Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition
Sega Genesis
When Jurassic Park debuted on the big screen back in 1993 it instantly spawned a number of video game adaptations across all consoles. While some people question whether a lot of these games were any good or just a quick attempt to cash in on a hot property, I liked all of them. That's right, all of them. There wasn't a single Jurassic Park game that I did not enjoy. Maybe I was just blinded by product loyalty. Maybe the whole slew of games wasn't actually that bad. But I liked 'em.
Due to the long gap in between movies, it should come as no surprise that after the initial slew of movie adaptations, there were several games based on Jurassic Park that were released that featured independent storylines and did not actually follow the plot of any of the films. One of these such titles was Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition for the Sega Genesis.
I got this game brand new for Christmas in 1994. I actually knew in advance that I was going to be getting this game since I had snooped around at my mom's house and found this hidden in a big bag of Christmas presents. Naughty boy.
The first time I played this game I was with my stepbrother. We were at my grandma's house on Christmas Day. Since he usually didn't accompany us to my grandmother's and he was an outsider, an exception was made and we were allowed to bring my Genesis to her house and play while everyone else talked and socialized and watched TV in the other room.
He had already played this game before, and knew all the tips and tricks. We set the fire button to turbo and blasted the living hell out of anything that had the audacity to make it's way onto the screen. One play through that lasted about an hour... and we beat the game.
Every year I usually got a game for Christmas and my birthday, which were 6 months apart. This game was supposed to tide me over till my birthday - and I beat it in one hour. To say that I was not happy was quite an understatement. I was very disappointed in this game.
For those who don't know, this is a side scrolling platformer set in the Jurassic Park world. As mentioned earlier this game is not actually based on the movie, but is set some indiscriminate amount of time after the movie concludes. I don't have the instruction manual anymore, nor do I feel like looking up the plot online. But using context clues I think I am able to piece it together.
You can choose to play as either Dr Grant or as a velociraptor.
If you play as Dr Grant, your goal is to collect DNA samples, dinosaur eggs, and other bits and pieces of scientific baubles that directly relate to the cloning of dinosaurs. Either the island is about to be destroyed and he is trying to save them from extinction (again) or someone has come to the island to steal all this shit and he is trying to keep it out of their hands. In addition to fighting dinosaurs you also fight enemy soldiers on the island. So either story line makes sense, I guess.
Gameplay is pretty typical side scrolling fair. You run, you jump, you collect health items and weapons. Your arsenal in this game is pretty cool. You get flamethrowers, lightning guns, shotguns, grenades, machine guns.... the list goes on.
There are three levels which are instantly accessible, and you can play them in any order you want. There is the savannah, where you rides a gallimimus from the left of the screen to the right, blasting the shit out of anything that moves. Then there is the aviary, where a pterodactyl takes you to the very top of its enclosure and deposits you in its nest. You basically just have to snatch the egg and jump and climb your way down back to the exit. Then there is the freighter, where you mainly battle enemy soldiers as you collect eggs and DNA samples. The boat eventually floods and crashes.
Once you have finished these levels, you have two more remaining. These must be played in a predetermined order. You have the ruins - where you collect more items and navigate the stage's maze like properties before riding off the screen like a boss on the back of a triceratops.And then you have the boat stage, where you wind through twisting waterfalls, collecting more shit and blasting away more dinosaurs. Once you clear the river, you face off with the T-Rex in his one and only appearance in the game. You basically unload your weapons in his face while fleeing down the river. Not much strategy involved. Once you make it past a certain point, the weak ending sequence plays, and the credits start to roll.
Basically Dr Grant pilots his little boat off to an awaiting freighter in the distance. After he disappears from view, a few seconds pass before a mysterious single gun shot echoes across the screen. And then the credits start to roll.
Huh? Did Dr Grant shoot somebody? Did somebody shoot Dr Grant? No elaboration on this is ever provided.
You can also play as the velociraptor. His/her goal is to escape the island. The three immediately accessible stages are the ruins, the savannah and the aviary. His/her final level is actually the freighter stage which was immediately available when playing as Dr Grant.
Playing as the raptor, you run around biting things, kicking things, and whipping them with your tail. Your goals are pretty much the same as Dr Grant's, but with some slight differences. For example in the savannah, you don't ride a gallimimus. You just run from left to right as fast as you can, kicking and biting the shit out of any spitters and asshole soldiers who get in your way. You can also take down helicopters by simply jumping into them. Yeah, you know you are a bad ass when you can take down a helicopter simply by jumping into it. In the aviary - the pterodactyl doesn't carry you up to the top. You have to climb to the top yourself and descend on the other side of the aviary to make it out. Basi changes.
The raptor also has this special ability to gobble up lysine boxes. After you eat enough of them, you go into rage mode. Everything turns red, and you can't be harmed. Anything that you happen to touch dies instantly. It doesn't last long, but it is a cool effect.
As mentioned, the raptor's final stage is the freighter. At the end of the stage, instead of the boat flooding, you face off with another raptor. For some reason, he is a bright red. Perhaps he is in rage mode? Anyway, it is not a tough fight. Once you defeat him, the game is over. The raptor stows away on the ship and it sails away into the sunset. To the mainland! Scary stuff. I was hoping for another game where you could play as the raptor wreaking havoc in the big city, but alas I never got one.
Right before the credits start to roll, the same single gunshot echoes across the screen. What does it mean?! Did someone kill the raptor? Did Grant encounter the raptor and fire at him? No wait in Grant's story the freighter flooded and he escaped on a different boat. What is going on?
Again, no explanation is tendered.
Despite being so quick and easy to beat, I still found some solid replay value in the game. Each stage has multiple paths you can take to get to the end. Also, there are lots of DNA shards and eggs and things of that nature that are hidden through out the game. I doubt I ever found all of them. And even if you do I don't think you get anything for them. But still it was fun looking for them.
The graphics in this game are a mixed bag. All the characters have a black outline surrounding them, which really makes them stand out awkwardly against the (mostly) lush backgrounds. Everything else looks fine to me, but the black lines always bugged me.
As for the sound, it isn't that great. Those freaking pterodactyls sound like an old deaf black woman shrieking at the top of her lungs. None of the sound effects from the movies are used. The raptors don't sound like raptors. The T-Rex doesn't sound like the T-Rex. It's sad really. None of the music really stands out to me, save for the savannah stage and the opening rock-like riff. But none of those are particularly good either.
You just have to look past some of these shortcomings and play it for what it is. A quick, easy to beat blow-the-hell-out-of-anything-that-moves side scroller. It's not particularly deep. But it's fun. Despite breezing through the game as a kid, I found that it was a bit more difficult as an adult. Especially without that turbo controller. You have to like tap out a rhythm as you fire or Grant just stands there firing one shot every couple seconds, which obviously isn't enough to do any kind of significant damage to your enemies. The raptor version of the game is still ridiculously easy though.
What I have described to you is basically what you get. I actually preferred the original Jurassic Park game for the Genesis, but this isn't bad. As long as you know what to expect coming in, you should have a fun time. If you have unrealistically high expectations, you will be let down. Perhaps I only like it for sentimental reasons. Maybe if I hadn't played it as a kid - and picked it up for the first time now I wouldn't like it. But I do. To an extent.
Overall:
B-
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