate about them raptors is that they are so hard to kill, to top it off you usually meet them in groups of two or three. Just dandy. In some special occasions you will nearly be killed and the word “DANGER!” comes onto the screen. At this point you must frantically press all of the buttons on the controller to escape a grizzly death. Of course you didn't think you'd be supplied with many ways to eradicate the dino threat, correct? Dino Crisis gives you like a total of three weapons, but when you customize them with various items you find they will become more powerful. Running low on ammo? Dino Crisis has the cool innovation where you mix items and make various types of darts to use, ranging from tranquilizer darts to poisonous darts. Another great aspect of the game is the fact that you can get up to three different endings based on the choices you make during the game. And after you beat the game and start over with the saved data you get new costumes to use in the game and a new funky weapon to boot, adding to the replay value. The feel of this game is so similar to Resident Evil that you wont feel unwelcome at all. Just think of it this way, the zombies were eaten by the dinosaurs. =)

Dino Crisis isn’t that bad when it comes to sound. Ever snarl, snap, and growl is heard with efficiency and pretty realistically. I never had time to listen to the music tracks of Dino Crisis either because they were either too quite or they only started up when something was chasing me with gaping wide jaws and razor sharp teeth. The voiceovers aren’t that bad either, they are clearly heard and aren’t that cheesy. Lets face it; there aren’t many problems in this area.

Again, the control for this game is perfect, precise and responsive, although a cinch for an RE veteran, it has a moderate learning curve for beginners. Nothing can be done to make it better with this type of game. Another cool plus is the fact that this game supports dual shock and rumbles when I shoot the guns (and get the crap bitten out of me -_-;;;). Flawless.

After Capcom came out with the blockbuster hit Resident Evil and the cult classic of Resident Evil 2, they felt they should add another game to their survival horror line-up. That’s where Dino Crisis comes in, but they wanted it to be different from the others; the looks of the game scheme completely changed. Capcom ditched the prerendered backgrounds and went with a completely 3D environment, to be totally honest with you I like the 3D backgrounds better than the prerendered ones (Too bad Dino Crisis 2 sports prerendered backgrounds ::sniff::). The graphics look great for this type of game, the dinos look fantastic, especially the way it makes their bodies look scaly. The environments in this game are beautiful and highly detailed. Everything is realistic here. Another cool thing is how there are a ton of dead bodies laying around the place, I mean just about everywhere you’ll find someone that fell victim to the dinos. And I’m telling you, them dinos are messy eaters. Resident Evil had its share of dead bodies all over the place, but they were always a part of the prerendered backgrounds, Dino Crisis had these bodies rendered in 3D, really cool. Loading each room will take time for the PlayStation and just like Resident Evil; the load times take place when you walk through the door. But Dino Crisis takes this to a new level, you actually see Regina walk through the door this time, and get a great glimpse of her big butt. Hey, so what if I look? The FMVs in this game are awesome too, I like the ones with the T-Rex mostly because he is really tough and likes to wreak havoc. The only drawback in graphics is that it tends to get a little bit pixelly at the given times the characters are too close to the screen, but its mainly the raptors when they come into view from offscreen--Either way, the graphics still do a good job at pulling you into the game.

If you are worried that when you finish playing Dino Crisis that you will never find any other reason not to play through it again you are dead wrong. Capcom is the master of replay value and they have plenty of things in store for you. First off there are three different endings that you can get in this game and that’s pretty cool. The more you play through the game you get different costumes to wear, new weapons, and ammo. Also adding to the replay value is a battle mode where you go around and kill all the dinos in a given amount of time and progress further (I never got far at all). Dino Crisis will keep you busy if you really put in the time and effort.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/11/02, Updated 12/11/02