years since Microsoft unveiled its major lineup of third-party games. These
games, to be released exclusively on Xbox, included titles like Crazy Text
Next (now known as Crazy Taxi 3) and Dead or Alive 3. Most of the announced
titles were released a while ago, leaving gamers with only newly announced
titles to anticipate. But one game disappeared and reappeared on the
development radar more times than a fighter jet in combat: Dino Crisis 3.
Following Resident Evil’s
lead, Dino Crisis 3 is another one of Capcom’s games to jump ship. The series
began on the PSone but has now made its way to Microsoft’s machine. Two years
ago, the name was pretty strong for Microsoft, and showed how committed big
game developers were to the console. Two years later, Dino Crisis 3 has
become an under-promoted game that will probably slide past most Xbox owners.
Should you let it?
If you were smart enough
to play Dino Crisis 2, then you already know the answer. Whereas the first
Dino Crisis intended to recreate the Resident Evil experience but with
dinosaurs, Dino Crisis 2 was all about the action. It had a killer weapons
upgrade system (which has since been used in other Capcom titles including
Devil May Cry), an excellent combo system, and an endless array of dinosaurs
to blow to smithereens. Not nearly enough people experienced Dino Crisis 2’s
joy, but now you have a chance to redeem yourself with Dino Crisis 3.
Like its ultra-addictive
predecessor, Dino Crisis 3 doesn’t boggle your mind with puzzles or put you to
sleep with a bunch of journals. The game is all about fast,
blast-your-way-to-victory action, and it does it better than any other game on
Xbox.
Let’s start with the
basics. 1) Attack precision. Given the hectic nature of the gameplay (and the
persistent, hard-to-kill dinosaurs), Capcom has given Dino Crisis 3 an
automatic lock-on feature. The game automatically locks-on to the nearest
threat, making it nearly impossible to fire multiple shots and not hit the
target. This could be perceived as a simplifying technique that will
encourage six-year-olds to play. But this isn’t exactly a kiddie game, and it
isn’t exactly easy either. In fact, evading the dinosaurs, which move with an
almost ridiculous amount of speed, is one of the hardest tasks you’ll
encounter in the game.
2) Character movement.
Thanks to space age technology (and the fact that the game takes place in
space), players are now equipped with an awesome piece of equipment: a jet air
pack. It comes pre-equipped, so all you have to do is hit the CIRCLE button
to jump quickly into the air. Gravity will bring you down (the game is set in
the future, where humans have apparently found a way to control gravity while
inside of a space station). However, if you wish to, as Buzz Lightyear would
say, "fall with style," you can do so by holding the R button. The R button
triggers the jet air pack’s engine, which turns it into a handy floating
device. You’ll still fall, but at a much slower rate. The R button is also
used to hover a few feet off the ground. The purpose of this is to give you
greater maneuverability. Can’t run away fast enough to escape death from a
hungry dinosaur? Then use the jet air pack to zip by those flesh-eating
creatures and show ’em who’s boss with a few blasts from your weapon.
That covers the facts,
but what really matters is how all of those things add up in actual gameplay.
Dino Crisis 3 is not entirely without flaw, but make no mistake: this is a
really good game. The battles are an absolute blast. You will run around the
screen, evade more villains and retaliate more often than in any other recent
prehistoric adventure. The addition of the jet air pack takes the game to a
whole new level. It’s not what I’d call innovation, but it really adds a lot
to the experience. Shinji Mikami (creator of the Resident Evil series) has
compared Devil May Cry to Mario 64 because of its free-roaming controls. The
same could be said here, especially when you take into account Mario Sunshine,
which equipped Mario with a water pack that allowed him to jump higher and
hover for a short period of time.
You’ll kill dinosaur
after dinosaur and, for some odd reason, you won’t be compelled to quit.
Repetition is rarely a good thing, but as with Dino Crisis 2, this game does
what it does better than anyone else. Because of that, it fails to cause the
boredom that so many games create.
The new space station
architecture is strange, but it works really well. There are lots of areas to
explore, and several levels to traverse, giving the player plenty of
groundwork to cover. Jumping is key, as you have to do it to access higher
areas and avoid becoming someone’s dinner. Avoidance is key, and that key is
what holds all of the thrills that this game has to offer. Imagine walking
along a safe area. You’ve just scanned it with your eyes, destroyed all of
the dinosaurs, and you are ready to collect whatever items are lying around
and then move onto the next location. When you backtrack to see if you missed
anything, another dinosaur appears! They don’t just walk up to you either —
they’ll charge at you and stop at nothing to fill their stomachs! It’s not
scary (this isn’t a survival/horror game) or particularly startling, but it
will always keep you on your feet, and provides the player with on-edge
excitement throughout the entire game. You never know when you’re going to
have to fight again and that’s part of the fun.
