Product description
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Disc(s) only. Ships in generic case. Disc(s) are professoinally
cleaned. Guaranteed functional or replacement.
.com
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Note to Parents: Realistic violence, gore, horror
An abandoned research complex on a remote jungle island, a team
of special forces operatives, a horde of vicious velociraptors,
and one big, mean Tyrannosaurus rex constitute the setting and
cast of Dino Crisis, the latest masterpiece from the makers of
Resident Evil.
You play as Regina, a member of a four-person team sent to
retrieve an expatriate scientist. Your radio man became a
midnight snack for the T.rex, so it's up to you and your two
remaining teammates to explore a dino-infested research station,
rescue the scientist, call for a helicopter retrieval, and escape
with your lives. Along the way you'll uncover the grizzly remains
of those who got in the dinosaurs' way, and you'll unravel the
mystery of how a top-secret energy research project turned into a
Jurassic nightmare.
And about those dinosaurs: they're all over the island. One
instant you'll be walking along a second-story balcony, admiring
the view, the next instant you'll be dodging a T.rex as it
smashes its huge maw through the concrete walls. Velociraptors
chase you down blood-spattered corridors, flying reptiles circle
the outdoor areas, and your only weapons are your pistol,
whatever else you can salvage, a dwindling supply of ammunition,
and your wits.
Packed with clever puzzles and heart-pounding surprises, all
superbly presented with realistic graphics and horror-movie
camera angles, Dino Crisis is a triumph of survival-horror
gaming. --Mike Fehlauer
Pros:
* Great sound effects and music
* Well-integrated, varied, and clever puzzles
* Awe-inspiring, terrifying dinosaurs
* Branching story line improves replay value
Cons:
* Doors impervious to explosives
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Review
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When you're Capcom, there's no such thing as too much of a good
thing. This is evidenced by the impending deluge of Resident
Evil/Biohazard spin-offs; Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Resident
Evil 3: Nemesis, Oni-Musha (the RE-style samurai game), and now
Dino Crisis. A brand new excursion into the world of
survival-horror, Dino Crisis is a fresh experience that abandons
that creepy Umbrella laboratory for a taste of Jurassic Park. Not
only that, but Dino Crisis is unique in that it so closely
borrows from the RE series. But in regards to the storyline, this
game is not related to it Resident Evil at all.
Conceived and directed by Shinji Mikami, the mastermind behind
the RE games, Dino Crisis will be very familiar to anyone who's
played the Resident Evil games. The dramatic camera perspectives,
the control scheme, and the eerie settings are all classic
Mikami. However, instead of slow-moving zombies shuffling after
you like drunks staggering home, you're faced with velociraptors
and other big lizards with lightning-fast reflexes and huge
appetites.
"This isn't a joke, you idiot! We were just attacked by a big-ass
lizard!" says Dino Crisis femme-ale, Regina, to her
computer-expert cohort, Rick, who, at the time, is trying to
unlock electronically secured doors throughout the base where
you've been searching for the missing Dr. Kirk. Your other
teammate, Gail, is missing, and the last you heard from him were
some aborted screams and the sound of fire.
As you might now know, the backgrounds in Dino Crisis are fully
polygonal as sed to prerendered CG stills, like they are in
Resident Evil. Perhaps it took Capcom all this time to get up to
speed with the PlayStation hardware, but this makes all the
difference in the world. Despite being completely 3D, the game
still moves at the same speed as its brethren, without any
slowdown. The game's graphics are also very sharp and appear to
be running in a medium to high resolution. The character models
are very well done, with excellent light-sourcing effects, giving
Regina and her posse a very solid feel. The use of polygonal
backgrounds enhances the feeling of fear even more than Resident
Evil. For example, when you're walking down a hallway, viewed
from a typical RE-ish perspective, it becomes even more tense
when the camera angle suddenly pivots to an overhead perspective
or swings to a worm's-eye view. The engine also allows for
shifting camera positions rendered on the fly, keeping Dino
Crisis moving along at a quicker tempo than Resident Evil's.
Thankfully, the camera, with all its flexibility, is not abused
or overused by any means. It is used sparingly, and only to
enhance rather than to distract.
Since the game is completely 3D, it is not as easy to pick out
necessary clues as it had been in Resident Evil because
everything looks uniform. In Resident Evil you'd be able to tell
what to look out for since the polygonal details would stick out
from the prerendered backgrounds. In Dino Crisis, you must really
be on the lookout for anything and everything. The camera angles
are vintage RE, designed to provide the maximum tension possible.
If that weren't enough, the soundtrack is designed to provide
chills and thrills as well. The simple act of walking down a
hallway becomes a terrifying exercise in fear when the violins
start playing. If you're not too chicken, this game is best
played in the dark with the volume up.
As previously stated, the controls in Dino Crisis are virtually
identical to Resident Evil's, with a couple of crucial
enhancements. Since the basic control configuration works well
enough, potential problems arise since velociraptors are a lot
quicker and savvier than RE's zombies. As a result, adjustments
to the combat system were necessary to avoid an unwanted
Regina-burger. When you press the R2 button, your character does
a 180-degree turnabout, allowing you to put some space between
you and your pursuer before turning around and filling your
nent with lead. The second enhancement is the ability to walk
with your held out, primed to fire. While you walk slower
with your outstretched, it sure beats making a sitting duck
of yourself each time you want to fire your weapon. With all this
meat-eating terror stalking the hallways (and windows and
air-vents, etc.) it would get annoying to have to manage the
ribbon-saving system found in Resident Evil. Instead, Dino Crisis
features save rooms that prompt you to record your data whenever
you attempt to leave or pass through one of these rooms. The
number of times you save (or continue, should you die) affects
your final score/rating and should be used sparingly.
The details in Dino Crisis are excellent too. If she takes a
little damage, Regina will hold her side, limping a bit. If she
takes a lot of damage, she'll be absolutely stagger around.
She'll also drip blood on the floor, adding to the realism in
Dino Crisis. Fortunately, there are plenty of power-ups (
kits, weapons, etc.), and an accessory-customization system
similar to the one in Parasite Eve. Other things like head
tracking, and auto-ing sort out any additional combat-oriented
complaints from the RE series as well. Interestingly, analog
support does not seem to be featured, although the Dual Shock
action is intact. Loading times between rooms are also severely
reduced, due to the polygonal environments that take less space
to store in memory.
So, from the looks of things, it appears as if Capcom has another
winner on its hands. Dino Crisis is less disturbing than the RE
series, but possibly more frightening since each of the creatures
in DC hold about the same shock value as the Dobermans did in
Resident Evil. While cannibalizing its own library could have
backfired with a "been there, done that" aftertaste, Dino Crisis
walks away under the strength of its own merits. The control
improvements and graphic reinvention make DC its own game, with
little owed to Resident Evil. The storyline is sound, and the
replay value is high, with three different endings to reveal and
a multitude of secrets to find (multiple costumes, a timed
dinosaur hunt, mini Regina and giant Regina, etc.). With
Oni-Musha, Nemesis, and Code Veronica on the horizon, Capcom
might have this genre all to itself. While games like Carrier,
Blue Stinger, and Alone In the Dark 4 will try and crowd the
limelight with similar offerings, for the time being, it looks as
if Capcom is king of the survival-horror hill. (James Mielke)
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot
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