Dino Crisis 2

The Good
Seems like Capcom is constantly slapping me letting me know how unfruitful my imagination is, first with their Resident Evil series and now with Dino Crisis one. What could possibly be so interesting in the world full of dinosaurs, could there be a plot worth a wooden nikle? Can there even be some serious suspense worth a game, drama, emotions, or is this just another silly thing in a Jurrasic Park style? Well, it's none of that crap mentioned above. Excluding my current lack of knowledge on the originator, Dino Crisis 2 is unique game on the page of horror-survivals.

Three years after it came on PSX, it arrives on PC and in not that so-well-splendid quality for the PC standard nowadays. Might be that Capcom wanted to gain interest among PC gamers for their incoming Dino Crisis 3, but by releasing it on PC so many years after, and with so many graphically enhanced games as they are, it took a decision to take, and if it ain't just brilliant, if I do say so myself.

The plot gives you into the core of the game and before you know it, you're an addict (no wonder it took me a short set of 6-7 hours in a row to catch the ending cinematic). During the game, you will many times exchange between the main two characters, Regina, a very beautiful red-haired girl who other players know from original Diano Crisis, and another character that first time appears here, Dylan is the name, I think (can't say I remembered names so well since I was playing it for a day to finish).

Cinematics are simply marvelous, and I stand to thought Capcom has a certain touch to make great cinematics, but especially when it comes to horror-survival genre which they simply conquered bigtime. I cannot say that this game was as nearly as frightening as e.g. Konami's Silent Hill 2, but more close to Parasite Eve, Square's attempt towards this genre. Just as Square did something more RPGish with Parasite Eve, Dino Crisis 2 made a horror-survival game feel like a quick playing arcade jumper. The game just doesn't allow you to rest for a second. Sometimes not even near the saving points. But that by no means makes it harder than other such games where you are usually limited on ammo. Here you can freely buy it as long as you're having funds to backup your action.

At first the game seems like it bases its atmosphere merely on variety of sounds, but the more you play, the music becomes better and better, and more versatile. No singing theme for this game, though :( Dialogues and voice-acting are just plain great, although wouldn't hurt to have subtitles to compensate the states when music outlouds the speech.

Another thing which surprised me immensely is that I got a feeling like playing Cyberia 2 with this game. It has several almost cinematic-action scenes, or at least they seem as such, and no need to say it, I love when the game takes you by the hand. A very unique and powerful horror-survival game which holds the line with some of the best out there (imho to name thee respectively, Parasite Eve, CODE: Veronica, Galerians, Resident Evil 2, Silent Hill 2).

The Bad
Capcom always rewards the player with some extra stuff or mini-games after you finish the game or gives you stimulation for replaying it to open more stuff. Well, that is just plain waste, and that talent should rather be spent in making this game even more better (though I hardly see the way of improving perfection).

The Bottom Line
It plays on Pentium computers and pretty much any Windowses, and hence has the power to allow players with slower machines to experience what the game has to offer, and if someone isn't set out to hunt only those top-notch just-released with cutting-edge technology and graphic games, this one shouldn't be a miss. The reason more for a budget price the game started with. It's a proof of how your favorite genre can be altered without regretting a thing.