Jurassic Park

I’ll openly admit that I’m a dinosaur nut. I bought Michael Crichton’s book, when it first came out, I saw the movie when it first came out, and I got this game when it first came out. But I must say that this game is mediocre at best. There have been much worse movie-turned-video-game titles, but there have also been much better ones. Jurassic Park the SNES game follows the movie very, very loosely. By: Catfish_82

Graphics: 10/10

The graphics on this game were perhaps its most redeeming quality. The 2-D outside part was well rendered, although they did use repeating segments for the trees. The buildings, cliffs, plants etc. were nicely detailed. And the dinosaurs looked great. However, where Jurassic Park differs from your run of the mill side scrollers, is when you were inside the buildings. There you were treated to a 3-D world, as seen through goggles. This is Jurassic Park’s one true innovative feature. (Although I do admit, I don’t know when Doom came out, so I couldn’t tell you if it was stolen from that.)

Characters: 7.5/10

Ocean blew it on this one. Instead of only one playable character, (Alan Grant) they should have included Ellie Sattler, Ian Malcom, those kids; I forget their names right now, or even Dennis Nedry. Instead they make cameos via the pop-up screens that tell you what to do. Now the dinosaurs I had no complaint with. The dinosaurs looked awesome, and I was pleased to find that Compy’s were included in the dino line up.

Sound: 2/10

I have mixed emotions about the music. On one hand, it is good, and it does seem to go with the scenes, i.e. fast scary music when the T-Rex is near, and slower creepy music when you’re in buildings. The only problem I had with the music is that the timing is off. For instance I would go to a place where the music should change up, but instead of doing it instantly it takes a few seconds. Also the scream the raptors make when they leap out at your or you kill them is off. Its bad enough to where I could shoot a raptor and be in the next screen before I’d hear it’s roar.

Replay value: 0/10

Oh boy, this is the area where the games shortcomings come to a head. The first few missions you go on are the only ones where you’re not bored or frustrated. From clearing the ship out onwards the game is just dull and repetitive. The ship and the raptor’s nest are the two most annoying and frustrating missions to undertake. I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten all the way through the ship only to get stuck due to a glitch in the software. Also, thrown in just to make you feel even more like pulling out your hair, you must collect about 19 or so raptor eggs. All that withstanding, I would give this section a two out of ten, but the ending totally ruins it. The beginning where you circle over the island is easily a hundred times better than the ending.

Overall Score: 0/10

So sadly I’d have to say this game really isn’t worth picking up unless you’re just a die-hard dinosaur nut, or a sucker like in my case.