Jurassic Park: The Game Reviews

  • rotorschneerotorschnee473,790
    04 Dec 2011 05 Dec 2011
    37 8 8
    Due to the cinematic nature of Jurassic Park, spoilers will be inherent in this review.

    Jurassic Park is the newest offering from adventure-genre extraordinaries Telltale as well as the newest entrant in the Jurassic Park IP. The new game eschews traditional gameplay mechanics, even by Telltale's standards, and offers what can be best summarized as a "beefier" Dragon's Lair or a lesser Heavy Rain. In essence, it's an interactive movie. Depending on if you like this sort of genre or not will give an indication how you might receive the game.

    For the purposes of this review, I think starting off on the wrong foot (the cons) is a bit more conducive.

    To begin with, the game is extremely short. Jurassic Park is divided into 4 episodes, and each can be finished in about 30 minutes or less. Factor in perhaps another hour or 2 for achievement cleanup, and you're looking at a four hour game.While the price for Jurassic Park is relatively low (currently at $39.99), this is still way more expensive than other offerings from Telltale that offer adventure games with more playing time (such as Sam & Max). The game has a modicum of replayability, getting gold stars in each scenario, but even these don't take as long and you are not rewarded for gold starring everything (except for personal satisfaction).

    The game does suffer from antiquated graphics. Graphics may not be a make or break for me, and I am usually pretty forgiving on this front (see Deadly Premonition), but in the case of Jurassic Park everything seems muted. The island doesn't look vibrant, animations look awkward (Harding walks like he is a brick on 2 legs), and the set pieces don't have enough detail to look interesting enough.

    The game is also not challenging at all. Any person familiar with QTEs will breeze through all the sequences of the game. When you do fail and have to repeat the sequences, the QTEs and their order remain the same. I am not sure if this is a good thing (since it allows you to master each section) or a bad thing (since it really poses no challenge). Puzzles take second fiddles to the QTEs - but there is no inventory or any truly logic puzzles going on here. The puzzles are reduced to looking at/talking to/interacting with nouns on the screen in the proper sequence and that's it. The game's easy nature may be a welcome to achievement hunters, but in the end it's fairly unrewarding for the most part (although the achievement for doing a perfect QTE event in the fight against Yoder was pretty intensive and felt rewarding).

    So brevity (especially for price), sub par graphics and animations, and uninspired gameplay and difficulty make up the cons. What are the positives?

    Since the game is approached mostly as an interactive movie, Jurassic Park nails that. The story is treated as the most important facet of the game, and that shows. It feels awesome to return to Isla Nebular and to have an extension of the Jurassic Park story.

    For the majority, the characters are fleshed out quite well, and you find yourself liking characters that you originally are not supposed to like. Example: the mercenaries Yoder and Oscar seem cliche at first. You're originally sympathetic to Yoder because you have the most control over him and he fights to keep everyone else cool headed. You despise Oscar because he's a big beefy guy who gets into skirmishes with Nima. However by chapter 3 the tables turned. Yoder turns into a greedy merc while Oscar takes out a raptor single handed (in which is perhaps the coolest sequence in the entire game) and sacrifices himself to save the other survivors. The 180 flip on his character was unexpected, handled awesome and provides an extra dimension to his character.

    The little kid role (as is mandated by any Jurassic Park movie/game) is filled by Hardings daughter Jess who is not as annoying as most kids are. There are a few awkward moments in the game such as Jess running off the smoke and acting out against her dad because she's a rebellious teen that seem out of place in a game were you are being chased by raptors, but they are few and far between.

    Harding is the only character that exists in both the original movie and this game, providing a basic, canonical link. I will have to say this was the perfect opportunity to have Muldoon show up, positing he survived the raptor attack. That would've increased the awesomeness of the story/game 10 fold.

