Game Info

Developer: BlueSky Software
Publisher: Sega
Year of Release: 1993

Game Review & Impressions

With its groundbreaking visual effects and dynamic cast, Jurassic Park is one of the landmark movies from the early 1990s. The success of the movie spawned multiple sequels, which continue to be created to this day. Jurassic Park was a big deal, so it's unsurprising that a slew of video game tieins were made, to varying degrees of success. My only reference point had been the Commodore Amiga version of Jurassic Park, developed by Ocean Software, which was totally different to the Genesis game. I was curious to see what console owners had received back in the day, so I decided to give the Sega Genesis version a try.

The first curious thing about this game is the fact that players can choose to play either as Dr. Alan Grant, portrayed by actor Sam Neill in the movie, or as some random velociraptor. The fact that both characters play through levels using the exact same background graphics suggests that the developers were trying to bulk out the amount of content present in the game, but neither game mode is particularly enticing.

As Dr. Grant, you have to run and jump through levels that are sort of inspired by locations from the film, although the game references precious little from the film itself. None of the other members of the cast are even mentioned, and aside from the briefest of moments inside the park's visitor centre, there's little to distinguish this from some random junglethemed platforming game. As for Raptor, the levels are practically identical, except you're trying to hunt down Dr. Grant, killing a bunch of park security guards along the way.

If I'm being totally honest, the game is a bit of a disaster. The gameplay is boring, uninspired platforming with dull levels and little to get your teeth into. The control system is abhorrent, featuring a glitchy animation system which makes precision movement and jumping extremely hard to achieve, which is especially frustrating when playing as Raptor, who controls more like an oil tanker, rather than the superagile predator its meant to be.

In terms of bad design, a special mention must go to the the third level, where Grant has to pilot a gaspowered raft down a series of waterfalls, which is made virtually impossible by the presence of spikes and other hazards hidden out of sight, and only become apparent once the player is committed to travelling in a certain direction. Grant has to hop out of the boat to collect gas cans to keep the motor running, but merely coming into contact with the apparently ankledeep streams on which the boat somehow manages to float results in instant death, kicking the player back to the start of the level.

The bottom line is that Jurassic Park on Sega Genesis sucks. The various glitches and quirks make it feel like an unfinished product, and makes for a disappointing experience. The fact that BlueSky developed and released an updated version Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition a year later suggests that they tried to fix some of the issues present in the original. I've yet to try it, but from what I can see Rampage Edition features different levels, and comments suggest the problems present in this version were resolved, or at least ameliorated to some extent; I'll definitely be checking it out in a future longplay.

Information & Trivia

Lead artist was Doug Tennapel, creator of Earthworm Jim

Video Notes

Includes complete playthroughs using Grant and Raptor characters

Related Longplays & Videos


Chapters

00:00 Grant playthrough
28:11 Raptor playthrough

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#segagenesis
#retrogaming