The "Jurassic Park" sequels, "The Lost World" and "Jurassic Park III," did not return to Isla Nublar, the island that played host to the original prehistoric theme park created by John Hammond. Being the larger of the two dinosaur-housing land masses (the other Isla Sorna) and having not been fully explored in the first film, the location was ripe for revisiting. Add in the mysteries of other dinosaurs roaming the park, the fate of other island residents, and the resting place of those DNA vials hidden in a can of shaving cream, and you have lore just begging to be expanded upon.
Luckily for all gamers who are a fan of the motion picture, Telltale Games has acquired the videogame rights to the Jurassic Park franchise and is honoring the original picture in great form. Set for a five-episode release this fall, Jurassic Park will finally take us back to Isla Nublar and tell some of those forgotten stories, featuring the type of classic adventure gameplay that Telltale is known for.
Though the game will be an adventure title and have some of those classic elements like dialogue options, exploration, and clue-finding, that won’t be all. The title will also feature cinematic sequences, complete with several quick-time events. Failure to complete these QTEs in time will result in death, a first for a Telltale game. Dying won’t put you back too far, however, as players will be dropped right back into the same QTE they just failed.
Exploration won’t be entirely free-roaming. You will have four sections in each scene to roam and figure out what needs to be found or done, and you must switch to each section via a quick menu. One would think this a burden, but the menu appears to be rather seamless and offers images of each section so you aren’t switching locations blindly. The entire game gives off a wonderful adventure-title vibe, and, for those who are familiar with more recent, mainstream titles, puzzle-solving similar to that of Heavy Rain.
Telltale has been boasting that this new Jurassic Park tale will show you things that haven’t been shown or fully answered in the original film. The E3 demo was a great example, as the mystery of Dennis Nedry’s lost Barbasol can, which held precious dinosaur DNA and caused the entire disaster on the island, was answered. This segment of the game focused on Miles, one of Nedry’s partners, and Nema, a newcomer to the island who had no clue it had been housing prehistoric beasts.
The Barbasol can was indeed found, but not without an ensuing attack from a pack of the dreaded Dilophosaurus, the dinosaur species that took Nedry’s life in the film. Without giving away any spoilers on the game, the Dilophosaurus attack was followed by a quick and silent attack from a new dinosaur species not seen in the Jurassic Park movies (Telltale would not tell us what it is). The attack composed of a quick dash and a strong bite, then an unexpected retreat by the nameless villain. With the attacking creature out of site, the character moved on. Unbeknownst to that character, the dinosaur’s bite was a venomous one and a group of the prehistoric animals followed from behind.
With this tiny teaser, it looks like Jurassic Park will do Mr. Spielberg’s blockbuster film justice. Fans should be satisfied with this faithful homage to and expansion of the source material when it is released later this year.
