If you're a fan of Jurassic Park or Resident Evil, have I got a game for you! Dino Crisis is a killer idea. What better threat to humanity than resurrected dinosaurs and questionable scientific practices? The execution is also mostly satisfying. Yes, the tank controls have not aged well at all, but the thrills and intrigue of the narrative make for a classic in the survival horror genre. It has a complex level design with limited resources and threats around every corner, and DINOSAURS! This is a game sorely in need of a remake, much like its sister series, Resident Evil.

Resident Evil with dinosaurs...sign me the hell up!

Dino Crisis was a game i've been meaning to play for years now. I got myself a copy recently, and popped it into my ps1 for some vibes. Wow. To me, the game is terrifying, and stands up today as a great horror game. The combat was solid, but I can understand how to the controls are clunky by today's standards. I didn't mind them. The puzzles are simple enough to not take up all of my time, but just complicated enough to make me feel accomplished when I complete them. The game is definitely a copy-paste of Resident Evil, but I don't even care, because that's one of my favorite series ever. Everybody says it, but i'll throw my vote in, we NEED a remake of this game. Not to say the original isn't amazing, I love it. But a full remake would be super awesome.

I loved Dino Crisis. I knew I would, as I am craving dinosaur games all the time. This was a blast, and I can only hope the series gets re-ignited some time soon.

I give Dino Crisis a 9!

É um bom jogo porém...certas decisões que tiveram pra manter esse jogo um pouco diferente de Resident Evil me incomoda e muito, o sistema de save é horrível e é melhor jogar emulador com save states, os DDK é outro sistema horrível e era melhor ter optado por chaves normais, não tem como dar "zoom" no mapa, as decisões durante o jogo até que é um bom implemento, mas as vezes pode te FUDER, quando os dinossauros te dão hit a personagem simplesmente larga a arma em certas ocasiões, não tem como você saber se tá com uma saúde razoável ou totalmente na merda igual a Resident Evil, por isso você tem que manter com vida cheia constantemente, o sistema de sangramento é ruim e só mais uma coisa desnecessária que adicionaram pra dar um pouco mais de tensão e detalhe, a dificuldade dos dinossauros são ridículas de difíceis e eles podem te seguir até outra sala, e o sistema de box pra armazenar itens também é desnecessário e horrível. Mas é um bom jogo até, e precisa urgentemente de remake.

Dino Crisis is a decent survival horror game for the PS1 that does change a lot of things from the RE games, some for better and some for worse but it ultimately doesn't do enough to escape the label of it basically being Resident Evil but with dinosaurs.

A few things jumped out at me when starting the game, firstly, the game uses 3D environments rather than pre-rendered backgrounds so visually, I think it aged quite well, same with the voice-acting which is pretty solid for a PS1 era game. It's easier to take characters seriously because of it and on the topic of characters, I think they're pretty good here, the core trio are all distinct with Regina being level-headed and non-chalant, Rick being easy-going and Gail being stern. It's pretty basic but gets the job done in making them feel unique and I'd say they're all likeable, even Gail who starts off seeming like a typical mission-obsessed asshole ended up growing on me. Characters aside though, I wouldn't consider the story here to be very good, the setup is pretty cool but after that a lot of it feels like filler and the fact that you don't keep the files you read in your inventory makes it hard to piece information together so I'd be lying if I said I really cared about Kirk and whatever that whole Third Energy thing he was developing was.

As for the actual survival horror aspects, I think Dino Crisis does a decent job overall with a few short-comings. Dinosaurs here are way more terrifying than zombies in RE since not only are they just way bigger and faster but the coolest part of this game for me is that dinosaurs can break through doors and chase you into other rooms which surprised the hell out of me the first few times this happened. You can sometimes keep dinosaurs out of rooms by utilizing the laser shutters and they're another cool feature adding a bit of choice between deciding to bolt towards the nearest door and risk being chased down or opting to stay and operate the laser shutters to keep dinos out. So that's all good but the problem is that the game is weirdly light on the Dinosaurs. Enemy variety is severely lacking here and with how often you'll be backtracking in this game, dodging the same couple dinosaurs over and over at points, it makes these encounters feel really sterile after a while. When you're not fighting Dinosaurs, you're solving puzzles and I actually really like them here, outside of the DDK passwords, the puzzles are varied, for the most part they require actual thought and they're pretty enjoyable though I would've liked less puzzles and more dinosaurs in my dino crisis but I'll take what I can get.

As for the inventory management, the actual survival aspect of these games, it just sucks here. Regina can carry 10 items with her at all times so you'd think you'll have a decent amount of room to hold items while also leaving spare room. Nope, that's where the mixing system comes in. Throughout the game you get various healing related items, hemostats, med paks, multipliers etc. It's not well explained what combinations create what and the abundance of items you get end up clogging your inventory big time. Aside from healing items, ammo is the only other item that takes up slots in Regina's inventory. Key items and Weapons are just held on Regina at all times and this means that the decision-making of games like RE1 which made those games so engaging is absent here since it's all been simplified. The way you store items is also frustrating with it requiring emergency boxes that need plugs to be opened. This would be fine if not for the fact that unlike item boxes in RE, these boxes are not magically interconnected so if you leave an item behind in one of these and forget about it, it's gone for good unless you can be bothered backtracking a ton which I just wasn't.

