Dino Crisis

Moby ID: 2822
PlayStation Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/28 8:49 PM )
Included in

Description official descriptions

Three years ago a brilliant scientist disappeared while researching a new form of energy. The government that funded his research wrote the whole affair off as a loss, which made it all the more upsetting when reports of Dr. Kirk's good health and nearly finished research came in. A special forces team is sent to the doctor's private island laboratory to extract him and his research, but they are totally unprepared for some of the side effects of his developments. Side effects that come from 100 million years in the past.

Dino Crisis is a survival horror game that is very similar in both control and gameplay to its sister series, Resident Evil. As in that series, protagonist Regina will have limited supplies and ammo with which to fight deadly enemies while searching rooms for keys (some figurative, some literal) to open locked areas. Unlike Resident Evil games, Regina will find very few actual supplies laying around, and will instead find "plugs" that are used to open caches of emergency supplies located around the complex. There are only enough plugs to open some of these caches, however, so care must be taken to decide what items are really needed. In another change from Resident Evil, the game is rendered in 3D, allowing the camera to rotate or pan, although camera angles are still out of the control of the player. Even the dumbest dinosaur is smarter than the undead, and enemies can chase and disarm Regina, and even occasionally follow her through doors. Regina can use the force fields in the complex to block her enemies.

Spellings

  • Dino Crisis: Нашествие тварей - Russian spelling
  • ไดโนไครซิส: ผ่าวิกฤตไดโนเสาร์ - Thai spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (PlayStation version)

102 People (84 developers, 18 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 52 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 77 ratings with 4 reviews)

Jurassic Park meets Resident Evil

The Good
Dino Crisis (Capcom 1999) features great graphics, B-voice talents, multiple endings and game play similar to Resident Evil 1, but within the context of an original storyline about vicious dinosaurs, and a missing doctor, on a mysterious tropical island.

The Bad
Dino Crisis suffers from using the Resident Evil engine, without failing to make the necessary improvements. Had they done so, this could have easily been another blockbuster franchise. Instead, the survival horror-themed storyline and B-acting is never as engaging or terrifying as Resident Evil. The puzzles in the game are less fun, and more tedious, then the ones in Resident Evil. The control lacks many of the helpful improvements seen in Resident Evil 2 and 3.

The Bottom Line
Dino Crisis (1999) is a good, survival horror video game that could have been great. On the surface it wisely combines the Resident Evil game engine with a Jurassic Park inspired story. Yet, as you play the game, you begin to notice that the controls are not as good as they could be. That the storyline lacks the terror and suspense of Resident Evil and features puzzles, which are simply not as cool as the ones featured in Resident Evil. Despite its faults, if you enjoyed Resident Evil, then you will probably enjoy this game, but other gamers might wonder why Capcom did not spend more time on this potentially great game.

PlayStation · by ETJB (428) · 2010

Cool. I was drooling when it landed on my bedroom desk.

The Good
I love the polygon graphics. It's a bit old-skool, but I like it nonetheless. The dinosaurs were as lifelike as possible, the ending scenes are incredible (Especially Ricks) and the T-Rex shows up everywhere you don't want it to - perfect. Lovely Jubbly. THE perfect game for crisis situation fanatics. Perfectionists, won't like it, but still, it's brilliant.

The Bad
I didn't like the fact that you couldn't change the camera angle in each room, which meant taking down the entire roost of dinosaurs was particularly hard. I didn't like the patheticity of the compies.. They might be better if they could do some damage, but then again, they ARE good stress balls. Live ones at that. I didn't really like the walk-with-weapon-raised ability, either. You can only walk with that in play, and when you fire, Regina stops dead. Not good at all.

The Bottom Line
Ugh. Very good, I recommend that you play it when you're in a good mood, though. When you die, and you're in a bad mood, you're likely to wreck the Playstation, therefore no oonger being able to take stress out on Compies. Over-all, a very pretty and well made little gem. My fave game.

PlayStation · by Jamie Hall (4) · 2004

Dino-Riffic

The Good
This game is amazing! With real time backrounds, so you can get camera movement, unlike resident evil (which it is often compared to). Fantastic story, with great voice acting. Tons 'o' secrets to discover (3 endings). Atmosphere setting music. Craploads of the red stuff. Deep breath EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS AWESOME!!!

The Bad
Just a minor problem, the game is 100% polygonal and polygons have their obvious drawbacks (but capcom has done miracles with them).

The Bottom Line
It plays like resident evil: same control (thank god), some of the same weapons, similar puzzles, blah, blah, blah. Despite likenesses between it and resident evil dino crisis reigns supreme.

PlayStation · by Peter Vincent (2) · 2002

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

Sales

According to publisher Capcom, Dino Crisis has sold 2.4 million copies worldwide since its initial release (as of June 30, 2016).

Version differences

In Japan Regina is a very cute pre-rendered model. But for the USA release she was redrawn to look much tougher.

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Dino Crisis 2
Released 2000 on PlayStation, Windows, 2011 on PSP...
Dino Stalker
Released 2002 on PlayStation 2
Time Crisis: Crisis Zone
Released 1999 on Arcade, PlayStation 2
Dino Pets
Released 2009 on Nintendo DS
Dino Dave in Sokoman
Released 2007 on Windows
Incredible Crisis
Released 1999 on Arcade, PlayStation
MIB: Alien Crisis
Released 2012 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Power Rangers: Dino Thunder
Released 2004 on PlayStation 2, GameCube
Time Crisis: Project Titan
Released 2001 on PlayStation

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 2822
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

PS Vita added by Fred VT. PSP, PlayStation 3 added by Charly2.0. Dreamcast, PlayStation added by Grant McLellan.

Additional contributors: Matthew Bailey, Xoleras, DreinIX, CalaisianMindthief, Patrick Bregger, Abhisit Chanmana.

Game added December 29, 2000. Last modified February 14, 2024.