LogFAQs > #911591849

32. Dino Crisis (Game) (22.5 points)
Nominated by: Axl_Rose_85 (0/5 remaining)

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Importance: 6.5
Fear: 6
Snake: 10

In the late 90s, Resident Evil ruled. Not just as an awesome series, but as one of the king genres at the time, with all sorts of horror games hoping to cash in on the survival horror formula to varying degrees of success. Made by any other developer, Dino Crisis could've been just another Countdown: Vampires, but under the strong direction of Shinji Mikami and Capcom, Dino Crisis became so much more than just "Resident Evil with dinosaurs". On paper, it's the same: a large, sprawling location, limited ammo and resources, key item hunting, fixed camera angles, everything that made RE famous is all here. Going deeper, you will find however that Dino Crisis amps its survival-oriented gameplay to 11. By nature of being dinosaurs, Dino Crisis' enemies are faster, stronger, and deadlier. Ammo is even more scare than usual, and the addition of tranquilizer rounds here means sometimes the best way to deal with an enemy is not by killing them. Throw in some strategically-placed laser grids to cut some dinosaurs off, and you will discover each enemy encounter is yet another puzzle the game gives you, with the proper solution meaning the difference between life or death. Dino Crisis absolutely punishes every missed shot, every hit taken, even every laser grid not triggered correctly as dinos can stalk you from room to room if you're not careful, making exploration and progressing much more difficult. Even its puzzles, primarily consisting of the DDK system, a code-deciphering game with increasingly difficult keys, are a lot more devious and challenging than RE, which makes the area come to life in a convincing way. It feels like you're actually making you're way through a top-secret lab instead of someone's suburban house who had an affinity for themed keys.

The story is batshit insane. The dinosaurs are flooding the facility on Ibis Island because of a military experiment gone awry, sending the dinosuars through a timewarp from their time to the present day. Three military agents and a redshirt are sent to the island to discover what exactly happened there and to also investigate the reappearance of one Dr. Kirk, who was presumed to be dead three years prior to the game. Like any good survival horror, you piece together what happened through files, and there's a choice-system in the game that gets you closer to either of your two allies, Rick and Gail, and also determines how you progress through the game. The game is heavily based in sci-fi and so there's a lot of made up terms and science here, but it's better if you don't take it too seriously anyway. Regina is a really badass protagonist, with a sarcastic attitude to the whole affair, and showing almost no fear even after encountering a long-extinct animal that may have just killed her friend!

Dino Crisis laid the groundwork for an excellent survival horror franchise that could stand alone from its brethren, and... it never really capitalized on that. Dino Crisis 2 went in a more actionized direction and the less said about Dino Crisis 3 the better. Capcom had a franchise on their hands that could've easily lasted until the current generation, maybe not as storied as RE, but as a cult franchise that could've been kept alive by a dedicated fanbase. Fans to this day still clamor for a remake which would be absolutely incredible and could be just to thing to resurrect this franchise. For now, I'll keep replaying this survival horror classic over and over again, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.
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If the suspense doesn't kill you, something else will!
http://tinyurl.com/zqwzc9a - https://i.imgtc.com/3qwvxhc.jpg