Dino Crisis 3 (Xbox)

I reached the place and walked inside, browsed the xbox games section, looked at Dino Crisis and thought 'this looks fun...yeah I'll have this'.

Well...I spent 39.99 on this title because I was misled into believing this game was going to have everything a depressed gamer needed to vent out some fustration and enjoy a simple and fun blast-em-up. Okay you may ask why didn't I read the back of the game cover? Well I did you see. Thats why I spent 40 odd quid on it thinking it was going to give me endless hours of entertainment when infact I got bored as soon as I played it on the first day.

I didn't consult amazons review section for this game, I just went about my way thinking 'surely they don't make daft games on the XBOX ??' . Im not being rude or nothing but Dino Crisis 3 has a great name for a video game but it falls short of delivering anything remotely new for hardcore gamers.

The game reminded me of a movie called Event Horizon, a spacecraft mysteriously vanishes into the outer realms of space on its maiden voyage by going through a portal of chaos of some kind and ends up being taken over by some form of 'evil entity' which possesses the ship and kills its crew men. Then a investigation/rescue mission for the ship and its survivors gets launched and the movie begins.

The plot outline for Dino Crisis 3 is vaguely similar, yet its a video game and not a movie. The year is 2548 and 300 years have passed since Ozymandias, a colony spaceship disappeared. Then out of the blue it reappears near the planet Jupiter and so a specail team of operatives and asked to find out what the hells going on, and get sent off in a shuttle to investigate the re-appearance of this colony ship.
As their shuttle approaches the ozymandias - the ozymandias launches a devastating attack on the shuttle and blows off a the front end of it, killing some of the folk and sending afew hovering off into space. Some make it and use their jet packs to direct themselves towards an entrance of the Ozymanidas, and as the two main characters of the game (patrick and sonia) begin to unravel the mystery - they fight off all kinds of strange dinosuars that have ravaged the ship.

So thats the basic plot outline, what about the game you ask ? I have played some fairly good games on my Xbox and some mediocre games. Many I feel, fall short of being above average - and sit on a 3/5 star rated game pile. Dino Crisis is one of them. THE FIRST and MOST important point to make about this game is that although its a great idea, its let down by the 'fixed angle camera'. It literally ruins the game, you can hardly make out where youre about to go or land (although hardcore gamers won't find it difficult to eventualy master the controls and adapt to the camera but believe me for this type of game - the camera DOESNT work)everything else is average I feel.

The cutscenes were great, I was looking forward to a game that would engross me with its intriguing plot and storyline but unfortunately the games camera work is shoddy.

Music...boring. Silly eerie space orientated tunes playing in the background do little to spruce up the game. The graphics are nice in places but it gets all too boring to look at after a while simply because the CAMERA is so awful it makes you depreciate any fine thing about the game.

The character can get powerups and pick ups, like weapons. I didn't play the entire game so I don't know what the rest of the levels looked like or what the power ups were like but who cares ? the camera angling in the game was really bad its got to be said. The puzzles are far from perfect, theyre so vague and un-interesting. You'd expect flicking switches, opening doors, finding passwords kind of boring after a while especially in a game thats meant to be exciting and arcade like in feel. Cmon I mean the idea of a space ship full of angry space dino's is awesome...how such a great idea got thrown down the bog hole I have no idea.

Some people may overcome the camera thing and like this game, but I felt it offered nothing remotely new to the experienced gamer and hovering around in a jetpack firing weapons and collecting powerups and solving mind numbingly boring puzzles is hardly the way to go abouts luring gamers to the Xbox. The Xbox is a monster and it should be treated with respect, cmon lets see more games with non linear gameplay and freedom to roam around and mess about. Im sure the console has the architecture to allow clever games developers to write wonderful games with INTERESTING gameplay.

Dino Crisis, good idea...fun in places I guess - any game should have an element of firing guns at baddies aliens or dino's heh. I got generous and gave this game a 3 out of 5. im tired now so i'll leave you people to make a decision on whether to buy this. MY advice, get a demo of this or rent it before buying it.


Electric zombie dinosaurs in space   December 3, 2003
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

When it becomes clear that everybody on board the spaceship Ozymandias is dying from a mystery illness, the captain realizes that there is only one thing she can do.....clone a load of dinosaurs....(?) Okay, that's not quite how the cut scenes explain it, but they do reveal how the captain made room for further experiments by letting loose the dinosaurs throughout the ship. Eh?
Anyway, 300 years later, the human race has developed some degree of common sense, but this does not prevent them from investigating the 'ghost ship' (Haven't they seen 'Event Horizon').
You play a cool hero type, and occasionally a lady with one of those richochet lazers that really shouldn't be used in confined spaces like, say, inside a spaceship. With a reasonable amount of teamwork, you seek out answers to the ship's existence and purpose.

It is a shame that you come across a massive dino right at the start as this rather spoils any future surprises (Yes, I know there's a big TRex on the box, and the game is called Dino Crisis, but I like to pretend I'm the character I'm playing, and he hasn't seen the box - I assume - otherwise he wouldn't be there, would he?)

The camera has been the subject of some debate. Very often you cannot see your attackers, but the music alters accordingly, and if you rely on your instincts (not to mention the auto-aim), the fights work remarkably well. Where the irritation occurs is when you run halfway down a long corridor, the camera spins round and you inadvertently run all the way back to the end you started from. Another reviewer has covered the perils of platform jumping.

Jumps augmented by limited jet pack boosts are, indeed, the key to most manoeuvres and the technique does take some practice. The weapons are functional, although I found the basic gun to be more effective than the upgrades you come across. The additional weapons you carry double as override devices for security locks, so you need to be careful not to use them all up. Saving points are more than adequate in their frequency, unlike with so many Xbox games.

Pre-release reviews almost dissuaded me from buying this game, but the demo I played changed my mind. I made the right decision. Silly plot, exciting action.


worst dino crisis ever   November 24, 2003
 0 out of 2 found this review helpful

this game is rubbish the camera view is annoying u might as well play the game blind folded cause the cameras that bad. And another thing the game is way too short it took me only a day too complete it and i played it on hard the. The stroyline is rubbish its stupid being set in outer space, the graphics r poor too the dinosaurs look good but the people look rubbish. The ship itself is a rip off of the ship event horizion the gameplay is very repetive all u have too do is get a part change the ship around and u just have too keep doing that.

a note to people dont buy this game rent it if u must but dont buy it its not worth it.