"Dinosaurs and pain-filled thumbs, what a combination"

With the box office success of Jurassic Park it wasn't long till it got a few game incarnations. Well, this version on the game is very close to the NES title that the only difference is the NES game is not in full color.

Story 7/10

First off, this game makes no real attempt to follow the movie, this maybe good. In this version, the player takes control of Alan Grant as he travels through the park collecting dinosaur eggs as well as keeping the other members of the tour alive. Not the best story I have ever heard, but by no means the worse. It is an old game; rather simple so let it pass.

Graphics/Sound 7/10

I must remind you that this is an extremely old game, because by the modern standards the graphics are the pits. However, thinking about the time, the graphics did not look to bad. They kept you guessing and background was cruel at sometimes. None of the dinosaurs looked terrible. Overall, I suppose, the graphics were fair. The sound effects were nice. The music was a constant loop that could get inconvenient at times, but it was catchy most of the time, even know I can still recall it. Again we have a section that seems to pass.

Gameplay 6/10

This could be a problem. Ok the game started out without any explanation. For a while you had to travel around aimlessly until you actually figured out what to do. All the while not getting killed by traps of dinosaurs, most of which homed on you. The controls are simple enough to grasp, but get extremely tiresome very quickly, this is one of those games that can and will make you thumbs numb. The hit detection of things like shooting is very limited, making it extremely difficult to really hit what you intend to. After certain goals are met the game will drop you a key to pick up. This opens another problem, because you can only find out which terminal works with the certain key via trial and error. So far it sounds like the typical game for that time, my only real beef with it is there is no password or save feature. Occasionally, you will run across a question mark box. I recommend you think before you grab one because the outcome is completely random, good or bad. Not a bad game just it is a little more difficult than it should need to be at sometimes.

Play Time/ Replayablity 6/10

It can take a while to actually beat this game; due to it will most-likely be beating your thumbs off. It is highly repayable, mainly due to the fact that there is no password system or save set up. Every time you start this game it is from the beginning, this is ok for the most part. Yet there are a few exceptions like during the more tense action areas if you lose all you life you start back title, again forcing trial and error.

Overall Score 6/10

Well, it is a little bit above mediocre, but it is still worth a little play once in a blue moon if not a little more often.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/06/11

Game Release: Jurassic Park (US, August 1993)