    Nima plays the archtype strong willed woman fighting for her daughter. Though cliche, I grew to like her character. There is a moment in episode one right after she fixes the jeep in the dark. She looked up, and she's got this smug, but confident smirk on her face, and it just nailed her character in a nutshell. I wish I could screen shot it, since most games don't capture faces very well, but this was an instance that it was beautiful delivery.

    Story and characters aside, the game also excels at sound. Every time the T-rex shows up and lets out his wail, it sounds dead on and gives you the goosebumps. The dinosaurs may not be the most life-like looking, but they sure as heck sound good. During these scenes of high tension QTEs, the roar of the dinosaurs really add an element of pressure and suspense.

    Lastly, because this is TA and achievements are important here, a comment must be said about them. Due to the brevity of the game and the fairly easy difficulty, the achievements flow like wine and they flow quickly. The bulk of the achievements are rewarded for completing story elements, and a first run through the game will net you the vast majority of them. Most of the non story related achievements are focused around doing a QTE sequence flawlessly, start to finish. This is made easy to accomplish due to the game being split into not just episodes, but individual scenarios to replay as well. That way, if you fail a QTE, simply restart the scenario. Each scenario lasts anywhere from a few minutes to little less than 10, depending on choices you make. So aggravation on having to redo QTEs is mitigated in this capacity, making the cleanup process easy. You're looking at a full 1000 point game in roughly 4 to 5 hours.

    Overall the game deserves 3 stars, an average game. The story is the best facet the game trouts, and it is here you will not be disappointed. The price is not really conducive for the content or time spend, but a rent or a borrow is highly recommended to enjoy another visit to the park.
    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    Ginuwine AI3Some of these "story" cut-scenes drag on and on. Couldn't wait for this one to be over!!
    Posted by Ginuwine AI3 on 10 Sep 12 at 04:17
    Uranium DepositGreat review! Though I felt a story was a bit weak, especially with how much canon they have to work with and I play my games for the narrative. Didn't feel much attachment to the characters, but that's probably very much related to how short your time is with them and lack of back-story. Additionally the graphics were disappointing.
    Thumbs Up.
    I prefer to look at this like: GTA IV was for Rockstar what this was for TellTale. It was the start of some great storytelling. Rockstar did the epic of Red Dead Redemption and now TT has gone on to put out the Walking Dead.
    Posted by Uranium Deposit on 24 Feb 13 at 04:53
    KingyOwlYour review warned about spoilers but wow, by talking about the mercenaries like that you’ve given away the game’s biggest plot twist! Ridiculous!
    Posted by KingyOwl on 15 Nov 20 at 05:42
  • LonesquiffLonesquiff606,552
    20 Nov 2011 02 Jun 2014
    36 12 18
    EDIT: Updated with achievement info. Also thanks to Guirec730 for reminding me of the journal entries, I had forgotten about them when I initially wrote the review.

    Critiques and criticism are welcome, this is the 1st review I've written on TA so your comments are much appreciated.

    Welcome back to Isla Nublar. For many this will be a treat to revisit Jurassic Park. I myself have always been a fan of this ill-fated theme park. Telltale Games brings a new gameplay style to the Jurassic Park franchise and it suffers both pros and cons. The gameplay style is more akin to that of arcade titles such as Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. If you are looking for an action game then you will be sorely disappointed. The game was toted as "filling in gaps" and answering questions that viewers had. Having completed the game I feel that this was sorely misleading. The only item of interest is the barbasol can lost by Dennis Nedry. For a game claiming to run parallel to the movie, there sure are a lot of velociraptors. As several people have commented the population could be argued. Though I must admit, what would Jurassic Park be without raptors?

    Now let's break the down the pros and cons.
    Pros:
    1) The island is brought to beautiful life and we see not only landmarks from the film but new ones as well.
    2) Beautifully done cinematic sequences that capture the essence of the film.
    3) Intuitive puzzles that involve characters working together.
    4) The characters themselves are developed for the most part. You learn each one's personality and past.
    5) If you play through the game there are some interesting journal entries to read from Dr. Sorkin. In them she attempts to explain things such as why the t-ex has bad eyesight and why the velociraptors are so tall.

