Jurassic Park The Game: Review thread - post your impressions here!

[piccobello]

Originally Posted by waroftheworlds01

I agree with basicly everything you said, piccobello. Although, i still would have loved for the game to be longer. In fact, there were moments in the game where it felt like some story elements were missing. What story we had was great but at times it felt like the story jumped around a bit. And seeing how it was originally going to be 5 episodes i can't help but wonder what story elements were removed.

You're right, without knowing what has been removed we can't say if it was necessary to remove them.

[Laphin]

Originally Posted by VittoOuWan

Sorry to say this time you really blew it.
I only did some of it but could not stand it and stopped.

It is not a game, there are no real challenges, you don't have to solve riddles or else.

Rather it's like a mini-movie in which, to pretend it's a game, now and then you get instructions to push buttons. "Push up then push left". What's the challenge in that?

I'm sorry there's no "Satisfied or your money back" policy because, for as much I loved your other games, this one is a joke, I will not play further, and I really would like to give it back for a refund.


I do hope your next one will be back on track. Please!! You were good, get back there. Return to games that DO challenge the player. I like good games, and you were one of my favorite sources.

Let's make this a once in a lifetime slip never to be repeated again. Thank you.

Great job... from the sounding of it.. it looks like you never even made it by the prologue (TUTORIAL) area of the game, where you pretty much can't die because the game is teaching you the controls. Of course there's no challenge. In most games for anyone that was born since the 80s and 90s... knows that a game gets harder as it progresses.

[VittoOuWan]

Originally Posted by Sinaz20

I've been reading every review, good and bad, that I can get my eyes on.

Nice to read that.

Was I clear enough in expressing my thought?

Don't misinterpret things:
Many say "I am a hardcore JP fan". They loved having one or few new chapters of the story. I too will probably like it (in time I might play on, but only to watch that story).

But it's very disappointing on the game side.
You are shown 2 keys sequences that you have to press quickly enough or you die. You have no choice, need no strategy, don't have to figure out anything, etc. etc.
Is that what makes a game enjoyable and rewarding to play? Just press the two keys you're told to, or you die?

I just looked around for reviews and only found one (still too early?) by Ben Reeves:
"Jurassic Park strings together a series of pass-or-fail button-press sequences. ….its few puzzles rarely require thought.
Telltale's... approach to BTF left me hopeful... However, I was in for a disappointment."

Please don't confuse the joy of having a new piece of a loved story, with satisfaction from playing an engaging game. The first is present, the latter isn't.

Please tell me I did explain my point. And that this is NOT the "New" Telltale (otherwise you've lost a loving client). Thanks.

[Sinaz20]

Originally Posted by VittoOuWan

Nice to read that.

Was I clear enough in expressing my thought?

I understand you weren't satisfied with the game (or however much of it you played.) I can't change Jurassic Park now that it's complete, but I can consider your constructive criticism when designing future games.

I try to keep my finger on the pulse of our die-hard fans and bring up the loudest of collective complaints in our designer meetings.

I really hope you'll continue playing through the game-- there's a lot to experience, a lot of great scenes and gameplay to discover.

[Laphin]

Originally Posted by VittoOuWan

Nice to read that.

Was I clear enough in expressing my thought?

Don't misinterpret things:
Many say "I am a hardcore JP fan". They loved having one or few new chapters of the story. I too will probably like it (in time I might play on, but only to watch that story).

But it's very disappointing on the game side.
You are shown 2 keys sequences that you have to press quickly enough or you die. You have no choice, need no strategy, don't have to figure out anything, etc. etc.
Is that what makes a game enjoyable and rewarding to play? Just press the two keys you're told to, or you die?

I just looked around for reviews and only found one (still too early?) by Ben Reeves:
"Jurassic Park strings together a series of pass-or-fail button-press sequences. ….its few puzzles rarely require thought.
Telltale's... approach to BTF left me hopeful... However, I was in for a disappointment."

Please don't confuse the joy of having a new piece of a loved story, with satisfaction from playing an engaging game. The first is present, the latter isn't.

Please tell me I did explain my point. And that this is NOT the "New" Telltale (otherwise you've lost a loving client). Thanks.

This is TellTale's FIRST ATTEMPT with a gameplay element similar to HEAVY RAIN's. The creator of that game, "Quantic Dream" has dabbled in this already once before with Fahrenheit (ie Indigo Prophecy). Their games had a little bit more of a gameplay element in which you could step out of the cinematic hand holding, and make choices that would later affect your decisions. As opposed to just cinematic flare and quick fingers to avoid death, there was the anxiety of hoping, whether it be through QTE crucial scenes, or talking to someone, that you made the right choice that could potentially affect the lives of other characters you're close to.

I haven't played Jurassic Park yet, except for a little bit of the beginning.. For what I saw, I loved.. I'm not gonna play more until my girlfriend is here with me, because I know she'd love it.

But I say this.. For being TellTale's FIRST attempt at delving AWAY from their comfort zone of point&click adventure.. you gotta give'em props, because not many companies are comfortable with doing this, and for what they've done and what I've been hearing and have seen for myself somewhat.. I think it's damned fantastic, even if it IS a cinematic story 70%, 30% interactive. It's still an official connect to the Jurassic Park franchise, and I'm glad that SOMEONE stepped up and created what a lot of people have been looking forward to for a long time.

