Back to the horror theme I thought for this Friday I'd unearth this beauty of a game! Produced by Capcom and from the creator of the original Resident Evil/Bio-hazard games, the one, the only, Dino Crisis!
Now unfortunately this is a game that started off amazing then the sequels made it progressively worse. The first Dino Crisis was a suspense filled, atmospheric survival horror that came into existence in the late 90's. It followed three special task force agents on a mission to capture Dr.Kirk and his research on the third energy. However, as the name gives away, something goes horribly wrong and their are dinosaurs at the facility!
Taking control of Regina you find your self with barely any ammo, incredibly difficult puzzles, and eerily quiet facilities. Dino Crisis is one of the few games to successfully make you dread conflict, whilst not putting you off the game entirely because you just cannot be bothered. The dinosaurs are a nightmare to fight (especially if you're choosing to do so with just a handgun) and half the time you'll find yourself injecting them with tranquillisers just so that you can quickly get through the corridor.
Being one of the only PS1/PSX games I know of that feature enemies following you through rooms, giving you a horrifying mini-cutscene of a raptor screeching at you just as you thought you'd safely got to the next room, Dino Crisis forever keeps you on the edge of your seat. Trying to get from point A to point B using the laser fields to your advantage, the air ducts to get as close as you can without using the corridors - it becomes really fun to just sit there and try to plot your route, making you actually think about the best way. Especially with how quickly you run out of ammunition you'll be avoiding walking a corridor like the plague itself.
The graphics do themselves proud when it comes to the dinosaurs, an amazing job at pushing the PS1/PSX, but alas, they fall short somewhat on the characters. But I can forgive this seeing as it's one of the few games of it's era to have some pretty damn decent voice acting that really helps to create the brilliant personalities of the three main characters.
When it comes to the puzzles it can go either way depending on the kind of gamer you are. Personally I love them, they're difficult, really difficult. They push you to the limits at some points and give you a good amount of them! Worry not those of you who are more action-oriented though! This doesn't mean Dino crisis won't fill your survival horror hunger. One thing Dino Crisis does well is cater to a range of audiences. At three separate points in the game you get to choose a path to follow - one being a puzzle based path with minimal combat, and the other being purely combat and raw will power. These also serve to choose which of the 3 endings you get (though not as you might expect).
For good skills, great tension, slightly annoying boss's and brain breaking puzzles then you should definitely check out Dino Crisis if you haven't already! (even if the second one is a bit of a let down and the third one is vile)
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