    Cons:
    1) The gameplay involves lots of precision button mashing which can get very frustrating.
    2) At first glance it appears that there is more than one solution to a given puzzle/problem, but this is not the case. The game is extremely linear, the only diversity comes in the form of conversation topics used when the player is interacting with other characters. Despite what is said, the result is always the same.
    3) While the cinematic/action scenes are great, the gameplay actually takes away from it. Players can easily find themselves distracted watching a scene and completely miss a button press. The button prompts never appear in the same place and can be anywhere on the screen.
    4) Continuity wise the story attempts to follow the established film, but it also directly conflicts with it in several ways. In addition, over 90% of the story takes place after the movie
    a. Dr. Harding is a different person. The addition of his daughter comes off as a forced attempt to include a "child" character.
    b. A new dinosaur species, Troodon is introduced. Apparently they are all over the island. Dr. Sorkin speaks of hatching them in her lab, but this would have been done on Isla Sorna.

    Achievements:
    The achievements in this game are nearly all tied to getting gold medals on each scene/chapter of each episode with only a few exceptions. Once completed each chapter can be individually played so you can go back and get any level specific ones you've missed ie "You Must Be This Tall to Ride". This also includes the "Life Finds a Way" achievement, if you did not unlock this on your 1st play then just replay chapters that do not have gold medals. The final chapter of the last episode will require 2 plays as their are achievements tied to your decision to rescue the barbasol can or Jess (the achievement unlocks right away so alternatively, you can pause, reload your checkpoint, and select the other option). If you missed the "World's Best Dad" achievement on your first playthrough you will need to play through the entire 1st episode and make the correct conversation choices to unlock it. As far as difficulty the achievements come down to just how well you can button mash. If you have a turbo controller you're better off using it.

    The Final Word:
    If you are interested in playing the game, rent it. With enough patience you can easily bust out all the game's achievements over a weekend. While this game was advertised as being a direct movie tie-in/parallel story, it would be better described as a game loosely based on events from the movie.
    2.0
  • xkikicakesxxkikicakesx100,317
    14 Feb 2012
    11 0 1
    I've been waiting months for a chance to play this game. I knew exactly what I was getting into, and honestly, I was not let down.

    As most people would agree, a game with dinosaurs isn't usually bad. I've always wanted to play a good Jurassic Park game that would pit me right up against the dinosaurs, like in the movie. The game plays a lot like an interactive movie, which is extremely fun. When I watch movies, I tend to yell at the characters in the movie and tell them what to do. One of the good things about this game is that I was able to control what the characters had to do, and what they would say. The action happened quickly, and I really felt like I was in the game.
    There are also quite a few puzzles in the game, too. I suck at puzzles, but after trial and error, I could figure them out with no problem. Most of them require you to pay attention to what's going on and what the characters say.

    The music and sound was pretty good. The only complaint I have is that the characters would sometimes cut each other off mid-sentence.

    The graphics weren't anything special, but they weren't horrible. They looked really clean and everything looked good. Some pixels were visible in certain areas, but that can be found even in the best games. The dinosaurs were pretty awesome looking.

    Achievements were fairly easy, and it's easy to go back and get the ones you missed. Each episode has scenes you can access after playing through, and puts you right where you need to be to grab them. After getting every achievement, I don't think I will play through it again, however.

    The story is very well done, in my opinion. It was like a prequel to the first movie, with a lot of detail added in. Everyone watched me play, mostly because they were interested in the story, and it played out like a movie, too, although it was up to me for us to hear more side story.

