It was announced… it came so close to release…. got delayed…people were refunded… but now it is here. Not quite 65 million years in the making, but was Telltale Games‘ Jurassic Park worth the wait? Absolutely.

Hold onto your butts…

There have been a staggering number of games based on Jurassic Park and its sequels since the movie’s theatrical release way back in 1993. None of them have been met with true critical praise. We’ve had platformers, top down shooters, first person shooters, park sims, even beat ‘em ups but not one in 18 years has truly captured the spirit of the films. Enter Telltale.

Jurassic Park: The Game has launched at an odd time. Behind it, the latest Call of Duty and Elder Scrolls titles, and just in front of two massive titles from gaming giants Nintendo; Super Mario 3D Land and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Reviews for both of those titles will praise the games’ innovative gameplay; that 3D platformers were always meant to be played in stereoscopic 3D, and that Zelda always needed to be played with 1:1 motion tracked sword fighting. Don’t let any of this overshadow the fact that Telltale has found the ultimate gameplay style for a Jurassic Park game; an adventure game fundamentally controlled through Quick Time Events, a la Heavy Rain.

For those who aren’t sure what QTEs are, they’re essentially interactive cutscenes where the player is required to perform various gestures (in this case, button-based) to progress through the game. While some games use these sparingly, they are frequent and frantic in Jurassic Park as you try desperately to keep your characters alive. The effect is fantastic. Consider the feeling of anxiety and panic you get when you’ve experienced these in other games, then imagine the constant tension that creates as you cautiously explore a dinosaur infested jungle. You really feel like you could die at any moment (you can!), and really draws you into the experience.

It’s not just the gameplay that sets this title above the Jurassic Park games before it, but as with all Telltale games, a lot of love has gone into creating the story. Taking place during and immediately after the events of the original film, the first episode divides your time between Doctor Harding (a Jurassic Park employee last seen nursing a sick Tricerotops with some bonus facial hair that’s strangely missing here) with his daughter, and two baddies working to retrieve the shaving cream canister that the film’s Dennis Nedry stocked with dinosaur embryos before getting eaten? Picking up on this abandoned plot thread from the film serves to immediately justify the game’s premise without making it feel forced at all. This authenticity is amplified by Doctor Harding’s relationship and backstory with his daughter that the player can explore through conversation options, which echos the various and repeated representations of ‘the family’ seen throughout the films but entirely neglected in all of the other licensed video games.

And then there’s the little nods to the film. This really is a game made by fans for fans. Aside from the obvious reused locations from the film, there are a number of more subtle touches that brought a smile to my face. From repeated lines of dialogue, “Dodgson, we’ve got Dodgson here!”, to the mysterious ‘pre-recorded live video feeds’ seen in the film’s main control room, the love for the franchise that’s gone into this game shines throughout.

Telltale have really upped their game for this 4 episode release, clearly making huge improvements to their game engine to accommodate the more realistic look of the title. Sam & Max this is not. Addressing a frequent fan niggle, they’ve also included all the episodes in one application, rather than forcing the player to install and run each episode as a separate game. It’s a minor change, but does bring the whole thing together as one long movie-like experience in a way their recent Back to the Future title isn’t.

Unfortunately, I experienced a couple of audio hiccups and one particularly dodgy animation while playing through the first episode for PC, so I can’t give this a perfect score, but if you’re a fan of the dinosaur series you really can’t let this one slip you by. It’s available (or will be soon in your territory) for PC, Mac, iPad 2, Xbox 360 and PS3, so you’ve got no excuse to miss this! This is the closest you’ll  come to the perfect Jurassic Park experience before scientists really do clone these prehistoric creatures and an eccentric billionaire invites you to his park for the weekend.

Welcome, to Jurassic Park.

TUS Rating:

4 of 5