Dino Crisis – Regina’s Day Out [Review]

I have owned Dino Crisis for many years as a physical copy for the PlayStation One, but I have never finished it for some reason. I figured it was high time to do so now (20 years later). Better late then never, but it is somewhat surprising, since its right up my alley!

So, prepare for survival horror, with deadly dinosaurs acting like actual animals and a mysterious secret high-tech base to investigate. It can’t be more Crichton, unless he would have written the story himself!

Technical things
I ran Dino Crisis on the PS1 emulator Duckstation. It worked flawlessly out of the box. However, to get it to look like in my faded childhood memories from sitting in front of a fat CRT TV. I ran it in software mode for those juicy pixels, with the added dolphinfx/crt/CRT-CONSUMER visual extension under Post-Processing—just to tap into the nostalgia further. Honestly, I just find PS1 titles look better chunky like this, even if it loses some clarity. I have to point out that GOG and Steam semi-recently “published” Dino Crisis for the PC, so if you rather want a crisp looking copy, running natively on PC—this is a fine choice. Now back to the game, tackling the story first!

Dino island
You play as cool Regina, part of a special ops team sent to a mysterious island to retrieve the enigmatic Dr. Kirk. A scientist supposed to be deceased, but now suddenly confirmed alive—working on a non-disclosed highly secret project at the facility. Your mission is to find Dr. Kirk, find out what goes on at the base, and bring our agent inside home. 

The infiltration goes surprisingly smooth, with three of the four agents on your team being airdropped successfully and making it to the rendezvous spot (RIP Cooper). However, the rest of the investigation will not be as frictionless, as it holds dangers from an age long-past: Cretaceous.

The premise of the story is fantastic, and it’s played with a sincerity that is rare to see nowadays. It makes the narrative feel tense and plausible, even when being hunted by giant lizards 66 million years old. There is humor, and camp, of course—it’s a Japanese game in the style of Resident Evil, with the same developer behind it after all. But as said: The story is earnest, and by making the location dangerous for all characters, it’s very easy to get immersed in the plight of the cast. The stakes are also constantly escalating. Starting like a mysterious disaster investigation, to a high-tech time-shenanigan conspiracy the deeper you go into the hidden facility.

Overall, the tone is very Jurassic Park, with the same kind of finger wagging at uncontrolled technological progress. If you are a big Crichton fan, this is a game for you. It won’t go into the same detail as one of his novels, yet the vibes are clearly here, and it lasts throughout the experience.

The team
Another thing that adds to the charm is the cast. From the special ops insertion team, you got the sassy Regina, who you play as. She is in my humble opinion up there with Capcom’s finest, like the ever fan-favorite Jill Valentine. And just like Jill, Regina is also gifted with a delightfully goofy personality, and acts cool and collected under pressure. A bonus is her very feminine looks—in her form-fitting tactical outfit that probably gets a few male operatives to turn their heads for a second peek. Then we got Gail, the no-nonsense hard-boiled mercenary-type who still has a heart of gold, showing true care for his teammates despite his hard exterior. And last but not least, the overconfident tech expert Rick who would rather be somewhere else—hacking away in peace (and probably drinking cola in large quantities). There are others too, but they play a minor role, seeing as they are mostly dying or dead (partially eaten) when you find them. And I don’t do food reviews!

The squad forms the core of the cast, making up the majority of the plot moving forward. The only somewhat confusing part is their movement throughout the base. Somehow, they always seem to be able to avoid the dinosaurs, while you have to constantly fight or dodge them at every turn. It’s a minor gripe, as it’s not too hard imagining them using stealth and avoidance to slip them by. All in all, the story is excellent, and kept me intrigued, especially with the awesome cast providing backup.

Survival horror
At its center, Dino Crisis is a survival horror of the classic variant. Meaning, it’s much like Resident Evil when it comes to the controls (tank controls). Every scene also has a fixed camera for the cinematic flair, and loot will be rare. There are few differences, though. The dinos, compared to the zombies, are much more dangerous, and harder to kill. They also move about the facility, which has the effect of many areas never feeling truly safe, even when “cleared”. You can kill them, but resources will always be low. So you have to pick and choose your kills—only destroying the most annoying ones (nobody blocks the coffee maker and lives), while evading the rest. This lasted for the whole game for me, considering it never gave me an abundance of ammo.