    All in all, Jurassic Park was a nice break from adventure games. It was relaxing to sit back and enjoy the story, while helping move it along.
    3.0
  • Removed Gamer
    Gamer has been removed
    9 1 3
    For those of you that have been hiding in a cave for the past 19 years and have not heard of Jurassic Park it is a blockbuster movie that had awesome special effects and a good story. After making a few games in the past and rumors of a new movie, which has been going on for years now, the point and click experts over at Tell-tale are bringing a new story to an XBOX 360 near you.

    The game is story driven, I am not going to give away any plot points. The story takes place after the events of the first movie with all-new charectors. It is a fairly predictable tale but it is worth watching. There was a couple dinosaurs that were not in the original movie and you will have encounters with some of the fan favorites.

    When I say watching that is what you'll be doing about 85% of the time. There are some point and click sections but the majority of the game is QTE (Quick Time Events). The QTE mainly help you escape danger and the point and click sections are mostly conversation based. The way the game was made it felt as if I was watching a five hour movie. There are also two different endings but the only section of the game you need to replay is the last section of the game.

    The graphics could had been better but there are recent games that do look worse than this. The acting was decent but it was noticeable that the voice and mouth movements could had been better but it did not take much away from the game.

    As for the achievements they are simple and could be completed in the 5-7 hour range. There are a few misable achievements based on conducting a conversation the right way or finding objects during the few non-conversational point and click sections. The list is about as well rounded as you can get in this type of adventure.

    At the end of the day I would not recommend anyone buying this game, unless you can get it for less than $10. This is not because the game is bad it just has no replay value. Once you finish the game there is nothing more to accomplish excpept the 5-10 minutes it takes to get the alternate ending. Telltale did create a good story and it is worth visiting, especially if your a fan of the original movie. I am going to give it three stars based on the story which is what they were trying to do when they created the game.
    3.0
  • wunballwunball154,007
    23 Oct 2012
    7 0 4
    Jurassic Park: The Game
    released: Nov. 15, 2011
    avg rating : 60-65 / 100
    avg retail price : $17.96
    estimated completion time : expect this game to take about 8-12 hours to complete. to be a 1k whore, expect an added 1-4 hours, depending how good your reflexes are.
    my completion time : 13.5 hrs

    storyline 8/10
    who doesnt like the storyline of Jurassic Park? classic all the way. i have always been a big fan of the series and the game delivered an excellent story line. the same overall story is there from the days of old, mixed in with some new characters that you get to know very well.

    gameplay 4/10
    two words can describe the gameplay of Jurassic Park, non impressive. or, boring snoozefest; completely worthless; maybe say its lacking style. take your pick. with long cutscenes followed directly by quick time button sequences, gameplay leaves much to be desired. i appreciate where they tried to go with this game but it just seemed a little too rushed together. the quick time button sequences ranged from way to easy to one that took me 22 tries to finally get. it could have been a lot more dynamic.

    replayability 3/10
    not much to explain here. 15 hours or less to get 100%. there are no alternate endings, no extras to collect and no optional storyline twists. only worth replaying if you are incredibly bored and want to keep your button mashing skills up to snuff.
    some features that i really enjoyed are as follows.

    sound and voice acting : dinosaur sounds were amazing. i dont know what they really sounded like 500 million years ago but this game is what i will think of from now on! voice acting was good, but got redundant. the actors did a great job making sure you loved the good guys and hated the bad guys but by the end, i was ready to say goodbye to them.

    graphics : now this was a love hate subject for me. the cgi modeling of the dinos and the human characters were excellent but their motions and facial features were a big disappointment. environment was descent but forgettable.


    overall score (on the wunball scale) : 15/30 or 50%
    the game is so so; not a let down but not a homerun. great for cheevo hunters and a super rental if you have adolescent children who enjoy dinosaurs.
    3.0
  • Deadsea 1993Deadsea 1993216,592
    10 Jan 2017 12 Jan 2017
    4 3 4
    Welcome back to Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park was released in theaters in 1993 and it was met with praise by critics and audience members alike.

