Dino Crisis 2

Dino Crisis 2
Developer(s) Capcom
Publisher(s) Capcom
Distributor(s)
Director(s) Shu Takumi
Producer(s) Hiroyuki Kobayashi
Artist(s) Kazunori Tazaki
Writer(s) Noboru Sugimura
Yosuke Hirano
Kishiko Miyagi
Composer(s) Sayaka Fujita
Makoto Tomozawa
Series Dino Crisis
Platform(s) PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)

PlayStation

  • JP: September 13, 2000
  • NA: September 29, 2000
  • EU: November 24, 2000

Microsoft Windows
August 20, 2002

Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Dino Crisis 2 (ディノ クライシス2 Dino Kuraishisu Tsū) is an action-adventure video game for the PlayStation developed and published by Capcom. It is the second installment in the Dino Crisis series.

After the events of the previous game, unsafe research into time-distorting Third Energy has resulted in an entire research base, military institution, and fictional metropolis of Edward City to be transported to another time; along with all of its inhabitants. Secret Operations Raid Team operative Regina returns as one of the main playable characters, sent along as an adviser to the rescue team that travels through time to find survivors of the time displacement and recover data on the Third Energy experiments. Dylan Morton, the rescue team leader, is the second playable character. Despite Dylan and Regina initially going their separate ways, they end up joining forces to find a way back to the present. The player switches between controlling Regina and Dylan at specific points during the story.

Gameplay

Dylan firing on a Velociraptor.

Dino Crisis 2 is an action-adventure game that uses predetermined camera angles. Capcom Production Studio 4.[1] changed the series' focus from the survival horror of the first Dino Crisis by creating a more action-packed arcade-style experience that featured more open areas, greater varieties of weapons and enemies and less emphasis on puzzles.

As players kill dinosaurs in succession, countering attacks and avoiding damage in areas, they can earn "Extinction Points" a form of in-game currency that tally up as player moves between locations.[2] Throughout the game, the player can locate and use computer stations that act as a save point where players can save and load games. They can also spend Extinction Points on new weapons, upgrades, health packs and ammunition. There are also bandages (used to stem bleeding). This type of injury occurs when a player takes damage from certain attacks, and it results in slow draining of the health bar.[2]

There are two forms of weapons in the game, main and sub-weapons; the player can only equip one of each at a time.[3] Main weapons provide the most damage and are used for the majority of attacks, for example shotguns, flamethrowers and rifles whereas sub-weapons are used to get past obstacles, like the machete for cutting plant vines and the firewall gun that creates a temporary wall of fire against foes.[3] Over the course of the game players switch roles between Regina and Dylan, the two have different weapons, making some passages blocked for one but accessible for the other.

Among the action-adventure gameplay are sections of on rails shooting, such as a chase where the player shoots at dinosaurs that are chasing an automatically driven vehicle and, like the previous game, several puzzles. Throughout the game, the player finds data files and documents that progress the story and give details of certain areas. Hidden "Dino Files" can also be found; these go into detail about each dinosaur in the game. Upon collecting all the available Dino Files, the player is granted unlimited ammunition for weapons on the next play through.

Extra Crisis

Upon completion of the main game, there is an unlockable mode known as Extra Crisis with two gameplay modes: "Dino Colosseum" and "Dino Duel". Colosseum is a survival mode where a chosen character with their own pre-set weapons fight off series of attacks by certain dinosaurs, the larger and more deadly being the latter. Upon completion the player is graded and awarded a trophy on how well they performed. Dino Duel is a mode that allows the player to take control of a dinosaur and battle another in the style of a fighting game. Completion of the game on harder difficulties allows more characters and dinosaurs to become available for purchase, using the final Extinction Points gathered from that play through.[2] These include Gail and Rick, two characters from the first game. Dinosaurs can also be used in Dino Colosseum, however, they must be unlocked by completing the game in normal or hard mode.

Characters

Plot

On May 10, 2010, TRAT is selected to investigate the disappearance of Edward City and its surrounding countryside. Their mission is to travel through the Time Gate, locate 1300 survivors and collect data on what happened to the Third Energy project. Intelligence operative Regina is brought along as an adviser due to her past experiences.[4] After arriving by patrol ship, the team's camp is attacked by a pack of Velociraptors. Dylan, Regina and David are the only survivors. The velociraptors flee when a Tyrannosaurus rex attacks the group. David damages the tyrannosaur's eye with an rocket-propelled grenade. The enraged dinosaur then chases Dylan and Regina off a cliff; having survived, they argue about how to proceed before going their separate ways. Regina returns to the ship while Dylan heads into the jungle, spotting a mysterious helmeted figure on his way to a military facility. Upon arrival, he is confronted by the one-eyed T. rex. While escaping to the barracks, he is shot at by unknown helmeted attackers. Later, he attempts to retrieve a key card, triggering a security alert that imprisons him.

