Jurassic Park: The Game Review

By Dan Whitehead Published 23 November, 2011

'Saur loser.

Version tested: PC

Remember that bit in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex attacks the cars, and the kids are inside, and Jeff Goldblum jumps out of the car with a flare and distracts the dinosaur by pressing up, down?

Or what about the part when Laura Dern is chased out of the electricity substation by raptors and has to dash across open ground to the safety of the visitor's centre by pressing left and right at just the right time?

Hmm. Maybe not.

Like the genetic science John Hammond so cavalierly roped into servicing his quest for glory, the Quick Time Event is a tool often misused by game developers. Used sparingly, it can work wonders, straddling the divide between cut-scene and action and lending a cinematic lustre to moments that would otherwise be entirely passive. Used excessively, it's a fiddly distraction that detracts from the on-screen narrative and reduces player input to pre-school levels.

The Jurassic Park movies have inspired a lot of different gameplay styles, covering everything from fighting games to lightgun shooters and even management simulations - but in adding "adventure game" to the list, Telltale Games has opted to rely on a lot of QTE.

At points, the game is nothing but an elongated sequence of button-matching reaction tests. There's a little more to it than that, but with an over-reliance on such a problematic gameplay mechanism, the effect is much as you'd expect: this is a game that feels more like interactive storybook than a fully-fledged video game in its own right.

That story starts by flitting daintily around the events of the first film, in particular the fate of those stolen dino embryos hidden in a can of fake shaving cream by doomed IT nerd Dennis "Nuh-uh-uh, you didn't say the magic word" Nedry.

The stolen embryos prove central to the fate of our cast of characters. Nima is a Costa Rican thief-for-hire with a personal vendetta against Hammond's In-gen corporation. It's her job to retrieve the can for her employer. Meanwhile, specialist dinosaur veterinarian Gerry Harding has brought his rebellious teen daughter to the island, taking advantage of the park's spectacularly lax attitude to child endangerment in an attempt to steer her away from a life of petty theft, smoking and sullen back chat.

Needless to say, they're all stuck on the island when the dinosaurs get free, and must be rescued by our third group of characters, a trio of wise-cracking mercenaries sent in to scoop up any survivors.

Compared to other attempts to crowbar new stories into existing movie plots, this one fares better than most. We see relatively little of the park in the first movie, so there's plenty of room for our new characters to get into scrapes without tripping over the adventures of Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm and the others. Lord of the Rings: War in the North, this is not.

Sadly, the game never quite grasps the opportunity to add anything meaningful to the franchise. The first of four episodes is the strongest, sticking closely to Spielberg's formula and striking the best balance between the terrifying ferocity of its inhabitants and the sheer awe and wonder they evoke.

The gameplay is never the equal of the inspiration though. There are three basic scenarios you'll have to deal with, but the combination never clicks. The one closest to Telltale's usual style involves panning the camera around a location, looking for things. You don't have to look very hard, as everything of interest has a big question mark attached, which turns into a magnifying glass so you can click on it. There's no inventory to manage, so all you're really doing is triggering information about the environment or telling characters to open the only door available to them. It looks like a game, but never feels like one.

Puzzles are inevitably limited, both in number and scope. The most demanding, arriving in Episode 2, involves using a turntable to remove maintenance trolleys and mount three cars on a rollercoaster track in the correct sequence. Other challenges are little more than sequences of buttons and actions that must be performed in a specific order. Even here, there's little mental effort required as the game often explicitly tells you what needs to be done. All you need to do is follow the script.

The same is true of dialogue scenes where you'll get to converse with the characters, though as your control hops from one to the other, sometimes within the same scene or even conversation, there's never room to identify with any character, or even feel like you're making meaningful decisions. At one point you control both sides of an argument at the same time, essentially bickering with yourself in a scene that goes nowhere and illustrates nothing.

There's not much point searching for depth in the characters, as each sticks closely to their designated archetype but their personality seems to fluctuate from scene to scene, depending on the demands of the story. Rather than coming across as well-rounded individuals with complex goals and needs, they seem more like inconsistent sociopaths, liable to change their personality on a whim.

The attempts at human drama are also poorly served by a particularly weak visual style. More realistic than the usual cartoon Telltale approach, yet blighted by jerky animation and freakish facial expressions, it's hard to warm to these crude digital puppets and emotional investment in their plight suffers accordingly.

It's the constant leaning on the QTE crutch that really drags the experience down, however. There's an obvious Heavy Rain influence at play here, but what works for a thriller with an elastic storyline doesn't translate well to being chased by a T-Rex. Sometimes you're asked to hit buttons or click on things purely to move a scene along, an illusion of interactivity presumably designed to prevent the game from becoming one long cut-scene. Such moments are pointless, but ultimately benign.

