Ask
anyone to name something with dinosaurs and The Lost World in the title, and
you’d probably get the Michael Crichton book or more likely Stephen
Spielberg’s second Jurassic Park movie as the first guess before you
finished closing your mouth. More literate folks will perk up and name Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 book and/or the 1925 film which were in a way the
major inspirations for that more familiar book/movie/merchandising bonanza
combo. The average gamer will probably go on about the not-so-hot video
games based off the films, and no doubt comment on how much he or she
enjoyed Capcom’s Dino Crisis series (well, except for part 3). Still, there
really hasn’t been a console game that puts you eye to eye (or torso to
tooth) with a wide variety of dinos like Metro 3D’s great Dinosaur Hunting.
Usually a game coming from a small company gets labeled as a “sleeper”, but
this one is a first rate game all the way and definitely deserves to be in
your Xbox collection.
Developed for Microsoft Japan by a company called Scarab, the game re-imagines events and ideas from the Doyle book without being a dry, straightforward translation. Dinosaur Hunting has 5 playable characters, a cool alternate retro-futuristic past, and… a digital ton of dinosaur poop to probe for research purposes. Really. The game also has what has to be the most accurate title in years, so you won’t have to ask that game shop clerk “Um, so…what’s it about?” It’s no big secret, and you won’t need to spend days clogging up message boards asking about it. You play a dinosaur hunter (well, a couple of them). You hunt dinosaurs (well, quite a few of them). Not to kill, mind you- this isn’t Cabela’s Dinosaur Big Game Hunting Extreme. The whole purpose of the game is to tranquilize and capture the huge beasts in order to save them from extinction. It’s a great, welcome change of pace from the usual action games out there, and you actually get a load of interesting dinosaur facts to feed your brain as well.
What
makes Dinosaur Hunting work so well is the sense of immersion you feel as
you explore the huge Guiana jungles, plains, and cliffs the developers have
created. As each stage begins, you get a specific dino to capture which
earns you a huge amount of cash. You can also feel free to take on any
number of sub-target dinos for extra loot, should you feel confident enough
with your ammo use and tracking skills. There’s a definite sense of tension
here, thanks not only to the dinosaurs, but also the fact that you have a
limited supply of bullets for each mission. You can’t go all out and
tranquilize every dino you see as you have to pay for each shot fired, and
at $500 for a normal shell and a few thousand for rifle and shotgun shells,
you’d think that the bullets were custom made out of platinum and gold. This
adds strategy to the proceedings, and you’ll have to often find ways to
sneak or run like hell past your share of cold-blooded, toothy hazards as
quickly as possible. Dinos you take down can be searched for formulas to
create special bullets, and this is where your brain gets more of a workout.
Do you create shells for the hordes of smaller predators or that big money
sub-target dino, or do you save most of your ammo for the main target and go
after the extra scratch later? You can also search old bones, partial
corpses, huge dino eggs, and yes, digital dino doo (complete with buzzing
flies, and big ones at that). It’s not as funny as you would expect, as the
game handles these sequences very matter of fact manner. You will get a
laugh the first few times, and a bigger one when someone comes along and
asks “what the hell is that?” as your guy or gal bends over to inspect some
fresh “traces” as they’re called in the game. Each stage also has a time
limit, but unless you really get lost or caught up in a load of needless,
ammo wasting battles, you really don’t need to worry much.
On
the way to your main objective there a high probability you’ll be attacked
by smaller and/or larger dinos, so you’ll have to do a good deal of that
sneaking and running like hell mentioned above when the need arises. There’s
a rather frisky dog, Algo, who has a tendency to sniff out hidden dinos and
clues a bit more that he gets you discovered by running up to even the
fiercest beast and getting it riled up to chase you. Bad Algo! Fortunately,
the dinosaurs in the game don’t seem to like spotted canine, but many do
have a craving for two legged mammals with tranquilizer guns. Speaking of
guns, the control is well implemented for the most part, although it can be
tough to press three buttons on the controller to fire a sniper shot or
shotgun. Movement is responsive and you can roll out of harm’s way or lie
flat to remain relatively unseen and silent. You can’t move while prone, but
I suppose crawling on your belly away from a T-Rex or Raptor wouldn’t be
very productive at all.
Graphically, Scarab has created quite a beautiful game here. From dense jungle to dusty path, each area is alive and teeming with little environmental touches including some mighty fine plant life and great water and reflection effects. As there are quite a lot of dino and other animal related scares to be had if you try and run everywhere, please take the time to slow down and enjoy the environments when you find a nice quiet spot. The character models are solid and well animated, but the real stars here are the amazing dinosaurs, some real, some created specifically for the game. Scarab went through all the major periods and picked out the most well known (and a few lesser known) dinos, mammals, and a few other surprises for your hunting pleasure. Each one has a well-written entry about it that becomes available once you capture them, and the kids and adults into dinos will eat this part up and come back for seconds. There’s a bit of annoying clipping once in a while as a dino head or tail pops through a boulder or tree and swipes you for damage, but its the only real issue I had with the visuals. The sound effects and music are great for the most part, although whenever your character(s) discover a clue or item, they repeat the same few phrases over and over.
Well,
the period is just about over, class; let’s go over the results of these
particular traces. You’re in your favorite game shop and you see Dinosaur
Hunting on the shelf. Having studied this review, you know just what you’re
getting for your forty bones: a solid, excellently crafted action/adventure
that’s fun to play and also teaches you a thing or two you may not have
known about dinosaurs. Do you shell out for this fresh egg, or do you spend
your hard earned shekels on some old fossil that you played part two or
three of last year. 4 out of 5 paleontologists say only a caveman would pass
up a game as good as Dinosaur Hunting, and I say don’t miss this one at all.
Highly Recommended.
