Jurassic Park

"An average 2D sidescroller today, but a good one for its time."

Jurassic Park is one of the first GameGear games I had ever bought, and I must have played through it a dozen times by now. The game isn't particularly good by today's standards, but it was really enjoyable at the time and was also a great game to go back to due to its solid level design, and rock solid gameplay.

Gameplay 8/10
This game is your average 2D sidescrolling action game. You have a couple of weapons that you can swap at any time by pausing the game, and you'll do the usual platform hopping and boss battling. Unlike many other games, all the weapons here are useful too.

What really makes this game a bit different from other games is that before each mission, there's a shooting stage. You'll be in a car and dinosaurs will attack you. From time to time, you can also shoot down special dinosaurs for powerups that will increase your health life bar for the sidescrolling part of the mission. You can also pickup Medkits that you can use at any time by pausing the game. The shooting stages are pretty well done, and offer nice gameplay variety overall.

The sidescrolling levels are equally solid, with some fun boss battles, varied stages, and tight controls. The difficulty is also relatively easy, thus being very friendly for gamers of all ages. Story telling is also much better than what is usually expected from a GameGear game, especially one of this kind, and it does a decent job of getting you involved in the game.

Graphics 9/10
Graphics are pretty good for a GameGear game, with nice looking dinosaurs, and decent looking environments. Not the best that the system can offer, but definitely better than a lot of other games.

Sound 8/10
Nothing spectacular to say here, both music and sound effects are pretty generic. They are by no means bad though, and do the job reasonably well.

Final Verdict 8/10
Jurassic Park is a fine action title for fans of the movie or fans of sidescrolling action games. The game is good enough that it stays interesting after repeated playthroughs, and level variety means that you're never doing the exact same thing over and over. There's nothing really new ore truly impressive here, but the game is just a very polished package that will fit nicely into anyone's GameGear collection.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/16/06