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JURASSIC PARK III: DINO ATTACK (GBA)
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a.k.a. Jurassic Park III: Island Attack (US); Jurassic Park: Advanced Action (JP).
Publisher: Konami. Developer: Mobile21. Released: February 2002 (Europe). Genre: Action/Adventure. Posted 3rd August 2024. By Tom Clare © 2024 |
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Developed by Mobile21, a short-lived collaboration between Nintendo and Konami, Dino Attack was the third and final Game Boy Advance movie tie-in based on Jurassic Park III. Konami was determined to get as much from the license as possible. In the space of two months during the summer of 2001, they would release a management sim, an action-platformer and this survival horror/adventure hybrid, in Japan. Dino Attack is the most interesting of the trio.
The game’s story is very simple, with the player assuming the role of the film’s protagonist Dr. Alan Grant, as he crashes his plane on the dinosaur-infested Isle Sorna. He’s told to make for the coast, and via eight levels of varying gameplay styles, that’s where the player must aim to take him. Dino Attack is a melting pot of different elements, jumping between linear and free-roam adventuring, with sprinklings of survival horror, action and platforming thrown together alongside a modest smattering of arcade-themed sequences. It’s the isometric, survival levels that carry the most weight and the most quality, amounting to five of the game’s eight stages.
The adventuring sections offer the most depth, with combat, exploration and puzzling elements housing potential
With environmental interactivity in the form of examinable scenery, collectable keys and supplies, as well as a few clever logic challenges, these stages bring to mind how Dino Crisis might have been, had it ever found its way to the Game Boy Advance. The Laboratory and Museum levels mark the game’s high point, featuring traps, a sprinkling of climbing, some hold-your-breath platforming, and a puzzle requiring the player to trap a dinosaur to earn a key.
These sections offer stronger, more diverse gameplay than the rest of the package and, thanks to a stern but mostly fair difficulty curve, they prove quite tense too. Dinosaurs deal significant damage, and with ordinary weapons only able to stun, you’ll have to risk luring the wildlife towards explosive barrels should you wish to take them out of commission. One cleverly devised set-piece sees the player triggering a boulder slide to take out a pursuing Compsognathus pack, whilst another requires the player to lure some dinosaurs onto wet patches of ground, before electrocuting them with the well-timed flick of a switch. 2D crosshair aiming in a 3D environment feels predictably unwieldy, but it adds a pleasing tinge of urgency to proceedings, as being pursued by such speedy foes leaves the player feeling perpetually vulnerable. There are one or two nicely handled scares (though a velociraptor bursting out of a locker is both funnier and less convincing than a zombie managing the same feat), whilst the general atmosphere is impressive given the technical constraints.
These sections offer stronger, more diverse gameplay than the rest of the package and, thanks to a stern but mostly fair difficulty curve, they prove quite tense too. Dinosaurs deal significant damage, and with ordinary weapons only able to stun, you’ll have to risk luring the wildlife towards explosive barrels should you wish to take them out of commission. One cleverly devised set-piece sees the player triggering a boulder slide to take out a pursuing Compsognathus pack, whilst another requires the player to lure some dinosaurs onto wet patches of ground, before electrocuting them with the well-timed flick of a switch. 2D crosshair aiming in a 3D environment feels predictably unwieldy, but it adds a pleasing tinge of urgency to proceedings, as being pursued by such speedy foes leaves the player feeling perpetually vulnerable. There are one or two nicely handled scares (though a velociraptor bursting out of a locker is both funnier and less convincing than a zombie managing the same feat), whilst the general atmosphere is impressive given the technical constraints.
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It’s a shame the game didn’t commit entirely to a more expansive form of this style. A full adventure with locations sporting greater scope, as well as more expansive exploration and puzzling, could have made for an excellent, as well as genuinely different, take on the survival horror genre. It would also have allow for better story These isometric bits account for five of the eight stages present, amounting to a little over an hour’s worth of gameplay when combined and rarely amounting to more than fifteen minutes of gameplay each. Of the remaining three stages, one is a motorcycle action sequencing that sees the player swerving around pits, performing death-defying wheelies and side-swiping dinosaurs who try to run alongside. It’s only good for a few minutes, but it’s solid old-school fun, with perhaps the most receptive controls of the entire game.
Unfortunately, Dino Attack comes unstuck in its 2D levels, as well as its platforming more generally. These sections expose the game’s patchy controls, where imprecise jumps and slow response times are punished more severely than over the rest of the game. Sections on a bridge where you’re faced with an unrelenting barrage of attacks from pterodactyls are difficult to fathom, and a cheap way of stacking damage as you’re often knocked off platforms and off-screen. These levels lend the game a frustrating, Jekyll-and-Hyde quality, as one absorbing, quality level is invariably followed by a clumsy, naff one.
Unfortunately, Dino Attack comes unstuck in its 2D levels, as well as its platforming more generally. These sections expose the game’s patchy controls, where imprecise jumps and slow response times are punished more severely than over the rest of the game. Sections on a bridge where you’re faced with an unrelenting barrage of attacks from pterodactyls are difficult to fathom, and a cheap way of stacking damage as you’re often knocked off platforms and off-screen. These levels lend the game a frustrating, Jekyll-and-Hyde quality, as one absorbing, quality level is invariably followed by a clumsy, naff one.
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The motorcycle stage is a blast, but the 2D platforming levels miss the mark
Visually the game shows quality. Interiors show a reasonable degree of detail and variety, with the dilapidated Museum restaurant one of the standouts. Though the complexity of the animation is nothing noteworthy, Dr. Grant moves fluidly and the dinos showcase some variety. There’s some nice detailing to the levels, even if the jungle settings can seem a bit of a pixel mess at times. The somewhat lame music is the weakest aspect of Dino Attack’s presentation, whilst its sound effects perform their explosive duties fairly well.
Stage Select gives players the option to speed run levels, with a nice high-score board in the menus displaying your best efforts. Otherwise, it’s eight levels and you’re finished which, but for the pitfalls of some awkward T-Rex encounters and having to restart the adventure upon losing three lives, won’t take very long. Despite a few issues with aiming and movement, the isometric sequences are diverting, to the extent that it’s a surprise there weren’t more attempts to build on survival horror in this mould. Unfortunately, dodgy controls, poor platforming levels and a general paucity of content means Jurassic Park III: Dino Attack’s potential goes unfulfilled.
Stage Select gives players the option to speed run levels, with a nice high-score board in the menus displaying your best efforts. Otherwise, it’s eight levels and you’re finished which, but for the pitfalls of some awkward T-Rex encounters and having to restart the adventure upon losing three lives, won’t take very long. Despite a few issues with aiming and movement, the isometric sequences are diverting, to the extent that it’s a surprise there weren’t more attempts to build on survival horror in this mould. Unfortunately, dodgy controls, poor platforming levels and a general paucity of content means Jurassic Park III: Dino Attack’s potential goes unfulfilled.
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VERDICT
"An interesting film tie-in that tries a variety of styles, to mixed effect. The survival horror sections show great promise, but the platforming lets the side down, as do patchy controls and occasionally poor level design." OVERALL: 5/10 |
OTHER GAMES FEATURING DINOSAURS REVIEWED
Dino Crisis (1999, PlayStation)
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Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey (2004, Xbox)
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