Jurassic Park The Game: Review thread - post your impressions here!

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Comments

  • edited November 2011
    how do i chanege the settings back to the mouse
  • edited November 2011
    Sinaz20 wrote: »
    if you're playing on pc, it takes a little more dexterity than with gamepad since the camera wavers a bit-- you have to track that sweet spot with the mouse as the camera weaves.
    im still having trouble :(
  • edited November 2011
    Brought the game for ps3. I'm enjoying it do far, except for how distorted the voice work is again!!! Even worse than in bttf was/is!
  • Sinaz20Sinaz20 Telltale Alumni
    edited November 2011
    thcoolnam wrote: »
    im still having trouble :(

    Main Menu > Settings > Gameplay > Controls
  • edited November 2011
    There is no controls all it says is subtitles and i can use the mouse how do i do it with the keyboard and the mouse or just the mouse im using a laptop so
  • edited November 2011
    There is no controls all it says is subtitles and i can use the mouse how do i do it with the keyboard and the mouse or just the mouse im using a laptop so
    Sinaz20 wrote: »
    Main Menu > Settings > Gameplay > Controls
  • edited November 2011
    i gotta agree i love how they interwoven the movies facts with real world facts

    but god all the fun i had with the game is just lost cause of this stupid bug that's preventing me from starting chapter 2, i could just bout scream it's annoying me so much
  • edited November 2011
    thcoolnam wrote: »
    There is no controls all it says is subtitles and i can use the mouse how do i do it with the keyboard and the mouse or just the mouse im using a laptop so

    You'll need to restart the game to change the control method.
  • edited November 2011
    ok nothings working can someone help me bc i did that a milloin times
  • edited November 2011
    After restarting the game, you'll need to go into the options menu prior to loading your game. That's the only time you'll be given the option to change the control method.
  • edited November 2011
    ok but how do u control the pointer with teh mouse????
  • NickTTGNickTTG Telltale Alumni
    edited November 2011
    Sitec wrote: »
    The only thing I would have done different is maybe had a few more "Serene JP moments" with Brachiosaurs, Gallimimus, and Stegosaurs etc. wandering around. The best part for this would have been when Nima and Gerry are talking on the lookout. I thought it was coming but it didn't.

    For the record, I totally agree. In the lookout scene with Gerry and Nima, we talked about doing some dinosaur stuff, but in the end had to cut it. Glad you like the game as a whole though!
  • edited November 2011
    I loved when Miles said to Nima "Hey we have dodgson here! See she doesn't care" :) They really did do their homework. One of those great touches with the game for hardcore Jurassic Park fans.
  • edited November 2011
    Sorry to say this time you really blew it.
    I only did some of it but could not stand it and stopped.

    It is not a game, there are no real challenges, you don't have to solve riddles or else.

    Rather it's like a mini-movie in which, to pretend it's a game, now and then you get instructions to push buttons. "Push up then push left". What's the challenge in that?

    I'm sorry there's no "Satisfied or your money back" policy because, for as much I loved your other games, this one is a joke, I will not play further, and I really would like to give it back for a refund.


    I do hope your next one will be back on track. Please!! You were good, get back there. Return to games that DO challenge the player. I like good games, and you were one of my favorite sources.

    Let's make this a once in a lifetime slip never to be repeated again. Thank you.
  • edited November 2011


    Piccobello's detailed review




    Okay, I finished the game and was looking forward to write a small review.
    I will try not to spoiler. So let's get it started:


    Intro
    I already preordered in spring and JPTG was a highly anticipated game for me. There are just a handfull of JP games and 90% of them are - let's be honest - junk. They don't attract me as a gamer and they don't even attract me as a fan. If I remember when I got the JP game for the SNES as a kid I was so excited about and then so frustated about how bad the game actually was [I know there are fanboys who will hate to hear me saying this], but it was a general game, collect all the eggs, fight dinos, no story, no spirit, no fun.


    Story
    This is the most anticipated thing I was looking for and I think Telltale did a great job here. One of the members here said, it was even better than JP2 and JP3 both and I can just agree with that.
    When I watched the trailers and especially the characters I was doubtful if they match into the JP scenery, but in the end they are cleverly integrated into the plot and have comprehensible backgrounds and relations to each other. Every character has it's own pros and cons, but that's what makes a character believable.
    The plot as it is is stunning. It has everything you would expect of a JP movie. For my taste the introduction could have been longer. Compare it to the movies, the actual action begins after half of the movie. But treating JPTG like JP 1.5 it's ok for me though.


    Graphics
    I don't want to repeat what has been already said. I think Telltale did a great job and tried to do the most of their opportunities. Despite some bugs, let's talk about the good things: I was really impressed by some of the effects, especially the tunnel-view you get to see later in the game. In movies I mostly hate this effect, but here it was used sparely, but intelligent.
    And a very important note, when we talk about graphics is also game art. Telltale has added so many new scenes, buildings, ideas - and they perfectly fit into the JP theme. When I watched JP2 I was so annoyed of the art direction. It was completely different to JP1 - I thought those facilities were built by another company, not InGen.


