Box Art
Game: Dino Crisis
First Released: July 1, 1999, Playstation
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Playstation, Dreamcast, Windows
Rated: M, for Animated Blood, Gore, and Violence
First Released: July 1, 1999, Playstation
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Playstation, Dreamcast, Windows
Rated: M, for Animated Blood, Gore, and Violence
How I Came To Play This Game
Battery Swapping
I have always been fascinated by dinosaurs ever since I was a little kid. I keep files on my Flash Drive about dinosaurs even to this date, and it is still growing. I wanted a game that you could hunt dinosaurs for fun. I tried out the Turok series, however, they were just to primitive for me to play. There was too many control problems, even in Turok: Evolution. However, when searching for a dinosaur series online, I found the Dino Crisis series. It blew my mind. A survival horror game where the enemies are prehistoric creatures, made by Capcom, and similar in design to Resident Evil. I had just finished reading the book by Michael Crichton, "Jurassic Park", so this was just what I was looking for.
Story
Tyrannosaurus Fight
The game takes place on a fictional location known as Ibis Island in the year 2009. The Secret Operation Raid Team (SORT) has sent an agent, Tom, to investigate a military research facility. During the recon mission, he learns that Doctor Edward Kirk, a world-renowned scientist who was reported dead three years ago, is leading a secret weapons project within the facility. SORT sends four agents (Regina, Gail, Rick, and Cooper) to acquire Kirk and return him to custody. They arrive onto the island via parachute. Cooper is blown off course and lands in a jungle. A tyrannosaur appears and chases him a short distance throughout the jungle before eating him. The other three agents, unaware of his death, proceed with the mission. Once inside the base, they discover the mutilated and partially devoured corpses of security personnel and scientists. Shortly thereafter, they discover that dinosaurs are the reason behind the bloodbath at the base. After evading and disposing of many dinosaurs, Regina and the team manage to locate Kirk and apprehend him. As they are preparing to leave via helicopter, the tyrannosaur returns and destroys the helicopter, forcing them to flee back into the base. Kirk reveals that the dinosaurs were brought to their time by an experiment he was running using his Third Energy technology. A rift in space was created and a pocket of the island from their time was exchanged with the same from the past, bringing dinosaurs back into their time. As the base becomes infested with more dinosaurs, and the tyrannosaur manages to gain entrance, the team discovers an underground river and a hovercraft. They use the hovercraft to escape before the Third Energy reactors, set to overload by Regina, detonate, wiping out all of the dinosaurs on the island and preventing them from escaping to the mainland.
Pros And Cons
Story
DDK Deciphering
The story has many similarities to Jurassic Park and Resident Evil. Examples such as the surprising ambushes by the dinosaurs are like Resident Evil, and one room had computers placed in such away it was like the kitchen scene from Jurassic Park. The way that the dinosaurs appeared in our time was good. The 3rd Energy idea was also good. However, the game was mostly boring. The only moving parts were the dinosaur ambushes.
Characters
Regina
The characters are a group called SORT, or Secret Operation Raid Team. They include five members. Tom who was sent in before, disguised as a researcher. Regina, Gail, Rick, and Cooper were sent in later after the incident. Sadly, Cooper was separated from the group at the start and eaten by the Tyrannosaurus. Also, a researcher named Dr. Kirk plays the role of a villain in the game. He is similar to Wesker in Resident Evil since all he cares about is the experiment.
Gameplay
A you can see, the raptor is way too big.
The controls of the game are very similar to Resident Evil. The only differences being that the 180 degree turn is a separate button, and you can shoot while moving. The gameplay of fighting the dinosaurs is another story. Did they even do their homework or copy from the movie Jurassic Park. Somehow, the Tyrannosaurus keeps coming after being shot several times in the head with the Shotgun. A real Tyrannosaurus would back off because of too much pain. Also, the Velociraptors are way too big. They even make Deinonychus look small. They are even bigger than the raptors in Jurassic Park. They take up to five Shotgun shells to kill. FIVE. Why five? It should only take at the most two shots, maybe 3 if you're far away. That is ridiculous. Also, the Grenade Launcher doesn't do much better than the Shotgun except more damage. One of the fights with the Tyrannosaurus you use the Grenade Launcher, and it survives several hits. The grenades should blow its head off. Therizinosaurs can also survive at least two grenades. Dinosaurs are not bullet proof. They're not like the giant Japanese movie monsters like Godzilla or Gamera, who are virtually indestructible. These are real creatures that once lived 65 million years ago. In the REAL WORLD. Therefore they should have the same real world weaknesses as we do today. The only excusable flaw is the fact that Therizinosaurs were not predators and did not eat meat. The skeleton was incomplete when they found it and the mystery still hadn't been solved when the game was made. Therizinosaurs were really long necked plant eaters that walked on two legs and had short stubby tails.
Link Here: http://dinosaurs.wikia.com/wiki/Therizinosaurus
Link Here: http://dinosaurs.wikia.com/wiki/Therizinosaurus
Graphics
First Chase
The graphics are a huge improvement from the Resident Evil series being that they are true 3D. In Resident Evil, every camera angle was actually just a 2D background picture. The 3D polygons would move up and down as well as grow and shrink in size to simulate a 3D enviornment. A neat trick to conserve memory and make a realistic game. However, the camera in Dino Crisis was a lot like Resident Evil Code Veronica, which moved with you.
Music
There really is no memorable music and you don't even notice it's there except during ambushes.
Releases
Dreamcast Box Art
Dino Crisis was first released in 1999 for the Playstation. It was then ported to the Dreamcast and Microsoft Windows in 2000.
My Rating
I give this game a 7/10 mostly because of its difficulty and poor choices of source material. Other than that it is a cool survival horror game where you can hunt dinosaurs.