HOW MANY of you used to go to the Arcade back a few years, and sit in the jeep and played the LIGHT GUN game "The Lost World"? I mean.. beyond that, all you had production/presentation wise was PS1's "The Lost World".

There hasn't really been a SERIOUS story driven game.
Off from left field, I'd like to see someone make a great serious Friday the 13th game, but I know that will probably never happen.

It's these people from TellTale, and other developers out there that push the effort of, "MAKING IT HAPPEN" because otherwise, potentially, it would never happen... and then when it does, you guys complain about it.

I would actually like to see TellTale continue this Jurassic Park franchise, and hopefully with the continued series, maybe they could patch up all the elements you guys complain about, for the better.

But for right now, be at least happy with it.. I think they've done fantastic work here.

And to close out.. this is what Ian Malcolm has to say to Telltale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4_jMfBq3dc

[shamuboy]

This has to be one of the greatest games you guys have ever released!

The dinosaurs are amazing, the bugs are minimal, great scenes of the park. I love how we get to go back to those places and explore more and more of each one! I give this a 10/10!

Now I'm hoping for a a second game.

[VittoOuWan]

Originally Posted by Sinaz20

...but I can consider your constructive criticism when designing future games.

I try to keep my finger on the pulse of our die-hard fans and bring up the loudest of collective complaints in our designer meetings.

Thank you,
that's what I was hoping for and I appreciate you picking it up.

[Sinaz20]

Originally Posted by shamuboy

...The dinosaurs are amazing, the bugs are minimal...

I know-- we only put one cockroach in the entire game!

Oh... spoilers... I'll fix.

[waroftheworlds01]

Originally Posted by Sinaz20

I know-- we only put one cockroach in the entire game!

Oh... spoilers... I'll fix.

It may have just been one but it was huge! lol I would have freaked out and the T-Rex would have ate me. Much like in The Lost World where he freaked out because of the snake.

[Icedhope]

I just read JPlegacy's Review. http://www.jplegacy.org/board/

I pretty much had the same thoughts.

[T002Tyrant]

It's 1AM I'm tired to I'll make it brief.

Let's get the negative out the way. The game had too many bugs for something that was delayed by 6 months, I had graphical bugs even though I have a 1GB graphics card that handles crysis on some of the highest settings. This later caused bugging out and at the beginning caused the rain to do some weird shit like make yellow streaks. The most annoying part is where the climax at the end of Episode 4 kept on spazzing out and freezing every 10 seconds, even with the graphics altered. Fortunately when I replayed the final scenario after completion it worked, with some minor freezing here and there.

While these were the only bugs I encountered there is no excuse for this kind of behaviour especially when you guys changed the game and took 6 months repairing things and tightening the game up.

Secondly you used the Tyrannosaur way too much, it would have been better if you used Baryonx or even a stampede of Galimimus to shake things up, it was getting a bit tedious and I was rolling my eyes, which kinda ruined the climax of the film, with the exception that the climax was so well executed nothing could have ruined it.

Ok now we've got that spanking out the way let's move on to the positive. Let's break the normal reaction to the graphics, for me the graphics were great, by far the best stuff telltale's ever done, I hope to expect with the money you make from this to invest in being able to afford a pay rise for all of you, so you can up the ante when it comes to graphics, animation and design. You've set the bar with Jurassic Park, now you have to beat it and keep upping your standards in graphics, animation and animation bugs. Flushing out any anomalies that still like to show up on your engine. As I said, congratulate yourselves, but realise the horrid truth that people are going to expect this kind of quality to be bare minimum now and your challenge is to now double what you did as far as aesthetics. Again either give yourselves a pay rise, or invest in better equipment or extra staff.

Anyway loved the visual style, I'm not someone who has to have exactly photo realistic graphics or graphics that are smooth and sharp, sol long as it isn't seizure worthy or something that looks like a bog standard PS1 game.

Still best graphics job you've done so far. It also felt very much part of the Jurassic Park film universe.

The writing was well done, and the story was better than the second and third films. More than ever I want to write scripts for you guys, although the games industry doesn't hire screenwriters for games so I guess I'll just have to make the dream happen with my own game....

I felt that the themes addressed were refreshing and felt adult. I also enjoyed the fact you were ballsy enough to get away with some of the stuff you kept in there. I wont give spoilers but it was great.

However from one screenwriter to all you writers out there I would have made a few changes such as not having the raptors from another quarantine pen, but ones that were breeding unauthorised. I also felt that some parts were slow, and characters were just standing there, and there were no movement and no drive. Sometimes it worked really well like in Episode 4, but in earlier episodes I felt I was watching a Jurassic Park stage play rather than a filmic experience. Which takes me onto a small criticism.

I loved this as an interactive movie, it was well put together, however I agree that there needed to be some limited free roam, for example the engine didn't really work for me with Nedry's Jeep. It would be better to control Nima and move her around, and have events prevent her from moving too far off. This would tie in with the heavy rain feel you wanted to give. It's not much free roam, but it's enough to keep you fully engaged.

