During the survival horror boom of the 90s, developers were thinking up whatever situation
they could to place heroes in overpowering danger and have them fight for their lives.
Capcom was great at this with Resident Evil and decided to make a new series off that
it, but simply change the enemies.
So many people bash this game as simply Resident Evil with dinosaurs instead of zombies.
And my argument has always been, holy cow, it’s Resident Evil with dinosaurs.
What could be cooler than that?
You play as Regina, a soldier sent to a secluded island with a recon team who are charged with
investing the facility on the island.
Soon, trouble happens and Regina and company realize there is more to the island and that
they are in for the fight of their lives.
The game plays very similarly to a Resident Evil game, with the fixed camera and control
system.
It even has the loading screens showing your characters opening a door.
But the game does show some new moves, like the camera will do a cool trick and follow
Regina down some corridors.
It is little things like this that make the game feel unique and its own.
But the game does pull a big time bait and switch on you.
If you ever saw an ad, or read the back of the jewel case, you would think that this
is going to be non-stop dinosaur killing action.
Where in reality, it is quite the opposite.
You see, even with all her skills, Regina does as well one on one against a velociraptor
as you or me would.
And that is to say, not very well.
So at least for the beginning part of the game, you will come to fear the dinosaurs
rather than anticipate them.
You turn a corner and hear a growl, and most likely you are planning your escape route
rather than your attack strategy.
And that is one thing I really liked about this game.
Resident Evil had slow, groaning zombies that would get you with numbers.
Here, that fear is there when you see one dinosaur, making the entire game super intense.
Throw in the massive amount of puzzles that will leave you scratching your head, and a
climactic fight against a T-Rex, and you have one very entertaining game.
Dino Crisis is one of the highlights of the survival horror genre, doing what survival
horror should, having you grip your controller the entire time.
You never feel safe which makes you fear the next encounter because your next encounter
could very well be your last.