Regina receives Dylan's distress call and sets out on a rescue. Along the way, Regina catches one of the mysterious attackers. She removes the helmet, revealing a blonde teenage girl who is unable to speak. Regina leaves her handcuffed and goes to save Dylan. When they return to the ship, they find the engine room ransacked - apparently by the helmeted attackers. They are now stranded in the past. Dylan resolves to find parts to get the ship moving so they can search for information on how to reactivate the Time Gate. Before leaving, he tends to the teenage girl, who acts as if she recognizes Dylan.

At the Research Facility, Dylan discovers human containment chambers and a starter battery for the ship. Dylan returns to find the girl has escaped, and discusses the possibility that the helmeted attackers could be from a different time period. Regina dismisses this, saying they should focus on locating survivors and the Third Energy data. They use the repaired ship to reach the offshore Third Energy facility, repelling an assault from pterosaurs and Plesiosaurus.

Regina uses a diving suit at the facility to investigate the underwater reactor, while evading attacks from Mosasaurus and a large Plesiosaurus. Once topside, she and Dylan receive a distress call from David who has found survivors at Edward City. They use a Jeep to evade a herd of Triceratops, before crashing into a field infested with velociraptors. David rescues them with a helicopter. They discover the city is under siege by raptors, with no survivors left. The team splits up to find the Third Energy data. Dylan engages the T. rex with a tank before being jumped by another helmeted figure. The blonde girl appears to save him. She runs away, but Dylan recovers something she dropped: a necklace belonging to his deceased sister. Dylan relates his past to Regina, explaining that he used to be in a street gang, but joined the military after a rival gang killed his mother and sister. Deciding they have no business at Edward City anymore, Regina heads to a missile silo in the jungle.

Regina discovers the Third Energy data at the silo, but is confronted by the persistent Tyrannosaurus. Her savior is a massive Giganotosaurus that defeats the T. rex in a brief fight. It follows Regina inside the missile silo, causing damage that triggers a countdown to launch. Regina ignites gas vents to incinerate the Giganotosaur's head, rendering it comatose. Regina stops the countdown, but the beast awakens and smashes the missile to the ground. Regina escapes the resulting explosion and flees through the burning facility to reach the ship outside. Regina, Dylan and David use the ship to escape further detonations from the silo. Dylan is attacked by an Allosaurus, but is saved by David, who pushes him into the river. Dylan is swept away by the current, watching as David is devoured by the Allosaurus.

Dylan awakes in an unknown area. The blonde girl returns, leading him into a large base complex deep in the jungle. Inside, she plays a hologram of an army colonel who explains the truth of the disaster. In the future, it is discovered that the first overload in 2009 had consequently caused time alterations to the Cretaceous period that would lead to disastrous results. The space-time skew would alter the Earth's history dramatically and change the human race from ever existing. To fix this, an international organization enacted the "Noah's Ark Plan": utilizing the Timegate technology, they would transport the living organisms of the Cretaceous to a different time with similar environments, where they could thrive unaffected by the alterations: three million years ahead. With the distortions prevented, the organisms would then be returned to their original time. However, there was an accident when the Noah's Ark team tried to return. The gate overloaded and was destroyed, stranding both the dinosaurs and humans far in the future. The helmeted attackers are revealed to be the only remaining children of the survivors, who were brought to the safety of a facility and placed in special life support chambers. These allowed for growth and learning, but were intended for use by the dinosaurs. The colonel explains that because of this, the children lost the ability to speak and were taught to co-exist with the dinosaurs, attacking anyone who threatened the animals. Finally, the hologram reveals himself to be Colonel Dylan Morton, speaking in 2055. Dylan realizes that he has been talking to a future version of himself, and that the blonde girl is his daughter, Paula. The hologram instructs Dylan there is a basic gate they can use to go home, but it will work only once. He pleads for Dylan to take Paula through the gate as well.

The facility suddenly announces that its self-destruct sequence has been activated. Dylan is attacked by the helmeted figure that triggered the self-destruct. Their fight is interrupted as the Giganotosaurus stomps inside. The helmeted figure is killed, while Dylan activates an orbiting laser cannon that blasts the Giganotosaurus out of existence. Regina returns and they activate the gate, but a sudden earth tremor leaves Paula trapped by falling equipment. Unable to free her and with the building ready to explode, Dylan decides to stay with his daughter. He begs Regina to go back alone and find a way to save them with the Third Energy data. Regina promises to return and dashes through the gate moments before the facility explodes.

