Gaming Target - Xbox: Dino Crisis 3

Written by Nick Doukas on November 06, 2003

Full Review: In space, no one can hear you scream -- with frustrationЕ

Dino Crisis 3 is, in a word, dated. The ideas are all there, the game looks great, and the play mechanics are sound Ц possibly even innovative in certain areas. However, one big flaw prevents it from ever reaching its potential: the camera. I'm a huge fan of the Resident Evil games, but the fixed camera angles inherent to the series are faithfully reproduced here, and it hamstrings the game from the moment it begins. In RE the idea of slowly exploring a huge mansion full of equally slow abominations works well with the locked camera, but in a fast action game like DC 3, it ultimately kills any sense of fun and instead creates a lot of frustration.

As Dino Crisis 3 opens, a 6-mile long Earth research vessel, the Ozymandius, has returned to our orbit after a mysterious 300-year absence. The year is 2548, and you play as Patrick, the leader of a Special-Ops force that's sent to explore the ship and obtain information regarding the disappearance. As Patrick and his team board (or more accurately are stranded, as the Ozymandius attacks and destroys their recon craft on approach) they discover that the entire crew has vanished, and the tremendous craft is overrun with vicious dinosaurs. At this point you take control of Patrick, and after a moment or two of exploration, do battle with some vicious slug-like beasts, using the jetpack to fly high above them and tear them up with your energy weapon. The adventure is underwayЕ

You'll use the left thumbstick to move the character, and the right to work the camera --unfortunately; it's only a toggle on/off first person viewЕnot very convenient during actual gameplay. Your default weapon (a cool looking laser rifle) can be discharged in rapid-fire mode by tapping the X button, though holding X will result in a powerful charged blast. The A button is used to investigate your surroundings (press for an action where available), and the Y button calls up access to an armament called Wasps. You'll be able to send the Wasps after a target, and they'll hunt it down, surround and destroy it. Each Wasp has a different application: some are only be useful in close quarters combat, while others have much greater range, and can be sent ahead to scout and destroy any threats that are lurking about. The B button is used to jump, and holding the right trigger will activate the jetpack, which allows Patrick to fly around and above any attackers. The pack is a great feature, but once again suffers from that fatal camera issue. An over the shoulder, player-controlled camera could have made this title a classic, but as it stands, it's ridiculously easy to become disoriented during the battles, not to mention the frustration during the platforming sections of the game.

The game gets fairly repetitive as well, since you only fight a few different dinosaurs throughout. The design of each dino is pretty cool though, and you'll encounter psuedo-raptors, some horrific parasites, and even a T-Rex as you explore the doomed vessel. Graphically the game looks great, and the clean, shining textures of the Ozymandius, as well as the character models of the SOAR operatives and dinos, stand out in a big way. The weapons fire looks sweet, and the jetpack spews exhaust flames from 3 different nozzles. Flying around and above the terrible lizards as you blast away at them is great fun, unfortunately the camera keeps you from seeing half the battle, as well as enemies off screen. Believe me, some nasty surprises can occur when the view suddenly switches in mid-fight. Irritating to say the least. The sound is more than serviceable, and the dino's throaty roars and howls, along with the sound of explosions and weapons fire, immerse you in the game well. The music is sparse, but what there is fits the atmosphere of the game well.

Since the highly polished look of the Ozymandius creates an atmosphere of uniformity, many of the rooms and corridors start to look the same after a while, leading to confusion at certain points later in the adventure. Also, while the puzzles consist of morphing the ship into different configurations (in theory, a great idea) there's a lot of backtracking involved. This too gets tedious and gives you the feeling that the ship isn't anything more than a series of set pieces. Overall, the formula gets old pretty quick. Unfortunate, since the title had a lot of potential which was ultimately squandered by poor design decisions.