Games

For this part of my research I will be looking at dinosaurs in games, I’m going to be looking at a range of  games from different platforms and generations to to give myself a broad and varied out look on how the dinosaur has been portrayed in this medium.

The main genres I will be looking at RTS, FPS,RPG and action adventure.

Jurassic Park Operation Genesis.

Operation Genesis is a theme park simulator similar to the theme park and zoo tycoon series from universal interactive and Blue Tongue released on multiple platforms last generation in 2002. The game play is simple, build you own Jurassic Park and make sure it stays open, simple. The game run just like theme park world but instead of rides you build enclosures, breed dinosaurs, research upgrades, build tours and safaris. The original cast of dinosaurs are back with a few new ones which adds a bit of variety.

Jurassic Park Operation Genesis is ok as far as theme park Sims go obviously coming from a film franchise it lacks any depth and has allot of bugs and graphic issues, but apart from that its quite enjoyable theirs nothing more fun than “accidentally” deleting the fence to the T-Rex enclosure and watching hordes of visitors run in terror around the park to find there is no escape and that they are a buffay on legs, hours of fun. =P

Here is the original E3 trailer and some concept art.

The Turok Series

Turok began his life back in 1997 for the N64 and has ran on for seven games in total and has had a release for the past three generations.

The most successful and popular games of the series were the original N64 titles which spanned four titles, unfortunately the releases after that seemed to lack quality and substance.

The most resent release is simply named Turok and the franchise had been taken over and is the first release by Touchstone Interactive. Visually the games not bad the dinosaurs or modeled and animated well but thats about it, unfortunately the game felt rushed and lacked in just about anything, this iteration of turok sees him as a intergalactic marine (space marine…) and the narrative seems to be a mishmash of Aliens, Dino Crisis and original Turok story. The game play is just as bad with poor half assed stealth sections, linear levels and some of the worst guns I have ever had the misfortune to use, they were that bad I just ended up using the trusty knife the whole time. Originally I was quite looking forward to buying Turok but upon finishing it I was more than happy to trade it in, it could of been so much more but well… there we go.

Below is the original E3 trailer for the new Turok and images of it predecessors.

Dino Crisis 2 “Its a subtle blend of lateral thinking and extreme violence”

I can just imagine the day in the Capcom board room “we need a new game idea”

“how about Resident Evil with dinosaurs instead of zombies!” and I bet that exactly how it happened…..Maybe.

Dino Crisis 2 is the sequel to 1999’s Dino Crisis and was released back in 2000. I’m only reviewing the second one because thats the only one I played, but it was lots of fun. The story carrys on exactly were the previous game ended and sees Regina from the original joined by a new team mate and playable character Dylan Morton. The narrative is a bit far fetched and plays a bit like a detective survival horror but its is emersive none the less, the graphics were top notch for the time the only thing that I found a bit lame was the game play I was never really a fan of the original Resident Evil series and this plays exactly the same only a bit more fast paced.

Below is another vid and some images.

Monster Hunter 2 Freedom

The game was released on the PSP in 2007 and its an RPG but unlike other RPGs it has no story or narrative. The object of the game is to Hunt the creatures of the world and better you equipment, simple. one of my favorite part of MHF2 is the multilayer were you and a few mates can hunt together and tacitly take one of the bigger creatures down. The game looks great and captures the feel of the JRPG nicely, the weapon ideas are fresh and original and look great as well as the armour. I’d say that the only faults with MHF2 is that the lack of any story, the later beasts are very hard to bring down on your own, the camera and controls could do with revising because it can get pretty awkward in tense situations. The creature design in creative and well thort out and has given me allot of inspiration for my design process.

below is the intro movie and a few images.