Dino Crisis 3’s graphics
are interesting because the game looks pretty amazing, but doesn’t really look
like an Xbox game. Its visuals lie somewhere between PlayStation 2 and
GameCube capabilities. Almost all of the metallic backgrounds are impressive,
having reflective surfaces where appropriate with nice, realistic textures.
The dinosaurs look great. Their bodies are detailed, they have great
animation, and they too have realistic textures (theirs being skin that looks
similar to a lizard, which is what scientists perceive the skin of dinosaurs
to look like). The human characters are also impressive, though not as much
as the dinosaurs.
With praise-worthy
polygons seen throughout, it surprises me that the game doesn’t look a little
closer to the top-tier Xbox games. If it were 20% more realistic it would be
able to compete with games like Halo and Knights of the Old Republic (visually
speaking, of course). It looks great as is, but if a game is an Xbox
exclusive, it shouldn’t look like it could have been made for PlayStation 2.
Now we must get to Dino
Crisis 3’s only dreadful aspect: the camera. I will warn you: some gamers
will be able to handle it, some won’t. This is not for the weak gamer, or
someone who is in a hurry. Dino Crisis 3 is not for someone who does not have
a little patience. Although it is a game about nothing but action, it is also
a game with a messed up camera system. I couldn’t even begin to explain the
technology behind it, but to put things into perspective; Dino Crisis 3 uses
real-time backgrounds, whereas the last game did not. It’s also the first one
to use a jet air pack, which sends the characters jumping all around the
screen. In many instances (but not all), jumping will cause either character
to go up into the air and the backgrounds will stay in place, or vice versa.
Either one makes it difficult to accomplish your task. The lock-on targeting
feature makes it easier, but easily-frustrated gamers will give up quickly, no
doubt.
To accommodate the Dino
Crisis gameplay style with real-time backgrounds, the engine needed to be
reworked. But to do that would change the game entirely, making it feel more
like a typical shooter. It’s a tough tradeoff. To be true to the series’
roots (and finish the game before 2010), Capcom had to sacrifice the camera.
Can you tough it out?
If you can, then there’s
no reason why Dino Crisis 3 shouldn’t be yours.
Gameplay: 7.3
I got my gun, I
got my jet air pack, now I’m ready to roll! You don’t need anything else in
Dino Crisis 3. This game is all about the slaughtering of not-so-innocent
dinosaurs. I’m not even going to bother going over the convoluted storyline
(any tale that puts dinosaurs in space is way too spacey for my tastes).
You’re in space and so are the dinosaurs. That’s all that matters!
Once
the shooting begins, you’ll die. You’ll attempt to fight back, but you will
definitely die within the first 20 minutes of play (on your first try at
least). It is inevitable, the game is just too fast, and does too many
unexpected things, especially if you’ve played Dino Crisis 2, which is
considerably slower than the third installment.
Disgruntled or not, the only thing that could keep you away is the awkward
camera. And if that ain’t enough to keep you away, then nothing will. You’ll
be dino-addicted for months to come. I’m not saying that you’ll play it every
single day, but you’ll surely want to come back to it at least once a week
just so you can help the world make dinosaurs extinct again.
The
urge to shoot, to evade the enemy, and to stab him (technically "it") in the
back – that is what makes Dino Crisis 3 a great game.
Graphics: 8.3
Any way you look
at it, Dino Crisis 3 is a good-looking game. You can’t find fault with its
textures, its lighting, its character designs — nothing. You could say that
it’s not as impressive as Halo, but then again, can you think of any Xbox game
that looks that good? Maybe Knights of the Old Republic. Maybe the
yet-to-be-released Fable. But nothing else.
That said, Dino Crisis 3
deserves some praise for its visual prowess. It’s not an eye candy-heavy
game, but it’s always fun to look at.
Sound: 6
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Practice makes
perfect. That’s the key to finishing this game. So what are you waiting
for? The dinosaurs aren’t going to kill themselves ya know. Load those
weapons of yours, fuel the jet pack and get into space!
Concept: 6.5
Dino Crisis 2 +
25% of Mario Sunshine = Dino Crisis 3. You won’t collect many items or save a
princess named Peach. You will, however, fight many dinosaurs (ancestors of
Bowser, perhaps?), use an awesome jet air pack to "fall with style," and be
compelled to come back and do it over again.
Overall: 6.9
Dino Crisis 2
fans don’t need to be told that they should check out Dino Crisis 3. The rest
of you, however, will probably need a lot of convincing. I don’t understand
why the first game left such a bad taste in peoples’ mouths. It was slow, but
still fun, and the sequel really turned things around. Dino Crisis 3 takes
the game further, though not to the point where the series has reached a 9.0
status (it’s getting closer though). This is a stellar rental, and a really
good buy for fans of Capcom’s Resident Evil spin-offs. Even if you disliked
the original DC, you must at least rent Dino Crisis 3. The camera is a pain,
but if you can’t deal with some awkward angles, then obviously you haven’t
finished too many games. Let’s face it: good camera systems are rare. Deal
with it. Or miss out on a fun game.