It's when the dinos attack that the QTE approach really struggles. Some inputs are generous with their time limits, others demand instant responses, with no rhyme or reason. You can miss an input in one sequence, causing a character to merely stumble, but another will offer only instant death for the slightest mistake. Frequently, they're chained together, and you're given no time to react. Checkpoints pop up after every few input sequences, but often progress comes from memorising what's required rather than reacting to it first time around.

Naturally, there are several new species of dinosaur that mysteriously weren't mentioned in the films.

There is some flexibility in the game. Mess up a sequence and you might not be able to grab a distress flare which makes the next section slightly easier, for example. Or you might just die. Not being able to tell which actions are crucial and which merely optional is the source of much frustration in the later episodes.

More on Jurassic Park

There are also brief chances to choose between two courses of action, but both ultimately lead to the same pre-destined end point, with no apparent benefit. Just as the QTE gives the appearance of interaction while offering little, so these meaningless branches offer an illusion of choice. The game doesn't keep score, as such, but does award gold, silver and bronze medals for the way you complete each bite-sized scenario and a death tally mocks you with your failed attempts. Should the sight of bronze bother you, there's the option to go back and replay any scene, though there's no compelling reason to do so.

You can hardly blame Telltale for trying something different, given the enormous number of licensed games it's undertaking right now, but Jurassic Park has neither the charm nor ingenuity that the studio is known for. Come the end of the four episodes, each lasting roughly an hour, there's just a strange feeling of emptiness. The game is never interactive enough to make it feel like you've survived a thrilling adventure, nor does it inspire any emotional or intellectual engagement with its characters, situations or story.

Ironically for a series based around the idea of a carefully staged experience that collapses into unpredictable chaos, you're always more passenger than participant on this visit to Jurassic Park.

4 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Dan.

About Dan Whitehead

Dan has been writing for Eurogamer since 2006 and specialises in RPGs, shooters and games for children. His bestest game ever is Julian Gollop's Chaos.

Read more articles from Dan by visiting the Dan Whitehead archive page.

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Comments (67) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ZuluHero #1 6 months ago

    I quite like the look of this. The videos i've seen reminded me a bit of Heavy Rain.

    I know its already out on STEAM but when will it be released on PSN or LIVE?

  • superdelphinus #2 6 months ago

    We got so obsessed with what we could do, we never stopped to ask whether we should
    Edited by superdelphinus at 23/11/11 @ 18:27

  • arcam #3 6 months ago

    A shame. I hate QTEs so much that even a 4 is probably generous for me.

    I know I'm still waiting for an awesome Jurassic Park game. Just copy Dead Island, swap the zombies for dinos, that would be a game I can get behind.

  • IronGiant #4 6 months ago

    What a complete waste of time and money.

  • Osahi #5 6 months ago

    Shame, I'd hoped it would be good in a Back to the Future 'it's not great, but fun I've you like the movies' kinda way.

  • cyacomini #6 6 months ago

    Looks a bit like 'Lost' which was panned by the critics but I actually found it to be quite enjoyable - apart from the stupid 'gears' puzzles that is.

  • WinterSnowblind #7 6 months ago

    This is a shame, Telltale games are usually pretty good.. They did excellent work reviving Monkey Island and Sam & Max. BttF was decent, but clearly dumbed down for a bigger audience.

    Hopefully with things like King's Quest, they go back to what they're actually good at.

  • bad09 #8 6 months ago

    eew QTEs :(

    Still this never looked like being great to be honest. I've kinda gone off JP anyway, I rewatched JP1 last night on blu....it's really not as good as I remember, extremely bad movie on reflection which is baffling as I loved it back then.

  • Naster #9 6 months ago

    So it's like the antithesis of Trespasser in terms of depth of simulation.
    Edited by Naster at 23/11/11 @ 09:49

  • JohnnyHeaven #10 6 months ago

    i'm 99% sure its whipped cream not shaving foam. doesn't he squirt some in his hand and then put it on a piece of pie when talking to dodgson

  • Lionheart #11 6 months ago

    Really gutted about this. On the subject of Dinosaurs though, bring on a Dino Crisis 4!!

  • Zerobob #12 6 months ago

    Shame, I was looking forward to this, being a movie licence released well after it's time.

    I thought "it can only be good!" as somebody has hopefully taken the helm who could see the potential in the JP source material and decided to finally create a decent JP game to do the film justice.

    Sadly not it seems.

  • uknortherner2000 #13 6 months ago

    "and before you knew what you had, you patented it; packaged it; slapped it on the front of a plastic lunch-box and now you're selling it."

    Pretty much sums up this game, I feel.

