Jurassic Park was an amazing film back in the 90s. Not only was it a wonder to see those dinosaurs on the big screen, but it had plenty of scares for a PG-13 movie. Obviously, the developers at Capcom were fans, as well. They apparently went out of their way to try to recreate that sense of dread in Dino Crisis. While it doesn't quite reach the heights of Spielberg's masterpiece, it is still a good survival horror game with HEAVY emphasis on the "survival" part.
Like with the Resident Evil franchise, Dino Crisis is a horror game revolving around science experiments gone horribly wrong. A missing scientist who'd been trying to develop a new form of energy suddenly turns up at a remote facility. As the rescue team consisting of the leader Gail, the tech expert Rick, and the player character Regina search for him, they learn that the new energy experiments opened a hole into the past, pulling the killer lizards into the present. The story is better told than Resident Evil, complete with MUCH better voice acting, but there's just no denying that the story itself is weaker. Despite the higher stakes involved with the more vicious opponents, it just doesn't have the same sense of mystery that Resident Evil had.
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However, while it lacked in the story, Dino Crisis made up in the atmosphere. The synthesized soundtrack gave me the same sense of unease that I experience while watching Halloween 3. The switch to a fully polygonal environment over the prerendered cameras of its sister series allowed for dynamic shots that worked beautifully. The T-Rex chases just wouldn't have worked with static camera views. Unfortunately, the game wasn't optimized for the stronger Dreamcast hardware. While the textures are smoother than with the original Playstation release, they still warp at certain angles, making the game a bit of an eyesore. Not only that, but there is also nothing added into the Dreamcast release in terms of features or modes aside from stats showing up on the VMU screen. It's the very definition of a quick and dirty port from the Playstation.
Gameplay stays largely true to the classic Resident Evil template for better or worse. Regina's tank controls are instantly recognizable for anyone who had played Resident Evil. However, while tank controls sufficed when dealing with lumbering zombies, they barely work when confronted with lightning fast Raptors. Battles are a bit more strategic as there are tranquilizers in addition to standard ammo. The tranks can knock the dinos out in one shot, but they won't stay down forever. There are also a few quick-time events, but they definitely don't handle that well. The game is much more puzzle-focused than Resident Evil. While the puzzles are more involved than the other series, they generally fall into a few standard types that are repeated over and over again. I got tired of dealing with the DDK locks by the end.
While it had been derided as just Resident Evil with dinosaurs by many, Dino Crisis does provide a different experience from its sister franchise. It managed to capture a sense of terror that's far removed from what you get from a bunch of zombies. While the gameplay is pretty routine for the time and the Dreamcast port is rather sloppy, it still succeeded in giving me the sense of dread that I got when I saw Jurassic Park the first time. It may not be the apex predator of the game world, but it's definitely not the prey.
