To start, I think there are a lot of things this game does better than the first, the amount of weapons/variety you're granted is stellar (miss the darts tho from 1), and every single one feels great to use. The enemy variety is much better which spices up the encounters more which was an issue I had with 1, and conceptually this game is much more interesting and unique than DC1. It really stands out more as its own identity.


I love everything about this game conceptually. However, in its execution, I think it lacks the tightness of the first game in the design apartment if you ask me, I have a feeling the reason I feel the way I do is because this game was much more experimental, it went such a different route than the survival horror that was in the first game. I love the idea of a run-and-gun arcade-style game with traditional tank controls similar to Resident Evil's Mercenaries mode, but I feel like some things didn't translate well here, you can see that some of the traditional stylized mechanics, like the aiming/fixed camera angles (with the slight turning lag).
I absolutely love them in horror titles because of the ambiance and unsettling feelings they provide, however, they just feel really strange to me here sometimes. Not at all because of the angles themselves, but more so the system and results behind it.

Considering it's a more fast run and gun-styled game, I dislike how the game has a habit of whenever you turn into a new camera angle out of nowhere a random bunch of enemies will spawn, even if you killed all of them in that particular angle, on normal difficulties it isn't much of an issue but on hard I think this is really inconsistent and annoying, however, this problem I have is mostly when I play as Dylan and not Regina. Dylan focuses mostly on close-range weapons, whereas Regina is more medium/long-range automatic weapons, this is completely fine, but with these systems, I think it makes Dylan's sections frustrating at times even though he feels great too.


But this begs the question, between Dino Crisis 1, and 2, one game is a type of game that has been done before and shares less of an identity than the other, but feels more tightly designed, and executed well, whereas 2 is much more experimental, unique, and fine-tuned in different areas with some ridges around it. I respect both.


I love to play short, yet replayable games like these and would love to see a remake of this one in particular because of how well it would translate with run-and-gun gameplay systems today when taking a look at the recent Resident Evil Remakes like 4 so hopefully it comes to fruition Capcom!

Wish we got to play as Regina a little bit more though cus she's the best ;p

Reviewed on Aug 05, 2023


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