|
|
|
DINOTOPIA: THE SUNSTONE ODYSSEY (XBOX)
|
Publisher: TDK Mediactive.
Developer: Vicious Cycle Software. Released: April 2004 (Europe). Genre: Action/Adventure. Other versions: GC. Posted 25th August 2021. By Shane Battams © 2021 |
|
A series of books first published in the nineties, Dinotopia depicted a world where dinosaurs and humans coexisted, a fantasy that captured imaginations, fuelled by stunning artwork from author James Gurney. But outside of the books, the series would struggle to gain traction, with two TV series failing to live up to expectations and, eventually, video games that similarly failed to inspire. The Sunstone Odyssey doesn’t do justice to its source material, squandering a rich world under tedious gameplay and a horrendously told story. Whether you’re looking for a digital exploration of this series or a genuinely decent action-adventure, you’ll struggle to find either.
This Dinotopia story follows the tale of two twin brothers, Drake and Jacob Gemini. After their father is eaten by a dinosaur, the brothers splinter down separate paths. Jacob joins a volatile group of dinosaur hunters known as Outsiders, while Drake, the main protagonist of the piece, looks to become a guardian of Dinotopia. The story is borderline abysmal, a shattering combination of boring and poorly told. The voice acting would better fit a dodgy FMV title, the script is overly verbose and articulates a threadbare tale in about twice the number of words needed. It's a complete waste of its source material. No character stands out, no sequence lives long in memory, nothing helps motivate you to persevere with this quest.
This Dinotopia story follows the tale of two twin brothers, Drake and Jacob Gemini. After their father is eaten by a dinosaur, the brothers splinter down separate paths. Jacob joins a volatile group of dinosaur hunters known as Outsiders, while Drake, the main protagonist of the piece, looks to become a guardian of Dinotopia. The story is borderline abysmal, a shattering combination of boring and poorly told. The voice acting would better fit a dodgy FMV title, the script is overly verbose and articulates a threadbare tale in about twice the number of words needed. It's a complete waste of its source material. No character stands out, no sequence lives long in memory, nothing helps motivate you to persevere with this quest.
During an era awash with great adventures, Dintopia would sadly fail to distinguish itself
But if you thought the gameplay would pick up the slack, you would be sorely mistaken. The Sunstone Odyssey proves one of the most boring RPGs the Xbox would see. As you travel between parts of Dinotopia, quests start off dull and continue in the same vein, turning the Guardian of Dinotopia into an errand boy. Levelling up unlocks more combos but doesn’t lead to a sense of growth. Levels are painfully straightforward, with only brief branch paths leading to the odd side quest – but these just prove to be more tedious fetch quests. The cycle of horrid story scenes, tedious questing and bland gameplay makes for a surprising cure for insomnia and no game with dinosaurs should ever leave you half asleep. Luckily, the game struggles to break six hours of gameplay, and there’s little in the way of unlockables to incentivise a return.
Combat, which could have glued all these weaker elements together, is also undone by deep flaws. Drake comes with a mallet weapon, and as you wade through Sunstone Odyssey’s story, you can upgrade it with new and stronger mallet heads, as well as sunstones which add buffs. These don’t really impact the combat, and enemies can still take dozens of hits to wipe out. Not that combat is hard, as the AI powering the gaggles of gang members, dilapidated dinosaurs and other enemies is pretty dumb, seeing them getting stuck on objects and following predictable patterns that are easy to counter. You’ll spend more time fighting the camera, which zooms so far in on lock-ons that it can get stuck on walls and objects. But even on the middle difficulty setting, you’ll have trouble getting a game over, especially when each level offers you two lives. Some encounters with larger, boss-like foes are a bit more memorable, but like everything else in this game, it’s lost in the shuffle.
Combat, which could have glued all these weaker elements together, is also undone by deep flaws. Drake comes with a mallet weapon, and as you wade through Sunstone Odyssey’s story, you can upgrade it with new and stronger mallet heads, as well as sunstones which add buffs. These don’t really impact the combat, and enemies can still take dozens of hits to wipe out. Not that combat is hard, as the AI powering the gaggles of gang members, dilapidated dinosaurs and other enemies is pretty dumb, seeing them getting stuck on objects and following predictable patterns that are easy to counter. You’ll spend more time fighting the camera, which zooms so far in on lock-ons that it can get stuck on walls and objects. But even on the middle difficulty setting, you’ll have trouble getting a game over, especially when each level offers you two lives. Some encounters with larger, boss-like foes are a bit more memorable, but like everything else in this game, it’s lost in the shuffle.
|
|
The Sunstone Odyssey isn’t a great game, by any means, but it does have a little visual flair. The lighting and environments mostly paint a pretty picture, mixing colourful jungle scenery with some of the motifs which defined the books. Performance is generally steady, and loading isn’t too painful either. The only sore spot is the characters, who look short on polygons, while the humans lack any kind of facial animation. Oddly, the dinosaurs do showcase facial animation, causing a weird disconnect and further harming the story. The music is nondescript, with little tracks making an impact. Combat hits hard on a rare occasion, though most time the balancing leaves it weak. And as mentioned, the voice acting is pretty terrible, aplomb with stiff reads, strange accents and a lot of boring drawls which puts you to sleep.
|
|
Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey is a hugely boring time all-around, a cardinal sin considering it stars prehistoric creatures. It does little justice to its beloved source material, the original narrative is an absolute snooze, combat fails to tie things together and despite its short runtime, the adventure really drags. It fails as an action RPG, misses the mark compared to even the weakest Dinotopia works, and in the end, is best left to extinction.
|
|
VERDICT
"Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey fails to do justice to its source material. It's hugely boring all-around. This one is best left to extinction.” OVERALL: 3/10 |