But apart from that and a few times where I felt pressing the keys TWICE was a mean and pointless thing to do I'd have to say I enjoyed it.

As far as the filmic look, it was wonderfully executed, and some parts were extremely tense, the characters were some of the best characters, and the most well developed I've seen in a video game.

The death scenes were not only amusing, but some really cut to the core of you, plus what the Troodon's do is just wrong, ugh.

I enjoyed some nods to the novel, although I was expecting more by the hints given which left me slightly disappointed.

There are a few more positive points but I've reached my sleep threshold and maybe I'll come back and give you those points. Sorry it's not more through, I'm sleepy and can barely write!

All in all you've made my inner child's wishes come true, and you should probably strike a deal with Universal to sell the script to make a CG Jurassic Park movie, like what Capcom did with Resident Evil Degeneration!

PS: I also liked the field journal to explain away some of the films discrepancies compared to what we know now about dinosaurs.

[Jennifer]

I thought it was fun. I really enjoyed the story, and the voice acting and music were excellent. The adventure scenes reminded me of Telltale's CSI games, which is fine by me because I really enjoyed those games.

As for the action scenes, I thought the QTE system worked well even though I'm not especially very good at it despite playing through Shenmue I and II countless times.

The weird thing is I couldn't stop from thinking that I was younger than Jess during the time period that this story was set.

[VJS25]

JoeGameSaga reviewed it here- http://joegamesaga.com/v/2011/11/1321497004

[SeanJP]

on episode four now picking the right tunnel was a bitch but i after like three tries picked the corect one. love the game

[Cyberscribe]

Well I must say.. Well done Telltale, I thought everything was pretty much great. Storywise it was pretty well done, i was wondering how the mercenaries were going to fit into the story but it did it quite successfully.

I'm a bit suprised that the Pteranodons didn't make it into Dr. Sorkin's Journal, but of all the dinosaurs that were featured I gotta say I was pleased. Even the Brachiosaur cameo was pretty neat. The Aquarium sequence terrified me to death, I'm actually glad you put it in there despite my bad reaction to it when it was first shown.

But all in all, it was a very faithful game and it's definately one of the most well done jurassic park games i've even seen. You all paid so much attention to detail! Thanks for a great game

[BlankCanvasDJ]

Originally Posted by Sinaz20

I know-- we only put one cockroach in the entire game!

That was the bug from Sam & Max with a little texture updating, wasn't it? Admit it! Even Jurassic Park gets a Telltale cameo, I love it.

[Insane Guy of Doom]

Originally Posted by Cyberscribe

Well I must say.. Well done Telltale, I thought everything was pretty much great. Storywise it was pretty well done, i was wondering how the mercenaries were going to fit into the story but it did it quite successfully.

I'm a bit suprised that the Pteranodons didn't make it into Dr. Sorkin's Journal, but of all the dinosaurs that were featured I gotta say I was pleased. Even the Brachiosaur cameo was pretty neat. The Aquarium sequence terrified me to death, I'm actually glad you put it in there despite my bad reaction to it when it was first shown.

But all in all, it was a very faithful game and it's definately one of the most well done jurassic park games i've even seen. You all paid so much attention to detail! Thanks for a great game

Where was the brachiosaur cameo? I missed that one.

[kmmgreen5]

welp after getting past the bugs i have to say i was totally surprised and blown away by this game i really loved it when i started the first chapter it was all sort of new and getting a hang of it so i wasnt sure if i liked it but as the game went the controls became like second nature. the story kept getting more awesome and action packed just so perfect all those camera angles and blending, and i loved all the references to the movie and how you really let the player take a hold of the computer or the little power grid thing (which was always something i wanted to do) also i loved how in some cases i could sit there and listen to the characters just talk to each other with a long conversation. and i liked how in the journals all the scientific details that were wrong in the film were expanded on about why they were. i feel as though i could just go on forever about how every detail was put into this game and made it great showed a lot of care and it really lived up to the movie.

[ShaggE]

One of the best movies I've ever played. Not bad as a game, either, even if it *was* one big QTE with some simple puzzles scattered throughout.

The only really big problem I had was with the sound. It was downright atrocious at times. At one point, it even sounded like an actor got too close to the mic, which really comes off as shoddy considering dev time. The acting wasn't great either, for that matter, but it seemed to improve later on. The music was fantastic, though. Very cinematic.

I was amazed at how far the Telltale Tool was pushed for this. There were some hiccups, but the graphics and animation were by far the best that you guys have ever done.

The writing was a pleasure as well. This story could easily pass for JP4. Unlike a lot of "cinematic games", this one honestly felt like a movie. A special mention for the death scenes: surprisingly brutal, and VERY well done. One (involving a speeding shipping container's effects on the human body) even made me laugh in sheer surprise.

The nods to the movies were never hamfisted, and always placed at the perfect moments. ("Ah ah ah! Ah ah ah!" ) I only wish somebody had said "clever girl" at some point.

Altogether, I was extremely pleased.

[CaptnDan]

My very positive review is posted here:

http://www.theurbanshogun.com/2011/1...me-review.html