Overall, I found Dino Crisis to be a decent PS1 survival horror game but one of my main gripes was that it didn't justifiy its title or concept with how few dinosaurs there actually are and the journey often felt a little stale because of it. Luckily, the same can't be said about Dino Crisis 2 since you fight more dinosaurs in the first 5 mins here than you would in all of DC1 and it makes the game so much more memorable.
Gone is the mixed bag of survival horror elements and in their place is action-packed arcadey fun and I much prefer this approach. The gameplay loop here is incredibly addicting. The vast majority of the game boils down to mowing down hoards of dinosaurs room to room which may sound repetitive but the game manages to keep things fresh with constantly giving you new weapons to play around with and the game has a healthy amount of set pieces to keep things fresh though they're hit and miss, I particularly liked the rail-shooting segments but the underwater segment can go fuck itself. It's a very easy game and it's nearly impossible to not be fully stocked up on healing items with how dirt cheap they are, but that's fine, since the fun part isn't beating it but rather, enjoyment from going for high scores, getting your combo meter up and getting those No Damage bonuses which shower you with points if you're able to get them.
A lot of issues I had with DC1 are rectified here. There's greater weapon and enemy variety (some are annoying though like the Inostrancevia), the arduous mixing system is gone and areas are much more open so there is no point where dinosaurs body block you from moving forward like they did in DC1. You also keep the files and memos you read with you so it's easier to get a grasp on the story and thanks to it, I can say, with confidence, that this story is some stupid ass shit. I didn't really care for it all that much and I found Dylan to just be whatever compared to Gail and Rick, but when you get all the revelations in the last 5 mins of the game, I can't lie, it makes it all worth it through how batshit insane it is.
Unlike DC1, the game uses pre-rendered backgrounds and I'd say visually it's a slight visual stepdown because of it, and the fixed camera often obscures the enemies from your view which spawn anytime the angle changes. With that said, this is basically the perfect sequel. It overhauls the series and puts it into a genre which is more harmonic with its concept and gives it a much needed sense of identity while mending most of the shortcomings of the first game. S'good
Gone is the mixed bag of survival horror elements and in their place is action-packed arcadey fun and I much prefer this approach. The gameplay loop here is incredibly addicting. The vast majority of the game boils down to mowing down hoards of dinosaurs room to room which may sound repetitive but the game manages to keep things fresh with constantly giving you new weapons to play around with and the game has a healthy amount of set pieces to keep things fresh though they're hit and miss, I particularly liked the rail-shooting segments but the underwater segment can go fuck itself. It's a very easy game and it's nearly impossible to not be fully stocked up on healing items with how dirt cheap they are, but that's fine, since the fun part isn't beating it but rather, enjoyment from going for high scores, getting your combo meter up and getting those No Damage bonuses which shower you with points if you're able to get them.
A lot of issues I had with DC1 are rectified here. There's greater weapon and enemy variety (some are annoying though like the Inostrancevia), the arduous mixing system is gone and areas are much more open so there is no point where dinosaurs body block you from moving forward like they did in DC1. You also keep the files and memos you read with you so it's easier to get a grasp on the story and thanks to it, I can say, with confidence, that this story is some stupid ass shit. I didn't really care for it all that much and I found Dylan to just be whatever compared to Gail and Rick, but when you get all the revelations in the last 5 mins of the game, I can't lie, it makes it all worth it through how batshit insane it is.
Unlike DC1, the game uses pre-rendered backgrounds and I'd say visually it's a slight visual stepdown because of it, and the fixed camera often obscures the enemies from your view which spawn anytime the angle changes. With that said, this is basically the perfect sequel. It overhauls the series and puts it into a genre which is more harmonic with its concept and gives it a much needed sense of identity while mending most of the shortcomings of the first game. S'good