  • FortysixterUK #14 6 months ago

    I am so glad I did not pre -order this, something about the videos they were showing of this game didn't quite sit right....maybe when its a fiver....

  • S.J.Rogers #15 6 months ago

    @JohnnyHeaven

    Its shaving foam, he just puts it on the pie to get it off his hands.

    It would be a little odd for him to have a can of whipped cream with him in this travel case...

    Well maybe not, (Fat Git)..! :-)

  • bad09 #16 6 months ago

    @JohnnyHeaven

    He does put it on pie but it's shaving foam, trust me I watched it last night :)

  • JohnnyHeaven #17 6 months ago

    God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man Create Tell Tale. Tell Tale Destroy dinosaurs...

  • Timotei #18 6 months ago

    "i'm 99% sure its whipped cream not shaving foam. doesn't he squirt some in his hand and then put it on a piece of pie when talking to dodgson"

    No.

  • JohnnyHeaven #19 6 months ago

    @bad09 damn, that film messed me up as a kid. i thought it was a can of whipped cream :-(

  • apoc_reg #20 6 months ago

    This is really disappointing, was going to get the game on iPad.... maybe not for 5 now!

  • menage #21 6 months ago

    Meh, I can't really imagine anyone really being interested in JP anymore.

  • altitude2k #22 6 months ago

    Such a damn shame, but who honestly thought it would end any better?

    Jurassic Park deserves a good game, and I reckon there's two directions it could go:

    1.) An Uncharted-style adventure game, with plenty of scripted, yet dramatic set-pieces that involve a lot more interaction than this. Whenever I play these sorts of sequences in UC, I can't help but think of JP (good example, climbing the train at the beginning of UC2)

    2.) A Mirror's Edge-style survival game, where agility and speed are way more important than gunplay. The ability to fire a weapon being downplayed against running the fuck away would certainly lend itself to the theme of the films.

  • MattEdWithCheese #23 6 months ago

    @ZuluHero Probably not til' next year but I think it might only be retail (as the full series)

  • JohnnyHeaven #24 6 months ago

    @altitude2k i like number 2, id love it if it had a photo taking mechanic as well ala Dead Rising.

  • gooner77 #25 6 months ago

    "now that is one big pile of shit"

    / jeff goldblum

  • RoOhDaMite #26 6 months ago

    I am so starving for dinosaur games, that about anything would do.

  • Murbal #27 6 months ago

    Ah, how I long for the extinction of the quicktimeeventosaurus.

  • Phantom_Dynamite #28 6 months ago

    Not as good as John Hammond's Flee Circus then.

  • Ka-blamo #29 6 months ago

    Shame, the wait continues

  • DrStrangelove #30 6 months ago

    Jurassic Park on SNES was pretty good, unfortunately its FPS sections didn't age too well.

  • ThaneKrios #31 6 months ago

    I don't care about reviews, it's fucking Jurassic Park!

    We need more games with dinosaurs, definitively.
    Edited by ThaneKrios at 23/11/11 @ 11:30

  • spotter5 #32 6 months ago

    Just make a HD remake of Operation Genesis with better AI and more freedom. Please. I will happily pay £100 for it.

  • Segaswirl #33 6 months ago

    The only Jurassic Park game i've ever liked was Operation Genesis on the old Xbox. It's a pretty good Theme Park clone but it's quite rare now.

  • bennyw01 Verified Ad Trafficker, Eurogamer Network #34 6 months ago

    @Segaswirl

    Amazing game!

  • -cerberus- #35 6 months ago

    Half as good as Uncharted 3! Sold! :p
    Edited by -cerberus- at 23/11/11 @ 13:00

  • comedyjack #36 6 months ago

    Chaos Continues on the SNES is still the definitive JP game then!

  • UkHardcore23 #37 6 months ago

    Half as good as everyother game then?

  • Mark1412 #38 6 months ago

    Best. Tagline. Ever.

  • Trent_Steel #39 6 months ago

    @altitude2k

    I agree with the Mirror's Edge idea, I love dinosaurs enough to feel bad killing them in a game. Te feel of being hunted could be tremendous if applied well.

    I also think that there's potential for a dinosaur game a bit like Afrika in PS3. Maybe not fior the JP franchise though

  • elephant_stone #40 6 months ago

    Anyone remember this original DOS game ?

    Edited by elephant_stone at 23/11/11 @ 13:07

  • IronCladChicken #41 6 months ago

    I'm really surprised (I'd expected a 6 or 7 as the absolute minimum score) - I find TellTale are usually pretty reliable at making entertaining games - Even if they do tend to play it safe... Scuppered!

  • billy-beauts #42 6 months ago

    Boo @ QTEs

  • Uncompetative #43 6 months ago

    Wrong, wrong. Wrong!

