Jurassic Park IS frightening in the dark! Well, moderately so anyways . . .
From the game's main menu you are first given four options. The first option is "Story Mode", which is the main mode of the game. This is where you go to start your linear trek through the eight levels of the game. The eight levels are titled as such: Landing Site, The Laboratory, The Plain, The Glen, The Museum, The Breeding Farm, The Jungle, and The Harbor. Of the eight levels, seven of them take place on foot with you having to navigate your way around a lot of dinosaurs as well as a lot of environmental hazards. One of the levels is a vehicular level where you get to pilot a dirt bike across the plain to reach your destination.
The second option on the main menu is "Stage Select". After you beat a level in Story Mode it will become available to play in Stage Select. Basically this mode is just for practice. You can go to Stage Select and practice any of the eight levels you wish or try to upgrade your score.
The third option is "Options". Here you can change the control configuration, clear all saved data on the cartridge, and test both the background music and sound effects.
The fourth option is "Records", which is where you go to view any records you may have set during the course of the game. After you finish a level in this game you are scored in two different ways. The first is the amount of time it took you to complete the level, and the second is the "hit count" you made on any dinosaurs in the level. All of your best scores in these categories can be seen under this option for all eight levels in the game.
There actually is a fifth option under the main menu, but it only becomes available after you beat the game on Story Mode for the first time. This fifth option is another game mode and it is called "Survival Mode". In Story Mode you are able to save your progress after you successfully navigate any given level. In Survival Mode however, there are no continues and there is no saving. You are given one life and one life only, to make your way through the entire eight levels of the game. I'm sure it's possible, but very freakin' hard! I tried and only made it to level three . . .
As for the game itself, it is quite good. This game isn't a side scroller and it isn't an overhead view either, it's kind of a combo of the two. Except for the dirt bike level, it is a side scroller level. As you progress through the game you are given things that will help your journey. There are three "weapons" available for you to find. The first one, which is the staple weapon of the game, is the flare gun. There is also a tranquilizer gun (pretty much useless) and a wire gun (which you only use in one level). The other items you can pick up include tranquilizer gun ammo, two different types of health, keys and key cards to help you access locked areas, and a set of keys for the dirt bike you use in the third level. Most of these various items you'll find located in crates scattered amongst the levels. As I said the wire gun is only used for one level and the tranquilizer gun is useless, so your main line of defense is the flare gun. You have unlimited ammo with it so you can use it to your heart's content. The main thing you use the flare gun for is to shoot explosive barrels and crates that are scattered throughout the levels. When all but the biggest dinosaurs are close enough to the explosion they will keel over dead. Your other main line of defense in this game is a whole lot of running (and a bit of jumping)! Don't be afraid to be a big old puss in this game, it will only help you! The dinosaurs you encounter in this game are all the regulars from the Jurassic Park movies, including Procompsognathus, Pachysephalosaurus, Gallimimus, Pteranadon, Dilophosaurus, Velociraptor, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Spinosaurus.
With regards to gameplay, it is pretty good. The graphics aren't top drawer but they are well above average. The sound is good and the game controls are good enough. As for the controls themselves, the defaults are as follows: the A button is used to jump, the B button is the action button (shooting your various weapons, using health, walkie-talkie, opening doors/crates, etc.), the R and L buttons are used to cycle/choose between the various pick-ups in the game that your character can use (weapons, health, walkie-talkie, etc.), and the directional buttons are used to move your character around the screen. To run you just double tap the directional button in the direction you want to go. The controls were well done except for the running. I found that sometimes the double tap wouldn't always take right away and you'd have to do it over. Not a big deal for the most part, but when you're being chased by the Spinosaurus every second counts!
As for any tips I can give you, my first would be to not bother trying to kill all the dinosaurs you possibly can. Running like a coward on fire is easily the best way to get through this game! I liked to try and kill as many dinosaurs as possible in order to bloat my hit count records, but I usually ended up taking a lot more damage during those fights and ended up having to restart the level more often than not. I know now that I should just have run! If I wanted to set records I could just to go Stage Select mode. My other tip would be to redo a level if you're not satisfied with your results the first time through. If you complete a level but feel that you didn't perform all that well and used up too much health along the way, I wouldn't save your progress. I would exit the game and redo it. In all but the hardest levels of this game, once you beat a level you can usually go back and do it again right after because you know exactly what to expect. You are only given one life in this game and only three continues, so the health that you collect is very important in helping you go the distance. So if you feel you can redo the level and save yourself an extra health or two that you had to spend in completing the level the first time around, I would take a mulligan.
The great part of this game was the fun factor. This game was a blast to play and although most of the levels were actually pretty short, the fact that they were so precise and difficult made the game that much more of a challenge, which was nice. The bad part of the game is that overall it was way too short. Although Story Mode provides you a nice, medium sized gaming experience, the two alternate game modes (Stage Select and Survival Mode), although different from Story Mode, don't provide anything new to the game, they just recycle the same eight levels you originally experience in Story Mode. They dropped the ball there as they probably could have come up with an alternative game mode that was a lot more useful if they'd put their backs in to it. Like I said, this game was not the best, but not the worst. Definitely worth a look, for the right price.