Jurassic Park

[anagrama]

Everyone on the edge of their seats, chewing your fingernails down to the cuticals in anticipation of the inaugural Game of the Week Season 2?

Well the wait is nearly over, as Mr. Stepanic is stepping upto the plate, but here's a quick clue for anyone who simply can't wait any longer:

Think "What was BIG in 1993?". (Like, REALLY BIG)

Any ideas? Ah well, put them out of their suspense Stan...

[Retrobob]

Terminator 2: The Arcade Game?

[anagrama]

Bigger. Anyway, T2 (the film) came out in '91.

[transbot]

Has it got something to do with scary dinosaurs going out of control in a giant theme park?



Moonwalker.

[Stan]

[glow=yellow,2,300]JURASSIC PARK[/glow]



That's right, otherwise known as the awesomest game ever. Yes, I say that about everything, but I mean it this time, this games kicks the shiat out of everything.

Gameplay

Sweetness. You, of course, play as Grant, the general main character from the movie and book (I think, not sure about the latter, terribly written, couldn't finish it). As Grant you come to the nice little map of old JP there. You can select one of four stages. Before each stage you drive in the jeep blasting away at dinosaurs, rocks on the road, and then a large dinosaur near the end that comes after you. If you keep them off, you get bonus lives in the process granted (hahahahaha) you make it with a full life bar. Tip: I found that rapidly pressing both buttons while moving the aimer around nails nearly everything without missing, don't bother just using one finger. Anyway, if you make it through this (doesn't actually matter if you don't, it's more of a bonus area), you come to the stage proper. There's the Triceratops level which is like a jungle, the Brachiosaurus level, which has lakes and such, the Pteranodon level with tons of caves to explore, and the Velociraptor level, which takes place inside of the generator building. Lots of nice variety with the levels, with tons of neat things going on like Brachiosaurs eating, lighting in swamps, boulders, hidden dinosaurs everywhere, you name it. You have three weapons to choose from at any time in the inventory. There's the tranquilizer rifle, the stun gun, and the fireball grenade. Generally, you'll use the first one the most, but on the bosses, you usually mix it up depending on what works best. Of course, you'll also find power-ups and such to keep you moving along. At the end of every level is a boss to subdue, obviously being the dinosaur for the name of each level. Sounds okay? It is, pretty much, except for one thing. In order to access the T-Rex level and get a shot at the good ending, you have to beat every other level WITHOUT using a continue. It's not as easy as it sounds. The T-Rex level, when you get to it, is tough with some puzzle elements to it, so be ready. The T-Rex itself is a rough boss, one of the hardest I've ever come across in a video game, but he can be beaten. That's it. All awesome.

Graphics

Sweet Jesus these are good. Very nice, lots of fluid animations and a variety of color schemes. Really shows off what the SMS can do.

Music and Sound

Fitting, and nice. I was impressed, since we all know the SMS is generally inferior to the NES as far as music is concerened. Very well done. The sound effects are quite fitting. It's all incredible, nothing else to say.

Control

Again, excellent. The interface is only accessed with that dreaded "Pause" button on the console, but I'm used to it now so I don't care. Grant responds to all of your actions very well, no problems at all.

Difficulty

This game took me awhile to get through and I have yet to actually beat the T-Rex, though I can get to him with no problems. There's a lot going on, and you can't just run through it and expect to make it, not going to happen, you have to take your time with this one until you pretty much have it memorized.

Overall

Overall this is simply a game that MUST BE OWNED. It's really a lot of fun and was one of the first games I really got into and said, hey, I might as well buy EVERY game for the Master System. Get it, live it, be it, drool on it, sleep with it, BECOME IT.

[transbot]

I have extremely warm memories of this game, as I got it one Christmas with a bundle of about seven other brand new master system games - which, for a northern working-class, single-parent family, was one hell of a big bite back then.
super-kudos @ my mum for giving me the precious gift of Sega's 8-bits of love.

We salute you.


admittedly, I haven't really given this much attention since getting it again. This needs to change.

[Retrobob]

My god, seven! I would never have got that many!

[anagrama]

I'd only ever given this one a cursory look before, but I've been playing it since Stan tipped me off yesterday, and it really is a great game.
Lots of nice touches (see how the leaves fall when you jump through the trees ) and pretty tough but not unfair. I've got the Tricerotops & Brachiosaur levels licked, and am working on the others now...

[ShadowAngel]

I got this game some months ago from ebay with a lot of other games and played it only for 2 minutes to check if it works and then never again, i thought it would be the same bad game like jurassic park for PC.

Well thanks Stan now i took some minutes to play it and i must admit it is a nice game, altough the difficulty is tough in some stages

[dezanuebe]

This is an excellent game. I never had interest in it based on several poor reviews the game received when it was released, but i got it last year and was astonished by the cool graphics and excellent playability!!
Kudos Men!!

[Stan]

You'll get used to the toughness. There are tons of nice touches like the leaf thing you mentioned, I was in awe with this game and when I first got into it played it for seriously two weeks, nearly every day. There's just so much there. Wait until you get to the T-Rex. Phew! I never listen to reviews anymore, unless they're given by someone that I know has a clue about what they're playing. That's why the reviews at sega8bit are nice.

[Stan]

By the way, we should all pay attention to see if there are auctions jumps for each Game of the Week. I remembered it discussed before that they suddenly became more noticed while we do this. I'm curious.

[psychofox]

very good choice Stanley. I love this game, still haven't beaten the T rex either though. Hopefully this week....

When I first completed it, I was so disappointed, until I realised that you had to go through without losing a continue to get the real ending!

as for the price hike, I can guarantee this will increase the price of JP. I suppose it makes sense, any game of the week is guaranteed to be a quality game, so if anyone here is new, or doesnt have JP, picking it for a GOTW is like an endorsement from the SMS Gods

Thus there will now be a few more people than usual buying JP from ebay this week, raising the price.

When I first started buying games, I used to rely on all the people here for tips on the best ones.

[ShadowAngel]

psychofox said:

as for the price hike, I can guarantee this will increase the price of JP. I suppose it makes sense, any game of the week is guaranteed to be a quality game, so if anyone here is new, or doesnt have JP, picking it for a GOTW is like an endorsement from the SMS Gods

Great, then my next game of the week will be Back to the Future 2 ;D

[psychofox]

If you pick that for your GOTW I think everyones perceptions of you will fall pretty quickly!

I'm gonna pick Alf.