    The man, the mystery, the phenomenon, Spielberg, had once again delivered a unique experience. Fans of dinosaurs and action movies alike praised this movie for the writing and the unique dinosaur experience. The sequels didn't quite live up to the magic that the first one had.

    Now we can once again experience dinosaurs with Jurassic Park The Game. Tell Tale released this game in 2011 and it was universally panned by the critics and fans. Now we flash forward to 2017 and I will tell you that this game is very unique.

    The story, characters, and dinosaurs are all well made and well designed. I'm a massive Tell Tale fan and it blew me away how good everything was in this game. The story takes place during the events of the first movie. Pesky Ned never did bring that can of shaving cream back to Dotson (Dotson, we got Dotson over here ! See ? No one cares.) and unsurprisingly, Dotson isn't too happy about this. He has lots of money invested in getting that shaving cream can back, no matter the cost. That is were Nima comes into play. She is a highly trained mercenary that has a mysterious past with the island. The money that she will get from this deal will give her young daughter and her a fresh start. Nima and her business associate travel over the fence of a mysterious zoo to track Ned's location. Nima and her associate are in for a crazy ride.

    On the other end of the spectrum, we see a highly trained veterinarian named Gerry and his daughter, Jessica. Jessica has been going through some rough patches in her life. She is a young teen that has experimented with drugs, tobacco and alcohol. This angers her mom and dad. Her mom sends her to Gerry to help her become a good kid again. Gerry is now divorced from his wife and tries to help Jessica in anyway that he can. They are both trapped on the island during a storm and both must work together to survive this nightmare.

    That's all that I want to say about the story as I don't want to spoil everything. The environments are incredibly detailed and I felt like I was actually on the island. In HD the graphics aren't that bad at all. The game play isn't that good at all. The QTE moments are badly made and this game is 95% QTE moments and 5% simple puzzles. I don't mind QTE moments and I actually love them, yet these were very annoying and I died constantly because of them. Instead of traditional QTE buttons, you will deal with analog QTE moments the most and they are awful. Some of the QTE moments are just too much. Do we really need to press buttons to walk down the stairs ?

    The puzzles are fairly boring and are basically fetch quests. There was even an annoying puzzle part were I had to use speakers to lure herbivore (plant eating dinosaurs) dinosaurs out of a cage. I would say for $20 or less this is a great game if you are a major fan of Jurassic Park, or if you love story games, or if you are a major Tell Tale fan. The writing is always excellent, there are no plot holes and you will love all of the characters. This game has a far superior story compared to Lost World and Jurassic Park III.

    The achievements are all very easy to obtain (almost almost of them are for completing chapters, completing the story and completing chapters without failing any QTE moments) and this is one of the best story games that I've ever played. If you can overlook the flaws in this game, then you will enjoy a fun and exciting ride.
    3.5
  • ZyllquixZyllquix141,946
    30 Nov 2011
    3 11 3
    I purchased this game thinking that it was going to be an action adventure title. I was wrong. Within 20 minutes of playing the game I was more disappointed than I have ever been with any other title.
    The game is basically a movie that is roughly 3 or maybe 4 hours long. This "movie" is broken up into brief section filled with quick time event button presses or joy stick moves. YOU NEVER TAKE CONTROL OF A CHARACTER!!!
    I played through this game in less than 4 hours. I got all achievements (unassisted) in less than 9 hours.
    As a movie, this would have been great. The story was well written and addressed many questions that arose from the original Jurassic park movie. If you were a fan of the first movie, you will want to play through this game. Unfortunately, I feel, that as a game this fails. Is there anyone out there who, if it wasn't for being jurassic park, would play a game comprised only of quick time events?
    I am giving it a 3 star rating only because I felt the story was really good and should not be missed if you are like me an jurassic park was and still is one of your favorite movies. It would be more like this. 4 stars as a movie and 2 stars as a game.
    3.0
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