Dino Crisis It is without a doubt one of the most beloved games for fans of the most classic survival horror. Launched over 20 years ago, this title continues to have a legion of followers. Dino Crisis is another of the works of creator Shinji Mikami, which you will most likely be familiar with, as he is the father of the iconic franchise resident Evil. In this case, the creative Japanese I’d put aside the classic Umbrella zombies and horrors, to bring back a good handful of Mesolithic dinosaurs. it would be waiting for us in every corner.
It’s because of it Some players may wonder what drove the creatives to take that leap and drastically change the target of their enemies.. Now, we weren’t up against awkward, predictable zombies, we were up against much more agile creatures that were leaping at us all the time.
First steps
First of all, we have to talk a little bit about how this idea came about and how it was realized in such a short time. And, if we put ourselves in context, we must take into account that Dino Crisis It would be marketed on July 1, 1999. Only one year after the big Resident Evil 2. It is much more than a simple curiosity. Shinji Mikami, who was in charge of the franchise resident Evil At the time, he put Shu Takumi in charge of the development of this sequel. Another well known name who has worked today in franchises such as Avocado Ace
However, Mikami was not convinced by what he saw in this second installment of Resident Evil 2, because I observed that it was a very slow product and that it had too slow a pace. Something that was not what Mikami was looking for this second installment. It’s because of it decides to remove Takumi from this project and orders something totally new from him; Dino crisis.
Dino crisis, was born mainly to take advantage of the media attraction that dinosaurs had at the time. We can’t forget that the launch of the first two tranches of Jurassic park they had created quite a fashion around these fantastic creatures. In fact, there are many scenes that are clearly inspired by the cinematic saga. Capcom, seized the opportunity and saw the potential of this prehistoric world for a game that would essentially follow the formula of Resident Evil.
Walk among the dinosaurs
Even with this premise, Dino crisis, I had to generate a story that would make sense of these types of enemies and also ease the transition from survival horror developed into resident Evil to a game with such a different theme. For this, the team places us directly in the year 2009. This year, we will put ourselves in the shoes of one of the members of the special team known as SORT.
Our protagonist Regina is sent with the rest of the team to Ibis Island. Everything to bring back Dr. Edwar Kirk. A scientist behind the research on the third energy, a clean and inexhaustible source of energy. However, in 2006, the government decided to shut down Kirk’s experiments and studies, for which he faked his death in a laboratory accident and continued his investigations on Ibis Island.
On this island is where An unfortunate accident occurs which causes the Third Energy to generate a sort of portal to the past.
A survival horror in its own right
This is how we will take our first steps around the Ile Ibis and its laboratory. From that first moment, the player could observe the more than obvious similarities represented by this Dino crisis with Capcom’s zombie namesake.
This first installment of Dino crisisIt was a generally pretty complex survival horror. Where in addition to opting for a fairly leisurely playstyle, balls were scarce and puzzles were a challenge. The latter was due to the lack of clues as there was a large number of items which took a long time to be used. This caused the player to see how his progress was truncated on numerous occasions because he did not have an item that he must have collected a long time ago.
On top of that, Dino crisis managed to convey a feeling of tension and discomfort to the player at the controls. All of this with just 6 different enemy types, with Velociraptors and the T-Rex being the most common. In fact, the latter will be the main antagonist of the adventure. In pursuit of our protagonist for most of the trip.
But the use of the aforementioned puzzles, the ability to climb through the ventilation ducts and in general their claustrophobic environments seasoned with the classic stationary cameras, managed to put the player in tension. All this was accompanied by a big technical leap for Capcom. Dino crisis, it would be the company’s first version to use fully three-dimensional environments. Let us remember that in order to date the deliveries of resident Evil, used pre-rendered 2D environments.
Dino Crisis was a success in every way
Finally, with all of the above, the first installment of a game that would become almost an instant classic would hit stores in 1999. Dino crisis hit the shelves to become a bestseller. One more for a Capcom that everything he touched turned to gold. Japanese society would be able to sell nearly a million and a half units. Something really interesting considering that a year before the launch of a game like Resident Evil 2.
The release was also highly rated by critics, scoring very high and consuming an excellent version. Something that prompted Capcom to get down to business and only bring a sequel a year later, which would put the survival horror genre aside.. But this is another story.
Since then, the dinosaur franchise has had a very steep road, looking utterly dilapidated with a simply nefarious third installment. After completing this trilogy, the Japanese team didn’t dare bring back a franchise as beloved as this one. It may be that now, after bringing us to our consoles, the remakes of the second and third of resident Evil Is it possible that the time has come Dino crisis? From there we look forward to it.
About the Author
Psychologist who enjoys cooperative games, RPGs and shooting anything that moves.
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