Dino Crisis II Review
The oddest thing about Dino Crisis 2 is that it has been released on the PC so long after appearing on the Playstation. However, I just thought they must have taken their time with it, converting the game to the PC, enhancing the backgrounds, textures and models to support the PC's high resolution and latest graphics cards.
However... I was wrong!
In the game you play either Regina or Dylan, part of the TRAT team, who've been sent to Edward City to recover 'Third Energy' research data and rescue any survivors after the complex they were working in completely vanished and was covered with a prehistoric jungle, complete with its own dinosaurs.
Now considering that the game is quite old I was expecting some glitches and some graphical problems but its worse that anyone could ever imagine. The worse problem is that the backgrounds don't look as if they have been enhanced at all. It simply looks like they have stretched them to fit the resolution of the game, it does get better the higher the resolution you go but it can't compare with anything developed now.
On the other hand the models do look okay, the textures fit them well and while they do not move or look like the models in games like Unreal 2003 or even Half-life, they have been enhanced, which is more than can be said about some of the other models. The first boss you fight, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, looks so bad. The head texture alone makes it look like some kind of mutant.
The intro movie, which must have been taken from the Playstation version, does not look too bad. Again, as with the models, it's not comparable with anything in recent games but it is probably the best part of Dino Crisis 2.
The game itself does not fair too badly. The action takes place on static screens and you control the character by rotating him/her or moving forwards and backwards in a similar vein to the Resident Evil series. The only problem is that the game does not have the same appeal as Resident Evil.
Another problem is with the enemies you have to fight. Every screen you enter you have to fight a number of dinosaurs, which is okay, the main problem is that if you move to a different screen and return to the previous screen you have to fight the same dinosaurs again, which I found was a complete drain on ammo if you are lost or need to go back through some screens to take another route.
Every now and again you will come across a Dino File. Basically this is a little bit of information on the dinosaurs that you have encountered or are about to, this information ranges from useless bits like the dinosaurs length and height to the more important tips on how to fight them and what weapons it's best to use or avoid using.
Weapons are handled in an odd way too. While you can collect health packs on the screens you visit, ammo can only be collected via strategically placed computer terminals. Through the interface you can buy new weapons, ammo and even health packs if you are running low. This is also the only place you can save the game, its amazing that any PC game, even a console conversion, does not have a save-anytime feature.
The in-game menus aren't great either, all the weapon images, numbers and even your health bar are all low resolution images, it's as if they didn't spend any time making even these small images any better, the only hi-res elements are the text prompts.
Overall Dino Crisis 2 is a poor console port, while the game on the Playstation was probably very good the PC version is dreadful, even if it is released at £12.99.