    Eurogamer, Quick-Time Events are never a good thing.

  • ps-360 #44 6 months ago

    WTF IS THIS, why do companys make crap games that people are noway going to buy (looking at you duke nukemn 2011,call of jurez the cartel). I was gonna mention the most milked game franchise ever made (its got the same name as a fish) but people still but it even though it never changes and has got worse and worse since ***4.

  • ant72 #45 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:51:00 12-12-2011

  • uninspiredcup #46 6 months ago

    Lesson Learned, don't dumb down your game?

  • Ka-blamo #47 6 months ago

    @superdelphinus "We got so obsessed with what we could do, we never stopped to ask whether we should do it"

  • Shinetop #48 6 months ago

    Telltale is losing its lustre to me. I loved the earlier series of games, but with BTTF and Sam & Max 3, they're still repeating that same formula they started out with, and little improvements in other areas. Now they try something new, and its dreadful. I hope they prove me wrong, but they're starting to look like a one trick pony.

  • Shinetop #49 6 months ago

    @ps-360 Sonic is a type of fish?

  • Shinetop #50 6 months ago

    @elephant_stone I remember the many hours I spent playing it, oh so long ago.

  • Darren #51 6 months ago

    Looks good but plays horrible, especially as half the time I can't see what the buttons are I'm supposed to press during the QTE bits because they shake about with the camera. Can't believe no-one spotted that. Pre-ordered this on the basis of Telltale Game's other superb point 'n' click adventures. Never been so disappointed in my life. Such a great subject for a game as well. :(

  • nickthegun #52 6 months ago

    "I quite like the look of this. The videos i've seen reminded me a bit of Heavy Rain."

    Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?! Goldblum!?! GOLDBLUM!?!?! Goldblum!?! GOOOOLDBLUUUUM?!?!

  • Paul_cz #53 6 months ago

    QTE can NEVER WORK WONDERS.

    It is a shitty game mechanic, period. Sure I do not mind it that much when it is rare, but it never adds to the game anything either.

  • Ka-blamo #54 6 months ago

    I didn't mind it in Shenmue

  • andromeda #55 6 months ago

    Benton! BENTON! JESUS CHRIST!

  • Powerstreak #56 6 months ago

    Shenmue is the only game to do QTE's right.

  • KennyD1221 #57 6 months ago

    Still better than Duke Nukem, apparently.

  • knocker #58 6 months ago

    never encountered a QTE I didn't hate. Even the hint of one annoys me.

    I am kratos destroyer of gods, wielder of sharp things on chains, scarred and battle weary I shall destroy you .... triangle, triangle, square, circle, triangle ... Thus !

  • WesStone501 #59 6 months ago

    why cant i have another Jurassic Park operation genesis? why cant i just shoot up some dinosaurs or even better a bethesda style rpg where you can go any where on the TWO islands of dinosuars?

  • Trillion #60 6 months ago

    A glorified Dragon's Lair?

  • Canyarion #61 6 months ago

    @nickthegun Don't you mean Raines? ;)

  • ilmaestro #62 6 months ago

    Thought this was going to be a Retrospective article.

  • Yeoung #63 6 months ago

    People people, please..

    Dynamite Cop did QTE's right.

  • Jorendo #64 6 months ago

    A real shame. I really was looking forward to this game but now im glad i didn't pre order. I don't mind interactive stories, i loved Heavy rain but you need to make things work for people to enjoy it.

  • RandomTerrain #65 6 months ago

    I hate quick time events. Resident Evil 4 utilised them quite well and Heavy Rain's unique use was rather good I'll admit.. As a one off. But 99% of the time they are horrible and I have no idea why people are so stupid as to include them. More often than not it's down to complete laziness. Easier to have QTEs than to create something fun and engaging to play.

    You know what else is annoying? Hammer this button to survive mechanic. Not as bad as QTEs though.

  • username84 #66 6 months ago

    @redbarony

    Um, it was reviewed on PC cleverclogs.

  • JensonJet #67 6 months ago

    "...the game is nothing but an elongated sequence of button-matching reaction tests. There's a little more to it than that, but with an over-reliance on such a problematic gameplay mechanism, the effect is much as you'd expect: this is a game that feels more like interactive storybook than a fully-fledged video game in its own right."

    Sounds like the worst game I've ever had the misfortune of playing; Heavy Rain.

    Speaking of which, I bet that game wasn't given as bad a score for having the same poor barely-interactive game mechanic. I'm guessing more advertising profit came by way of that review. Maybe the problem with the Jurrassic Park game is the developers aren't signed up with one of the publishing elite... that seems to be the best way of ensuring a more favourable review (as well as having major problems ignored)!!!!!!