23 Dec, 2011
Title: Jurassic Park The Game
Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3 (reviewed on PC)
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Tagline: A good Jurassic Park Story Meets Surrounded by Repetitive Game Mechanics
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Verdict: Pass on it
The Jurassic Park property has been like a complex Algebra problem when it comes to translating it to a video game format. It always looks good on paper and in theory, but when the actual equations are put to work, you find out that it is complete hogwash. If there was a company that you would like to see crack the mystery of the Jurassic Park game, it would be Telltale. They always put a lot of care into their games, and in concept, their take on Jurassic Park looked interesting. Unfortunately, Jurassic Park the Game has turned into the same hot mess as the rest of the games in that franchise – good on paper but terrible in practice.
Jurassic Park starts off with setting the proper mood for the game, as you pick up the story shortly after the evacuation of all the guests from Isla Nubar in the first movie. You actually see the chopper leaving above you as you start the game. From there, the story seems to try and weave events from the first film and the second book, The Lost World. Note that I said the book, as the second book is far different than the second film of the same name.
Telltale works hard to get the fiction right and from that angle they have done a great job with the Jurassic Park license. We see all the key points on the island, run into key people that were in the first movie, but more importantly, they make the story interesting. I actually felt compelled to finish the game and see the story through because it was rather interesting. I liked the idea of going back to the island and seeing what was to come of the Barbasol can, if the mating of the dinosaurs would continue and if there would be any other creatures that we had not found in the movies or the books.
While the story is pretty good, the rest of the game is a big jumbled mess, depending on what you were expecting. The action in Jurassic Park weaves between two mechanics. The first is centered on hot clicking buttons to perform certain actions or searching for clues. You never actually move or make your characters interact with the environment as you instead press arbitrary buttons to make them do stuff on screen. This is about 80% of the entire game, played out like some high resolution version of Dungeon’s Lair. I understand that Telltale wanted to change up the formula from their standard adventure fare for this title, but constant quick time events are not the way to make a game fun. If anything, they make me not want to play, as I see all this cool stuff happening, and none of it is really done by me. I just pressed X or B a few times to make all the glorious action occur.
When not playing the game of Simon, you are engaged in conversations, which look somewhat similar to the Mass Effect wheel instead of the normal list of options that you would find in a Telltale game. It actually works out pretty well, and you can close yourself out of possible options by irritating someone with your dialog choices. Conversely, you can also open up branches with dialog that NPCs like to hear. The writing is pretty good as is most of the voice work. I did like the voice work for most of the characters with the exception of the little girl, who got a bit annoying towards the end of the game.
Another huge problem for the game, at least in the build that I played was the graphical glitches that constantly occurred. I was reviewing this on top of the line PC gear and yet, I was constantly running into framerate stutter and odd animation glitches. It doesn’t help that the game looks rather plain vanilla, making the sluggishness of the game all the more appalling. I get when a game runs poorly if it is pushing boundaries and is not properly optimized, but this doesn’t look cutting edge and runs very poorly at times. There is no consistency to it either as some sections run nice and fluid, and everything looks and runs smooth, and then in the next five minutes, you will hit a section that runs like molasses.
Sometimes you can take a game and look past its flaws if it has enough redeeming value, but Jurassic Park squanders any good will it has done with the script and voice work as the underlying gameplay is repetitive, boring and, at points, broken. I never found myself having loads of fun or wanting to keep going for another half hour. Games are supposed to be fun and make you want to play, but here, it was nothing like that. I never found any motivation to want to continue and that sums up the game in a nutshell. Part of me wonders if the luster of Telltale’s episodic formula is starting to wear thin. Or maybe this license just did not mesh with their principals. Whatever the reason, you should stay away from Jurassic Park the Game at all costs unless you are a huge fan of the series, or find it for an incredible deal price.
The Good:
- The Story is pretty good and links into the fiction nicely
- Voice acting is pretty good for the most part
The Bad:
- Graphical glitches are all over the place
- Boring gameplay
- Never lives up to the franchise name
Family Focus
While the game as a whole is not all that violent, you can see some gruesome scenes of dinosaurs eating your protagonists if you fail enough actions. There are no punches pulled on these deaths. Also, there is some language and smoking by characters so maybe keep this for 10 and up to be on the safe side.
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