The game features three post-rating epilogue scenes showing the main characters in happier settings. One features Dylan driving a sports car through a city, another has Regina standing in front of a window in her bedroom, and a third shows Paula lying in a grassy field, wearing her necklace and smiling as bubbles float by. Which image is shown changes depending on how many times the player has beaten the game.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings(PS) 80.70%[5]
(PC) 57.33%[6]
Metacritic(PS) 86/100[7]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame(PS) [8]
(PC) [9]
Edge6/10[10]
EGM8.83/10[11]
Eurogamer9/10[12]
Famitsu32/40[13]
GamePro[14]
Game RevolutionB[15]
GameSpot9.2/10[16]
IGN9.3/10[17]
OPM (US)[18]
The Cincinnati Enquirer[19]

Dino Crisis 2 was met with mixed to positive reviews, with an average score of 80.70% based on 22 reviews for the PlayStation version[5] and an average score of 57.33% based on 3 reviews for the PC version[6] at GameRankings and an 86/100 based on 13 reviews for the PlayStation version[7] at Metacritic.

In their review, GameSpot commented that the first Dino Crisis was as if Capcom "replaced the zombies with carnivorous dinosaurs" for a Resident Evil spin-off. However, they found Dino Crisis 2 "an original, enjoyable experience that can no longer be considered just another entry into the survival-horror genre", as it "avoids the stereotypes of the genre and delivers one of the most refreshing takes on the action-adventure genre to date."[16] IGN concurred that the game had been "stripped of its slow-paced Resident Evil shell and its haunting, creepy shockeroo tricks". They had even more praise for the game: "the creatures and the design are both excellent, and the jungle backgrounds, and especially the underwater environments, are simply top-notch."[17] GamePro's review commented that, "Sound is solid, with an unobtrusive musical score that blends well with gaming effects, i.e. the telltale rustle of foliage preceding a raptor's leap for your throat isn't drowned out by J-Pop."[14]

The Cincinnati Enquirer gave the game four stars out of five, stating that, "overall, Dino Crisis 2 is a fantastic sequel that delivers more adrenaline-pumping action, beautiful scenery and a hearty dose of terror." However, the newspaper added that "tasks such as running around looking for keys can be tedious. And some of the action portions of the game can get repetitive, too."[19] Game Revolution felt the "arcade-like" gameplay "detracts a bit from the whole survival-horror theme". They also noted that "the back and forth gameplay gets tired after a while," and that it can be "very easy to get distracted from the storyline and get sucked into the process of amassing an arsenal."[15]

Like its predecessor, Dino Crisis 2 was a commercial success, with the PlayStation version selling 1.19 million copies worldwide.[20] Capcom would later re-release the game for PC, and brought it to PlayStation Network in the US and Japan.

References

  1. ↑ "Production Studio 4" (in Japanese). Capcom Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on February 6, 2005.
  2. 1 2 3 CAPCOM CO., LTD., ed. (2000). Dino Crisis 2 instruction manual (PlayStation). Virgin Interactive Entertainment. p. 12.
  3. 1 2 CAPCOM CO., LTD., ed. (2000). Dino Crisis 2 instruction manual (PlayStation). Virgin Interactive Entertainment. p. 9.
  4. ↑ CAPCOM CO., LTD., ed. (2000). Dino Crisis 2 instruction manual (PlayStation). Virgin Interactive Entertainment. p. 2.
  5. 1 2 "Dino Crisis 2 for PlayStation". GameRankings. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  6. 1 2 "Dino Crisis 2 for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  7. 1 2 "Dino Crisis 2 for PlayStation Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  8. ↑ J.C. Barnes. "Dino Crisis 2 (PS) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  9. ↑ T.J. Deci. "Dino Crisis (PC) - Overview". AllGame. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  10. ↑ Edge staff (December 2000). "Dino Crisis 2 (PS)". Edge (91).
  11. ↑ "Dino Crisis 2 (PS)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 2000.
  12. ↑ Tom Bramwell (2000-11-23). "Dino Crisis 2 Review (PS)". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  13. ↑ "プレイステーション - Dino Crisis 2 (ディノ クライシス2)". Famitsu. 915: 17. June 30, 2006.
  14. 1 2 2 Barrel Fugue (2000-11-24). "Dino Crisis 2 Review for PlayStation on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2005-02-07. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  15. 1 2 A.A. White (October 2000). "Dino Crisis 2 Review (PS)". Game Revolution. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  16. 1 2 Ben Stahl (2000-09-23). "Dino Crisis 2 Review (PS)". GameSpot. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  17. 1 2 Doug Perry (2000-09-25). "Dino Crisis 2 (PS)". IGN. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  18. ↑ "Dino Crisis 2". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 40. November 2000.
  19. 1 2 Marc Saltzman (2000-11-15). "Dino Crisis 2 packs hearty doses of realism, terror". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Archived from the original on 2001-06-29. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  20. ↑ "CAPCOM Platinum Titles". Capcom.co.jp. Archived from the original on May 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
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