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September 17th, 2002 :
Dinosaur Battles Review | Steve @ 7:26 PM |
The first thing that struck me about "Jurassic Park: Dinosaur Battles" was the remarkable similarities between the game and "Scan Command." They are in fact, the same game. Dinosaur Battles literally is Scan Command, just without the scanner. Rather than 'collecting' DNA pieces by scanning bar-codes, Dinosaur Battles gives users all 500 DNA puzzle pieces straight from the beginning. That said, I wasn't as impressed with the game as I could've been.

At first I found the game entertaining, then it became frustratingly addictive, then it simply became frustrating.

The game is quite simplistic. Players move their dinosaurs around the map going from location to location in search of items and key battles. Battles involve RPG-like attacks (powered up with DNA puzzle pieces) executed like a real-time fighting game, the result is not pretty. Rather than boring turn-based fighting, the creators tried something new, and for that they get brownie points. The fights and attacks, however, are often inconsistent and unbalanced. Battles are usually decided in the first few seconds, and can get excruciatingly aggravating when moves are dodged and missed. In short, the real-time movements just don't reflect the simple mathematical functions operating behind the scenes and the final outcome is frustrating to watch.

The frequency of the fights is another negative aspect of the game. Fortunately, players can exit the battles and do not have to complete them. And, while the story of the game stays basic (as not to go over the heads of its younger audience), there are many moments where fans will be provoked to roll their eyes at the plot.

There are positive elements to the game. While simple, it is sufficiently entertaining, the dinosaur renderings aren't half-bad (better than Trespasser), and the story contains a few comical elements tossed in. All in all, I feel my time playing the game was well spent, however the game can't help but give off a cheesy recycled aura.

"Dinosaur Battles" is directed toward a young audience (7+), and children will probably get a good deal of entertainment out of the game (provided it's not too difficult for them). I think I can faithfully recommend "Dinosaur Battles", as long as you don't already own "Scan Command" (remember, it's the SAME game) and $20 ($16 on Amazon) is not a lot of money to you. If you're looking for some cheap (although juvenile) entertainment at a modest price, "Dinosaur Battles" is probably a good investment.

September 14th, 2002 :
Fox Airs TLW Again | Steve @ 3:17 PM |
Malcolm at JPdatabase chimed in today to mention that the Fox network will show "The Lost World" Sunday night at 7:00pm EDT/PDT. Fox bought the rights to show "The Lost World" soon after the movie was released. Fox's original airing of TLW included the deleted board room and Kenya barfight scene. The 2-hour and 10-minute film will run three hours until 10pm. It's not clear, however, if Sunday's airing will include the deleted scenes.

If a show is a 'repeat', networks are allowed to air up to 7 minutes of commercials per half-hour. Thus, for a 3 hour slot, Fox is allowed 42 minutes of commercials. So, 180 minutes of television, minus 42 for commericals, leaves 138 minutes for a 129 minute movie. My bet: cutscenes.

September 9th, 2002 :
Dinosaur Battles Information | Steve @ 11:09 PM |
The friendly people at Universal Interactive emailed me today with some interesting new information on the elusive "Jurassic Park: Dinosaur Battles" video game. First mentioned in late August on Dan's page, details about the game have been sparse. According to the email, Dino Battles will be the "most exciting Jurassic Park PC game yet... ...This 3D, real-time action game features authentic Jurassic Park dinosaurs fighting each other in thousands of different battles all over Isla Sorna."

Acording to my contact Rebecca, the game hasn't been given much money for any sort of marketing campaign, hence the lack of coverage from many of online gaming sites, and why until as of late, fans have heard practically nothing about the game. Rebecca, however, sends along some media from the game, including: