Jurassic Park: The Game
By TellTale Games
Genre: Cinematic action/adventure
Rating: Teen (Blood, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco, Violence)
Back in the early 90s, there was written a book by the late, great Michael Crichton, about a Latin American island that’s become home to strange and exciting experiments concerning dinosaurs and related species. This book was made into a series of epic movies… only the first of which we’ll concern ourselves with in our discussion today.
There was a rather unscrupulous IT engineer by the name of Dennis Nedry, who, seeing profits in selling the engineered embryos of the dinosaurs, attempted to smuggle them out in a specially prepared can of shaving cream. Unfortunately, he lost the can and was summarily eaten by a double-crested spitting lizard, or dilophosaur.
The story of the can and the motivations of those seeking it are the focus of our protagonists: a Latina mercenary, her ill-fated boss, and Head Vet Gerry Harding and his daughter Jessi are the protagonists in the first part; there are three more that follow the exploits of inGen, the island’s sponsor and park creator, and its efforts to recover the embryos.
Gameplay is quite unique among modern games, taking many cues from the PlayStation 3 exclusive called Heavy Rain; you look around a scene and press a specific button to interact with that area. You don’t control the characters directly in these scenes; rather you indicate what they should do. The scenes involving direct control of the protagonists require some effort on your part, whether holding or hammering on buttons, rotating sticks, or keeping a target within a constantly moving designated area.
You’re awarded medals based on how fast you react in these truly life-and-death scenarios, with an average of 12 per chapter; indeed, this is the first Telltale game in which death is a very real possibility. In some cases, a bone-crunching fatality will result if you’re too slow or inaccurate in your movements; in others, the scene will continue in a slightly different way if you fail. Replay is very much encouraged once you’ve learned all the movements of the QTE-laden scenarios, in order to get the gold, which is rewarded for a perfect play.
The graphics are a step above most Telltale efforts, owing to the more realistic and serious setting of the game. The voice acting is very reminiscent of the acting we heard in the original movie, and evokes the danger and intrigue of the setting quite well. The bone-rattling shrieks and cries of the dinosaurs and other animals are also rendered quite beautifully, lending pure terror to your travels. And the control methods are unique, if taking a bit to get used to.
In all, I believe this is a great game very worthy of the Jurassic Park name, and highly recommend it to everyone! Five out of five!