The reason why I couldn't be bothered was because of this game's structure. I just didn't find the research facility of Ibis Island to be nearly as fun to go through as something like the Mansion in RE1 because it's much more linear and areas feel very segmented so I never felt like I got the satisfaction of feeling that I got to grips with the areas layout.

The only other part that I want to mention is the replayability which is one of the strongest points of the game. There's 4 endings all of which are different enough to warrant seeing and at different points in the game, you get choices between going with Gail or Rick. The choices you make changes what you'll be doing with Rick's areas being puzzle-focused and Gail's being action-focused. They're different enough to justify a second playthrough and are way better than the choices in RE3.

Overall though, if you're itching for more survival horror action on the PS1 like I was, you can't go wrong with this game. For me it's just a notch below the original RE but it was still a good time.

the best and worst aspects of classic resident evil are all heightened to extreme degrees. the survival horror aspects and general gameplay are some of the best ive seen, and escaping dinosaurs is way more intense than any zombie, but on the flipside, this game has some of the worst, most annoying puzzles that send you running all across the island wondering where to go and what to do and why the hell the thing you think youre supposed to be doing just isnt working all while dodging the same few dinos that stop feeling scary when youve dodged them in the same halls the exact same way
this is a game that would easily be improved and could easily be 5 stars and one of my favorite games of all time if it were just pure survival horror with more streamlined puzzles. but frankly, i dont even have it in me to replay for another route. i genuinely wish i could love this game.

I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, it's much better than I remembered.

It's certainly Capcom's classic survival horror game with the most tension. I also find the level design very good, perhaps as good as RE2's, and the controls work very well.

The differences between Dino Crisis and Resident Evil are all good and give Dino Crisis its own unique identity. The dinosaurs are extremely dangerous, which increases the tension of the game, the mixing system is much better than the herb system in RE (and with a complexity similar to the gunpowder mixing systems of RE3), and the puzzles are fun to solve. The voice acting is also wonderful in a goofy 90s way.

Of course, there could be more variety of dinosaurs (which we would see happen in the 2nd game), I'm not completely sold on the box system (I like the idea of having to spend items to open them, my problem is not being able to access the different colored ones). As for the pacing, many people don't like it, but I personally don't see any issues. In fact, it's a slower game than the REs, but not by much either; I think it ends up being more about memorizing the map to avoid walking more than necessary. I also like the choice of dinosaurs repopulating the rooms once or twice but never infinitely, since ammo is extremely scarce in the game compared to the REs (still enough to kill almost all the creatures, especially if you focus on fusing poison darts).

Overall, the game is Capcom goodness from the 90s. Good level design, striking visuals, a huge atmosphere, high production values. In the end, I was wrong not to expect a great game on this replay.

Maaaaan I tried to enjoy this game. The first 40 minutes of it or so were good, i thought it was possible I would've liked this game as much as I did RE2 or RE3. Then this game just turned into a massive slog of trying to finish this. Not only is this Mikami's worst game but this is by far one of the worst games I've played in general. It's inferior to RE in almost aspect. Characters, sound design, OST, level design and puzzles. This game was a huge miss and would've been better had Mikami stuck closer to the RE formula than he did making an overly vague game that falters at every left, right and turn.

On a technical level: a masterpiece. Next to Silent Hill and MGS as my favorite looking title on the PlayStation. It has such a sharp and tactile look to its world with satisfying moving parts. This super military tech look juxtaposed with the bloodthirsty raptors that inhabit the island make this such a unique looking and feeling game. I really enjoyed the puzzles as well and after hearing so much about this game was surprised to find that that's really the meat on its bones. I avoided combat at all costs, you'll spend all your ammo on a single dino. Wish that weren't the case, that you really could hold your own, but I suppose it is survival horror. Pretty fantastic game all around albeit a tad frustrating.

Regina ... my beloved ...

Dino Crisis is a game that came out sandwiched between the Resident Evils of the PS1 era and it made a lot of money thanks to its marketing and its seamless introduction to the game's enemies: Dinosaurs! The first encounter is clearly meant to scare every Resident Evil fan of the time because in Dino Crisis enemies don't open doors BUT they stalk and follow the player. Unless you put up laser barriers around the facility of Ibis Island, the main and only setting of the game, you're always going to have company whenever you want it or not. It does help adding to the tension that the enemies are real sponges of bullets and it's simply not cost effective to shoot at the beasts, but at the same time it adds to the frustration I feel for this game.

The first Resident Evil is cleverly designed in order to lead the player through the mansion, with interesting puzzles and it has a way with making some rooms you've already visited not safe anymore thanks to the introduction of new enemies, but eventually you'll learn the layout and effortlessly move from door to door. Dino Crisis instead really likes its puzzles, which are sometimes quite hard, and really likes its corridors. You'll move from section to section and you'll notice something different, but not always. You'll be stalked, hunted, you'll look for resources but there'll always be the feeling that you're running around the empty buildings most of the time.

Short as it is, for a single playthrough not being longer than 5 hours, it doesn't feel repetitive and I think it's worth checking out thanks to its interesting premise, good chemistry between characters, great voice acting and different endings. It is frustrating, but if you love Regina like we all do, you'll look over some issues.