There are tricks to get around the animals, as the game comes with a medicine mixing mechanic that also lets you produce sleeping darts. The effect depends on how much anesthetic you put in them. There are also ways to create poison darts that will outright kill any animal, except the T-rex. But to make those, you will have to sacrifice resuscitation medicine, which can come in handy. Now, when talking about the resuscitation medicine, it’s probably the only mechanic in-game that I don’t think works that well. It seems sloppily designed, seeing as you already have five continues and saves to fall back on. 

You see, when you die, you are resurrected at the nearest room if you got one of these in your inventory. Mechanic-wise, you can argue that they make sense in-world, but it works for any encounter and death. Get eaten by a T-rex? Resuscitation medicine is here to restore you with all limbs attached! Actually, it works more like a time traveling device, as ammo and such that you spent is replenished. I found this gameplay mechanic jarring, as everything else works so well, and is explained within the logic of the game. Once again, it’s a minor thing, but it stands out, thanks to everything else being so detailed.

Puzzles of doom
Dino Crisis continues with the usual tropes of survival horror, by making every locked door a high IQ conundrum to be solved. The main difference from Resident Evil is that the puzzles require more of the gray matter upstairs. In Resident Evil, you usually just have to find a number, or an item to combine to progress the story. But in Dino Crisis, the puzzles are actually enigmas that best remind me of the point & click adventure genre. I highly recommend playing the game with a notepad and pen, writing down clues and numbers as you go—scribbling down everything that looks a little too suspicious to be a coincidence.

I have to admit, I got stumped a couple of times, but that could be because I chose the more puzzle oriented path through Dino Crisis. At certain crossroads, you get to pick your way forward, and these paths play out differently depending on whom you side with. At one point, it was clearly labeled as the action approach, or the way of the puzzle. I took the road of brain scorch, since I was low on ammo. A mistake now in hindsight, perhaps, as it took me a long time to figure out. But hey, no reward, if it isn’t hard, right?

The puzzles are very enjoyable, but there is no denying that occasionally, they are pretty hard, and will grind the pacing to a screeching halt. As I see it, it wouldn’t be a true survival horror game without them, and some gray hair.

PS1 aesthetics & sound
Ah, the lovely chunky pixels of the PlayStation One era. This is actually somewhat more pronounced in Dino Crisis, as Capcom ditched the 2D painted pre-rendered backgrounds for a fully 3D environment. While I think some of the finer details from Resident Evil 2 are lost, due to having to render everything—I think it worked out fabulously for Dino Crisis in the end. The spartan nature of the base works to its unsettling atmosphere, which feels even more intense when it’s contrasted to scenes of struggle, with blood splatter and scorch marks on the walls from past battles.

Another issue this solved, by going to a fully 3D environment, is that 3D objects don’t stand out like a sore thumb. Things look much more natural, as genuinely being part of the scenery. It creates an easier holistic visualization to absorb, a fact that translates to greater immersion when moving through the besieged base. The PS1 visual style is not for everyone, but for me—including feelings of nostalgia—I think works extremely well for gaming. It lands just between being realistic enough, and forcing your brain to fill in the blanks, while having a visually pleasing charm in general. Chef’s kiss!

The sound is also excellent, with raptors growling in the dark, and cool high-tech machinery bleeping and blooping in the distance. The intense soundscape while strolling around on the outside of the perimeter is also something else. If those haunting winds don’t force you indoors as quickly as possible, I don’t know what will (beside the T-rex). While the voice-acting has some cheese to it, it’s clearly well produced and high-quality. Gail and Regina being the stand-outs, with Regina especially being a delight to listen to. The production value is in other words top-notch all around, and it’s all very atmospheric, fitting the theme of the game perfectly.

Conclusion
Dino Crisis is one hell of a survival horror title, with extremely charming retro visuals, and a great story to boot. It’s not very long, if you don’t count getting stuck on the puzzles, a detail that means the pacing is high throughout, with very little filler to pad out the game. As mentioned earlier, if you enjoy Crichton-esque techno thrillers and dinosaurs. This is the one game delivering a true Jurassic Park-like experience, where the JP franchise has failed to provide something substantial in gaming. Well, except for Jurassic Park: The Game, one could argue. I highly recommend Dino Crisis, and it will be one of my rare full-pot titles that scores five out of five for enjoyment!

Thanks for reading.

– Thomas