Who says survival horror can't be ass-kicking and ridiculous?

User Rating: 8.5 | Dino Crisis 2 PC
It's always interesting to review old games, especially decade old games, because you will have to keep things in perspective. That however does not mean to give old games any more leeway than the new ones. With this in mind, Dino Crisis 2 still emerges as an addictive experience, despite the amount of time that's passed since its release in 2003. Although clearly a survival horror game with an overt theme of surviving a dinosaur-infested jungle in the prehistoric times, Dino Crisis 2 imposes neither hardship to survive nor real terror on players. Rather, the whole game is an opportunity for players to enjoy good old-fashioned ass kicking under the Resident Evil game mechanics.

Graphics/Audio:

Remembering that this is a decade-old game, the visuals of Dino Crisis 2 still isn't stunning, although it certainly is up to par, and an impressive degree of realism is definitely apparent. The background of each stage is illustrated in 2D, while the character and the enemies as well as certain interactive objects in the game are 3D. The 2D background was obviously done with a realistic intent, though it still came out rather cartoonish. The 2D backgrounds do a good job in conveying a sense of crumbling human civilization (which is very appropriate under the premise), although at no point in the game will you stop and admire the 2D images alone. The 3D parts of the game are outstandingly detailed for its time. Your prehistoric foes will bleed on the ground after you defeat them, and the damage your bullets inflict on the dinosaurs is visible in the form of neo-realistic gore. The best thing about this game's visuals is how the 2D and 3D elements interact with each other. You may see crocodiles emerging from a 2D vent in an underwater level, or witnessing a T-Rex haplessly passing under you while standing on a 2D suspension bridge. Those are the moments in Dino Crisis 2 where you will take a moment to be impressed by these nice atmospheric touches.

The soundtrack in general is appropriate and helps to immerse you into the situation you are in, although the soundtrack composition is generic at best. Sometimes you would hear intense music playing in the background but there was no real urgent situation to warrant it. Most of the time, however, music is absent in the background, because you will need to hear for the sound of enemy approaching, which is imperative in a survival horror game. The sound effect aspect of the game is done superbly. Each type of dinosaurs has their own footstep, attack, dash, and moan before death sound. You will be able to identify your foe about half way into the game simply by identifying the sound of its footsteps. All these attention to detail help you assume the role of badass Special Forces operative shooting ancient lizards.

Gameplay/ Story:

Unlike its Resident Evil counterparts, Dino Crisis 2 is by no means a difficult game. To begin with, you are already armed with fairly powerful guns in both Regina and Dylan's portion of the game. The lower level dinosaurs generally take about 3 shots to kill, which is made easier due to an absent need to reload and an auto-targeting function (though you may disable auto-targeting during gameplay). As you kill more enemies you earn what is called Extinct Points, and if you kill your enemies in quick successions you will enter into combo mode, which will grant you more Extinct Points depending on how many combos you've made. You can use Extinct Points as currency in several save points throughout the game to refill ammo and purchase/upgrade weapons, items, and gears. Extinct Points are very easy to earn and theoretically you can earn infinite amount of them in one sitting as long as you have the patience to keep going back to the same area to kill the dinosaurs. As a result you can purchase ridiculously powerful weapons and gears in very early stages of the game, which can be at once empowering and self-defeating depending on whether you want to feel like a god or you want to be challenged. Some weapons are ridiculously powerful, often can dispose of seemingly indestructible within 3 shots, which will grant you even more Extinct Points for you to go back and purchase even more powerful weapons (yup, the guns get bigger). There are several mechanics in the game such as a bleeding to increase the realism and the difficulty of the game, but these mechanics are quickly irrelevant because you can purchase gears that stop you from bleeding with fairly small amount of Extinct Points. All of this results in you becoming a walking human tank very soon in the game. At this point, people who enjoy bringing down massive, fearsome T-Rexs with ease will really feel like they are kicking-ass left and right, while those who seek challenge will find none here. Personally am the former type of gamer, therefore I thoroughly enjoyed the game from start to finish.

The ease of the game doesn't mean you never have to use the med packs. There are several designs in the game that inflicts damage on you in very unfair and frustrating ways. Enemies often lunge themselves at you the second you enter a new area and there is absolutely no way to avoid it. Some areas are also viewed with very weird angle, which results in your inability to see anyone attacking you. You won't be able to properly aim at aerial enemies if that are hovering right on top of you, which they all seem to try to do. There is a boss fight where the boss attacks you at such a quick speed that you'd be beat down well before your character can get up (which by the way is turtle speed).

Still the game is far from impossible, and you can blaze through the entire game with a strong sense of invulnerability, which was very fun for me. In between chapters there are some arcade-style minigames that the plot calls for. There are also puzzles to solve, although they aren't so much as testing your intelligence as to test your reflexes. This game is simply a brainless-fun PC game. The controls are mapped pretty unusually, but once you master them they won't stand in your way of enjoying the game.

The background story is laughable at best, basically just gives you an excuse to go back in time and shoot dinosaurs. However, the plot may grab your attention because of a series of ridiculous events will make you ask "WTP?" and make you want to find out more about it, much like how the TV series Lost reels you in. However, when everything is revealed in the end, the plot will simply disappoint you by the way it ends. Yet, you shouldn't take the plot too seriously to begin with.
The game is long enough for you to not feel cheated, and concise enough to not bore you. After you beat the game for the first time you will unlock an interesting competitive (not multiplayer) game mode.

Multiplayer:

This game doesn't have a multiplayer game mode.

Fun way to play:
Even if you don't intentionally hoard Extinct Point, you will become a walking human tank in very early stages of the game, so I suppose if you just roll with the flow you'll have a lot of fun.

Conclusion:

Dino Crisis 2 is very much like those big budget blockbuster movies everyone goes to see once in a while, you won't be enlightened or amazed by any part of the game, but when you are done playing it, you will remark "wow, that was fun".