Jurassic Park The Game Review
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One of the most greatest film franchise returns to the gaming world again. Telltale takes a shot at the beloved franchise. Is this worth another trip into the park? Or should these dinosaurs remain instinct?
Story - The story follows the events during Jurassic Park and before The Lost World. Think of it as Jurassic Park 1.5. The story is center around the missing embryos that is lost in the first film. Remember the fat guy who got eaten by the Dilophosaurus, yeah his embryo. Anyway a female mercenary is sent in to retrieve the embryo. Naturally things go wrong, and she ends up meeting up with other survivors on the island. One person she meets is Gerry Harding a dino doctor on the island and his daughter Jessica. Together with a two people from a rescue team and an Ingen scientist they must band together to get off the island.
The story does fair job of making you feel nostalgic about the first movie. The characters are interesting, but not deeply explored. The most interesting character is actually Jessica Harding, the daughter of the dino doctor. She is just your average teen, going through teenange problems. She is a rebel, gets into trouble and she is the most interesting out of all them. For the most part the story keeps the feel of Jurassic Park, with it's scientific explanations, random encounters with Dino's and music from the soundtrack. I just wish the characters we're better developed so we can actually care if they got eaten or not.
Gameplay - The gameplay is really non existent. The game is packed with quick time events over cutscenes. This plays as an interactive film, similar to Heavy Rain only with a lot more bugs, more lip sync issues, and smaller indication of what button to press. You don't move your character around like previous installments like Back To The Future. Instead you select the location, of where your character will go. The quick time events would be a breeze, if they made the indicators more easier to see. Countless times I found myself either, pressing any button to see which one will work, or leaning towards the television to see what button to press. This became very frustrating becomes sometimes the quick time is unresponsive when you clearly press the button. The puzzles in the game are very simple and not challenging. Overall the game is a interactive movie, where you press buttons from time to time. I expected more from a Jurassic Park game.
Gameplay Video
Graphics - The graphics is not the best and it will feel a little outdated. However this is Telltale interpretation of Jurassic Park, it works for their universe. Does it work for Jurassic Park universe? The answer is no, Jurassic Park is a dark gritty world, but you don't get a dark gritty feel. Instead it kind of looks kid friendly, the designs are bland and a lot of graphic hiccups, like framerate issues during cutscenes.
Sound - The voice acting is pretty good. The actors make the characters believable and watchable. There are a few over the top performances, but those characters didn't live long enough for you to care. The music is great with John Williams composition, you'll get the original Jurassic Park theme and a track from The Lost World. There are a few compositions that are original but not done by John Williams, for the most part it's pretty good. The sound of the Dino's are intact and it really makes you feel part of Jurassic Park.
Replay Value - There is no replay value here, this a one trip back into the park.
Final Grade D-/5.5 - Jurassic Park has a decent story, you'll find out who is responsible for the dinosaurs surviving. You'll get a soap opera Father and Daughter story. However the buggy glitches, the small quick time indicators make this a one time trip. Final Grade D-/5.5.
Story - The story follows the events during Jurassic Park and before The Lost World. Think of it as Jurassic Park 1.5. The story is center around the missing embryos that is lost in the first film. Remember the fat guy who got eaten by the Dilophosaurus, yeah his embryo. Anyway a female mercenary is sent in to retrieve the embryo. Naturally things go wrong, and she ends up meeting up with other survivors on the island. One person she meets is Gerry Harding a dino doctor on the island and his daughter Jessica. Together with a two people from a rescue team and an Ingen scientist they must band together to get off the island.
The story does fair job of making you feel nostalgic about the first movie. The characters are interesting, but not deeply explored. The most interesting character is actually Jessica Harding, the daughter of the dino doctor. She is just your average teen, going through teenange problems. She is a rebel, gets into trouble and she is the most interesting out of all them. For the most part the story keeps the feel of Jurassic Park, with it's scientific explanations, random encounters with Dino's and music from the soundtrack. I just wish the characters we're better developed so we can actually care if they got eaten or not.
Gameplay - The gameplay is really non existent. The game is packed with quick time events over cutscenes. This plays as an interactive film, similar to Heavy Rain only with a lot more bugs, more lip sync issues, and smaller indication of what button to press. You don't move your character around like previous installments like Back To The Future. Instead you select the location, of where your character will go. The quick time events would be a breeze, if they made the indicators more easier to see. Countless times I found myself either, pressing any button to see which one will work, or leaning towards the television to see what button to press. This became very frustrating becomes sometimes the quick time is unresponsive when you clearly press the button. The puzzles in the game are very simple and not challenging. Overall the game is a interactive movie, where you press buttons from time to time. I expected more from a Jurassic Park game.
Gameplay Video
Graphics - The graphics is not the best and it will feel a little outdated. However this is Telltale interpretation of Jurassic Park, it works for their universe. Does it work for Jurassic Park universe? The answer is no, Jurassic Park is a dark gritty world, but you don't get a dark gritty feel. Instead it kind of looks kid friendly, the designs are bland and a lot of graphic hiccups, like framerate issues during cutscenes.
Sound - The voice acting is pretty good. The actors make the characters believable and watchable. There are a few over the top performances, but those characters didn't live long enough for you to care. The music is great with John Williams composition, you'll get the original Jurassic Park theme and a track from The Lost World. There are a few compositions that are original but not done by John Williams, for the most part it's pretty good. The sound of the Dino's are intact and it really makes you feel part of Jurassic Park.
Replay Value - There is no replay value here, this a one trip back into the park.
Final Grade D-/5.5 - Jurassic Park has a decent story, you'll find out who is responsible for the dinosaurs surviving. You'll get a soap opera Father and Daughter story. However the buggy glitches, the small quick time indicators make this a one time trip. Final Grade D-/5.5.
