Jurassic Park III (arcade game)

For the other games based on Jurassic Park III, see Jurassic Park III (disambiguation).

Jurassic Park III
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Series	Jurassic Park
Platforms	Arcade
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Rail shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Jurassic Park III is a light gun arcade game based on the 2001 film of the same name. The game was developed by Konami and was first unveiled at the Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association in September 2001. The game had been released in Japan by November 2001, and was later released in the United States in March 2002. The game uses the same cabinet and motion sensor technology as Police 911, requiring players to dodge the oncoming dinosaur attacks. Alternatively, the standard cabinet provides a left and right button to perform evasive maneuvers. It was preceded by The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997, also a light gun game, but from Sega.

Gameplay

In the game, the main target is dinosaurs, shot at by the player by aiming and shooting at them with the light gun. The player is given 8 bullets to shoot and must reload by shooting outside of the screen every time all 8 bullets are used. A health bar is shown, which depletes each time the player receives damage. If the bar is completely drained, the game is over unless the player puts in more coins and hits the "start" or "continue" button. After a boss is defeated, the health bar is sometimes increased if the player did well fighting the boss. Weak points on boss enemies are indicated by red crosshairs on certain body parts. There are also two left and right arrow buttons on the dash of the console, which allows the player(s) to "Run away" from the dinosaur(s) to avoid taking damage during boss battles.

Plot

Two U.S Military Rangers land on Isla Sorna with orders by Alan Grant to rescue survivors that crashed on the island earlier on in the story (not shown). The Rangers soon see a pack of Compsognathi attacking one survivor. The player now has to fight Compsognathi, Dilophosauri, and Velociraptors until the survivor is found. Then a cinematic cuts to a nearby pond, revealing a sleeping Spinosaurus, which suddenly opens its eye. It then bursts from the pond and charges the player who must repeatedly escape it while fighting more dinosaurs. After several attacks on the dinosaur, the player reaches the landing area where the game first started. However, the Spinosaurus follows them into the clearing, resulting in the second boss battle. The player must repeatedly dodge it by hiding behind crates and shooting. Eventually the Spinosaurus gives up and the player and their teammates escape in an armored jeep. Another cinematic shows the Spinosaurus fighting a Tyrannosaurus, but the player drives away before a victor is revealed. The next level begins when the rangers find more survivors in the hatchery. The player stays in the car at this time, fighting an Ankylosaurus that ultimately destroys the armored jeep. After it is defeated, the player reaches the hatchery, where several more survivors are rescued from a group of raptors. The player then exits the building, only to find one last survivor being menaced by a Tyrannosaurus. The player must fight it while avoiding being eaten. This is the fourth boss. Once the Tyrannosaurus is defeated, the player begins heading for the coast.

On the way to the coast, the player must pass through the Pteranodon aviary. After defeating a group of the flying creatures, as well as more raptors, the player must fight the fifth boss, a giant (alpha) mutant Pteranodon. After defeating it, the group heads to a boat, fighting more Velociraptors along the way. As the group moves across the river, they are ambushed by more dinosaurs. After surviving these attacks, the player faces off against the Spinosaurus once more, which attacks while taking cover underwater. This is the sixth boss. When the group reaches shore, they make their way through another group of Velociraptors until night falls in and they reach their goal, the Marina. There, the Spinosaurus attacks the group in a flaming background. This is the seventh and final boss. After defeating and killing the Spinosaurus, the group gets on the boat and they leave the island.

Reception

Jon Thompson of AllGame rated Jurassic Park III three half and a half stars and wrote that the game's most disappointing aspect was its graphics: "it still appears to be stuck in a time warp from several years ago. Even as the dinosaurs in the films have become more sophisticated, the visual treat that could have been offered to players isn't present here. It looks as if the game was built on the same engine as The Lost World. While the look is certainly servicable, it just isn't compelling. Characters, dinosaurs, and environments are blocky and unrefined [...]. Jurassic Park III was obviously not developed with the idea it would be a classic." Thompson wrote that the game's Escape button "doesn't play enough into the game to be considered a major or revolutionary feature," and that the feature "becomes less and less useful" as the game progresses. Thompson praised the game's music and sound effects, but concluded, "What players are left with is a thrillless, blocky, predictable experience, and will fail to impress fans of the previous Jurassic Park shooting games. Like the movie on which it is based, this title feels like an also-ran."

External links

• Jurassic Park III at the Killer List of Videogames