Video Game Review #490: Dino Crisis

Dino Crisis

PlayStation

Nostalgia Factor:

I have fond memories of renting Dino Crisis back in 1999 when the game first came out. I was in love with the idea of playing what was essentially a Resident Evil game with dinosaurs. I struggled mightily with the game the weekend that I'd rented it. Normally I breeze through Resident Evil games, but I kept getting stuck on Dino Crisis left and right. I specifically remember the puzzles being very challenging.

I never beat Dino Crisis that weekend, but I came back and rented the game again a few weeks later. This is where my memories start to get fuzzy. If you'd asked me just two weeks ago if I'd beaten the game, I would have said yes. But now that I've played through the whole thing here in present times, I can safely say that I never beat this as a kid. None of the endgame looked familiar, and there is absolutely no way I would have been able to do this without the help of the internet. So I guess my memories were wrong. I never beat this game when I was younger.

I still have fond memories of it, though. Would it hold up in the modern day? Debatable. Read onward for my full impressions.

Story:

You play as Regina, a special forces agent who is dropped onto an island where a scientist (who is long believed dead) is doing top secret work. Foul play is suspected, so with some inside help from someone on the island, you are sent in to retrieve the scientist and bring him back for questioning.

Immediately, the plan falls apart. Your team is disbanded by dinosaur attacks. Everyone on the island is dead. You have to fight through an island full of dinosaurs to uncover the mystery of what is going on and track down the missing scientist. As you can probably guess, it was his experimentation that led to the dinosaurs appearing on the island.

The game's story isn't particularly interesting, but it does throw multiple branching paths in your way, which adds to its replay value. I believe there are up to three different endings as well. I certainly won't be playing through this game a second (or even a third time), so I guess the only way I'll ever see those endings is if I look them up on YouTube.

Gameplay:

Anyone familiar with classic Resident Evil will feel right at home when playing Dino Crisis. It utilizes the same tank controls, similar item management, a similar map system, similar puzzles, similar combat, and similar gameplay mechanics, all of which you've seen in classic Resident Evil games before. They don't even try to hide it. This is a Resident Evil game in everything but its name.

Your goal is to traverse the facility on the island and track down the missing scientist. Along the way you'll encounter dinosaurs that you can either battle or run away from. Ammo is scarce in the early goings of the game, so I mainly chose to run. Later on in the game, I often opted to fight. It all depends on the situation.

Unlike Resident Evil, you can't just stand there and shoot an enemy until it dies. The enemies in this game are quick and fast. If you stand in one spot emptying your handgun into a raptor, you are going to take a lot of damage from it. That's where the tranquilizer shots come in. You can hit your enemies with a dart and make them fall down, at which point you can unload your weapon into them.

As the game goes on, you pick up things like shotguns and grenade launchers. They definitely come in handy, as some of the late game dinosaurs can be quite tough.

An interesting mechanic is how dinosaurs will follow you from room to room if you do not kill them. This gives you some incentive to take them out, so you don't have to run from them all the time. They just keep coming after you if you don't take care of them. I like how they do this. Makes it feel suspenseful, like you are being stalked. Just like Jurassic Park when the raptors have learned how to open doors. 

Dino Crisis is much more puzzle heavy and much more map-reliant than Resident Evil. The puzzles in Resident Evil tend to be pretty simple and obvious. The puzzles here are much harder. I got lost, or didn't know what I was supposed to do sooooo many times playing this. Luckily I could just look up where I was supposed to go online. Back in 1999, I didn't have this option. That makes this game so much more difficult than Resident Evil. There is no blowing through this game in one weekend. If you want to beat Dino Crisis, you've got to sit down and get serious.

My biggest gripe about the game is its lack of direction. They purposely seem to make things difficult for the players. When you read a journal entry in this game, it will often contain a number combination for a safe, or some important information that you need to know. But for some reason, this game doesn't track your journal entries like Resident Evil. You can't pause the game, open your menu, and read through them to locate the password you need. No, no. The game makes you memorize these things. If you don't write them down, you might as well forget about it. You can backtrack and find the journal and read it again, but nothing is marked on the map, so good luck finding that specific journal entry you need.

The game also has some annoying puzzles when it comes to opening certain keypads. You have to use your brain and decipher the password using clues listed on the side of the screen. They start out easy, but quickly get too complicated for my dumb ass to figure out. What is this, a video game or a homework assignment?

It's never quite clear where you need to go on the game's map. Sometimes they'll mark your destination with a glowing red icon, but for the most part you are left to wander aimlessly on your own. Key items that you need to pick up, or computers you need to access blend into the background. I found myself walking past something obvious that I should have seen dozens of times as I played. Imagine the frustration when you've explored the entire map, there are no glowing destinations to head to, and there absolutely no hints as to where you are supposed to go or what you are supposed to do next. I am not saying the game needs to hold your hand, but abandoning the players and forcing them to wander aimlessly is very frustrating game design.

In the end, I was surprised to find that I didn't really have much fun with Dino Crisis. I love the concept, and I seem to have some fond memories of the game growing up. But it just didn't quite do it for me at the age of 41.

 

Graphics:

I think the game looks pretty good. The environment of the game, with its sterile offices and laboratories, isn't very visually stimulating. The characters and the dinosaurs are the bread and butter of this game, especially the dinosaurs. This is everything you'd want in a game that is essentially a Jurassic Park/Resident Evil hybrid.

Everything in this game is fully rendered in 3D, even the environments. This isn't like Resident Evil with its 2D environments. I'd say the look and feel of the game is more like Metal Gear Solid than anything else. I personally like this game's graphics quite a bit, although I admit it could have used some variety from its endless hallways, laboratories, and offices. Everything is just so grey.

Sound:

The music and voice acting is on par with anything you'd hear in a Resident Evil game. Even the sound you make when you make selections on the menu is identical. If you closed your eyes and didn't know any better, you'd swear this was a Resident Evil game.

Overall:

I really wish I'd have had a better time with this game. I had such high hopes for it, such fond memories playing it as a 17 year old kid. But as an adult, I just didn't find much joy in it. It's confusing, it's meandering, it's slow moving, it's bland, and I get the feeling that it thinks its better than it actually is.

If this was a mainline Resident Evil game, it would rank as the worst game in the series for me. In fact, I'd compare it more to something like Deep Fear for the Saturn. It gave off a lot of similar vibes. Two games that look, feel, and are obviously inspired by Resident Evil, but are lacking that element of fun, joy, accessibility, and surprise that the RE series contains.

This is definitely a better game than Deep Fear, but to be honest, I do not see a future in which I ever return and play this game again. I'll still check out its sequel, because I am curious about it. But this game? Not really my cup of tea. Which is sad, because you'd think it would be right up my alley.

THE GRADE:

C-

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