[gameinfo title=”Game Info” game_name=”Jurassic Park: The Game” developers=”Telltale Games” publishers=”Kalypso Media & Telltale Games” platforms=”PSN, XBLA, PC, iPad” genres=”Adventure, Puzzle” release_date=”Out Now”]
Jurassic Park is a really great adventure of a game, if it may not be the best adventure game. Telltale has taken some interesting step in the genre with this game. Some of the steps, like single area puzzles, are a great addition. Some of the other steps, like quick time events, may not have been the best idea. If you are willing to look past Jurassic Park’s flaws it is quite an enjoyable game.
The gameplay is very different to say the least. All the puzzles are in self contained area. What that means is that you do not have to pick up an item and wander around screen to screen looking for the other item it interacts with. Whenever you are put in a puzzle like situation there will be a maximum of four screens that you can transition to using the d-pad. The sad part about this is that, even though this mechanic is great, it takes the brain busting thought out of the genre. Without having an entire world to wander around the puzzles must be pretty well done to give you the same satisfaction. There were only a couple of challenges that actually gave me that “aha” feeling and all the others were a lesson in procedure.
The second half to gameplay is the quick time events. Since you no longer wander around in this world, and who would want to, there had to be another way to get around. This is where the quick time events come in and they are shaky at best. Some of the time your movements seem to correspond to the action on screen, like “jam on triangle” makes the character run. Other times you “jam on triangle” makes the character examine something. Consistency takes a back seat to intensity and more than once I found myself dead from a obtuse prompt that I missed. That being said I really enjoyed the scenes themselves and more times than not the prompts were given with enough time to escape the T-rex’s maw. Plus every time you die you are treated to quite a gruesome scene that is always amusing. Wandering around Jurassic Park would not make sense within the universe so I can see why the quick time events are there but they really needed some more polish.
Being that this a downloadable game you should not expect amazing graphics. That is not to say that Jurassic Park looks bad because it actually looks quite good. There is a definite sort of art style that makes up for the lack of detail in the game. The art direction works very well within the game and makes it so they can really stick to the source material without having to be super detailed. The real problem with the graphics is that everything is so janky from scene to scene. People move a little funny, their faces look kind of weird. A scene will end but stick around for a second, then start a new scene, end, freeze, and then start another scene. This kind of jerkeyness really badly detracts from the entire experience. This is not just prevalent in the cut scenes though, it is all throughout every aspect of the game including the quick time events. I am not sure if this a performance issue or if the game was just too much for the game engine to handle.
Now it may seem like I am really hating on this game but in fact I really enjoyed it. It has a really great story to tell and the game just keeps getting in the way of it. The characters are all very well written and, mostly, believable. The main character Dr. Harding and his daughter share a very unique dynamic that made me actually care about them. Even some of the secondary characters, Yoder and the gang, really shined with their own very distinct personality. Jurassic Park really does have some of the best storytelling in any game. In some of the quiet times of the game you are given the chance to have multiple conversations which I always loved. Maybe it is just because everything else lacks polish that the story stands out or maybe it is just that good. Either way, Jurassic Park is worth playing just for the fantastic tale is has to tell.
This game has problems to be sure. The quick time events are janky and do not make sense and are even broken sometimes. Most of the puzzles feel uninspired. The cut scenes are really jarring with their cut and paste feel. But all that being said I can still recommend Jurassic Park to any fan of the series. The focus on back story details and the characters realistic dialog more than make up for most of the games shortcomings. Sometimes Jurassic Park will feel more fun to watch than it is to play and if you had that feeling I would totally understand. With Telltales obvious love for the series and attention to the series lore and style I feel like this game could possibly be the best Jurassic Park game to date.
