Dino Crisis – Sony Playstation – Capcom – Survival Horror – 1 Player

Graphics: **** 1/2

Sound: ****

Control: *****

Gameplay: *****

Replay Value: *** 1/2

Overall Rating: **** 1/2

        Capcom releases its first survival horror game not following the Resident Evil line, and it is a good one. Dino Crisis puts you in the role of Regina; a member of a special operations taskforce assigned to bring in a rogue scientist. Upon arriving at the island facility the doctor was working at, the team finds things are not quite right. Someone or something has killed everyone on the island. From there things go from bad to worse as the Dinosaurs that were part of the project have broken free and are now hunting the last remaining prey on the island, namely Regina and her team.

        The game makes several enhancements to the RE game engine, including the ability to walk with your weapon at the ready and an enhancement of the injury system started in RE2. This time serious wounds will cause your character to bleed, resulting in a gradual loss of health until the bleeding can be stopped. Capcom also wisely included the auto-aim feature from RE2, making targeting easy and quick. Finally, unlike the RE series, some of our new dino-friends have learned something that zombies haven’t picked up on yet, how to open doors!

        The graphics of the game are up to Capcom’s usual high quality, especially the incredible looking dinosaurs, most of whom have multiple attacks (some of which can even knock your weapon from your hand) and move very naturally. Equally surprising is the quality of the voice acting, which in previous games of the genre has been exceptionally bad. (Who can forget "Is that…Enrico?" from RE?) Not only do the characters seem to have the right emotions in their voices, but also make remarks peppered with cultural references.

        But the heart of any game is it’s playability, and Dino Crisis delivers. The game does it all. You’ll jump in surprise when the unexpected happens, feel nervous when the music changes, and most importantly be drawn into the story. Now if that’s not enough to make you run out and buy it, Capcom has put one more extra in the box, a fully playable demo of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. I won’t spoil the demo for you, but the game is looking good. Damn good.

        On one last note, Dino Crisis is the first Anti-Mod Chip game to hit our shores. If you have a system modified to play Japanese imports, the game will lock out your system. Your only option is to remove the chip or use a Game Shark or similar device to bypass the lockout.