Telltale Games are one of the few development studios who are still working to keep the adventure genre alive today. They have found a nice level success with the Sam and Max series as well as dipping into pop-culture with games based on properties like Back to the Future and The Walking Dead. Add to that list one of the greatest films of all time, Jurassic Park, and you have yourself a small collection of titles with enough geek cred to make any fan-boy squeal with delight. With Jurassic Park: The Game Telltale Games gives us their most polarizing title yet. Straddling the fence between video game and interactive movie, Jurassic Park offers plenty of exciting moments of nostalgia and tension but ultimately fails to live up to what it ultimately could have been.
The story in Jurassic Park: The Game takes place both during the events of the original film and shortly after. You may remember Dr. Harding from the film but the handful of other characters you control are new faces who are all trying to escape the island after the disaster instigated by Dennis Nedry. Each character has their own personality, backstory and reason for being there. They are well fleshed out for the most part but there are several questions left unanswered concerning their relationships with each other as well as some plot points that never fully become resolved by the time the credits role. This could very well be the result of the specific dialogue choices I made throughout the game but the fact that I was left wanting to know more about the characters is a testament to the fine writing job that Telltale has done.
The story is also a highlight. I’m a huge fan of the original Jurassic Park movie (the sequels, not so much) and I was excited to see another story take place on Isla Nublar. The game is full of nods to the movie in the form of iconic visual set-pieces and intelligent remarks in the dialogue. Telltale’s love for the franchise is evident throughout and you can tell that plenty of research went into crafting an authentic Jurassic Park experience. The atmosphere and ambience is top-notch but the game doesn’t hold up so well when it comes to the gameplay.
The development team has stated that the PlayStation 3 title Heavy Rain was an influence on the gameplay and if you’ve played that title, then you are likely to recognize the influence immediately. Whether or not you enjoy this game is going to depend heavily on what your tolerance for quick time events is as Jurassic Park’s gameplay is composed completely of these mechanics. The QTE’s work well and they are fun for a while but after a few hours in it begins to wear thin. Some of the moments are harrowing and exciting to be sure, especially a knife fight with a raptor in an underground tunnel, but these moments are sporadic. Most of your time in the game will be spent scanning the environment and clicking on various items to investigate. These investigations are also sandwiched in-between Mass Effect style dialogue options
You never have direct control of your character and this ends up being my biggest gripe with the game. I suppose it’s due in part to my fascination with the world of Jurassic Park but I became increasingly frustrated with my inability to explore the world I have come to love. The game does a fantastic job of recreating set pieces from the film but I was disappointed in my lack of ability to explore them. One moment that stands out is the encounter with Dennis Nedry’s car; still perched atop the hill where he met his fate. It was thrilling to see this scene again but I was only able swivel the camera around a bit and click on predetermined objects in the environment. Every impulse I had urged me to walk into the tunnel on the left to see how close Nedry was to the dock, but alas, it was not to be. This frustration stayed with me all throughout the game as I ventured into the visitor’s center, the Triceratops paddock and more. Telltale Games successfully brought me on a long awaited return to Jurassic Park but my limited interaction with the world made me feel like Alan Grant staring at that lone goat while waiting for T-Rex to appear: so close and yet, so far.
On the upside, Jurassic Park: The Game accomplishes exactly what it tries to. On the downside, it should have strived to accomplish much more in the first place. I don’t recall ever having played another game in which I spent so much time afterward wondering what could have been. Everything is laid out beautifully for the player to feel as if they are actually back in Jurassic Park but the neutered gameplay cuts short the enjoyment at about every turn. It is by no means a disaster of a game but I hope that next time a game developer decides to take us back to Isla Nublar, they find a way to make the gameplay experience as engaging and exciting as the world it’s set in.