    Sound
    Awesome! (Again, we don't discuss the audio bugs in here)
    I always got goose pimples when I hear the JP theme and Telltale even added more sounds to it. Some songs will recall the original theme, some are more specific to that game.
    However, the only point when music annoyed me was in Episode 2. I beleive there was one song which was repeated to often (I will check the soundtrack to post the song's name here).
    The dinosaurs have of course the "traditional" screams and grunts like in the movie, which makes a perfect atmosphere.
    I played the game in English and was very pleased by the voice performance.


    Gameplay
    Okay, I've said many good words about the game, now let's go ahead and put some constructive criticism.
    I'm not sure what to say about the gameplay: there are scenes when it makes fun and scenes when it gets annoying.
    Sometimes you've the feeling that you're actually playing a game and sometimes watching a movie, which can be both positive and negative.
    There are some scenes when the atmosphere is surprisingly getting destroyed by the gameplay and otherwise. It's hard to describe.
    For example: The fighting scenes could actually benefit of a bit more freedom. Instead of dying, it would have been nice to have alternative actions, so that it also makes fun to play the game twice, because you could try other solutions to survive.
    I also had the impression that dialogues had just no effect in the story. I could have skipped every dialogue and just play the game itself (I'm not sure if that was intended).
    Moreover, there are also puzzle elements. I'm not a puzzler, but I found those way too easy to solve.
    In the result, the gameplay could have done more differently.
    For a casual gamer it's probably too easy and too repetitive.


    Result
    I'm satisfied with the game. It could have been longer, but on the other hand if it were longer it probably would lost much of its atmosphere and would have added scenes, which don't bring the story further.
    However, this is the Jurassic Park game I've waited so long, because no one ever tried to stick to the concept and the actual idea of Jurassic Park (and it's just not about having dinosaurs fight and kill each other) and I think they really got a good job here and "dived" into the subject.
    Thanks Telltale.

    I wonder if there're people who actually read all this above :confused:
  • edited November 2011
    Piccobello, you hit the nail in the head on your review, i feel the exact same way :) love the game very much, money well spent in my opinion

    i literally have nothing to complain about in the game, other than a certain character i really liked dying... sorry i don't know how to do the spoiler tag
  • Sinaz20Sinaz20 Telltale Alumni
    edited November 2011
    piccobello wrote: »
    I wonder if there're people who actually read all this above :confused:

    I read it all. Thanks for the feedback and criticisms. I'm glad you enjoyed the game!

    EDIT: I've been reading every review, good and bad, that I can get my eyes on.
  • edited November 2011
    Dinoman87 wrote: »
    Piccobello, you hit the nail in the head on your review, i feel the exact same way :) love the game very much, money well spent in my opinion
    Sinaz20 wrote: »
    I read it all. Thanks for the feedback and criticisms. I'm glad you enjoyed the game!

    Thanks for reading it :o
  • edited November 2011
    I agree with basicly everything you said, piccobello. Although, i still would have loved for the game to be longer. In fact, there were moments in the game where it felt like some story elements were missing. What story we had was great but at times it felt like the story jumped around a bit. And seeing how it was originally going to be 5 episodes i can't help but wonder what story elements were removed.
  • edited November 2011
    I agree with basicly everything you said, piccobello. Although, i still would have loved for the game to be longer. In fact, there were moments in the game where it felt like some story elements were missing. What story we had was great but at times it felt like the story jumped around a bit. And seeing how it was originally going to be 5 episodes i can't help but wonder what story elements were removed.

    You're right, without knowing what has been removed we can't say if it was necessary to remove them.
  • edited November 2011
    VittoOuWan wrote: »
    Sorry to say this time you really blew it.
    I only did some of it but could not stand it and stopped.

    It is not a game, there are no real challenges, you don't have to solve riddles or else.

    Rather it's like a mini-movie in which, to pretend it's a game, now and then you get instructions to push buttons. "Push up then push left". What's the challenge in that?

    I'm sorry there's no "Satisfied or your money back" policy because, for as much I loved your other games, this one is a joke, I will not play further, and I really would like to give it back for a refund.


    I do hope your next one will be back on track. Please!! You were good, get back there. Return to games that DO challenge the player. I like good games, and you were one of my favorite sources.

    Let's make this a once in a lifetime slip never to be repeated again. Thank you.

    Great job... from the sounding of it.. it looks like you never even made it by the prologue (TUTORIAL) area of the game, where you pretty much can't die because the game is teaching you the controls. Of course there's no challenge. In most games for anyone that was born since the 80s and 90s... knows that a game gets harder as it progresses.
  • edited November 2011
    Sinaz20 wrote: »
    I've been reading every review, good and bad, that I can get my eyes on.

    Nice to read that.

    Was I clear enough in expressing my thought?

    Don't misinterpret things:
    Many say "I am a hardcore JP fan". They loved having one or few new chapters of the story. I too will probably like it (in time I might play on, but only to watch that story).

    But it's very disappointing on the game side.
    You are shown 2 keys sequences that you have to press quickly enough or you die. You have no choice, need no strategy, don't have to figure out anything, etc. etc.
    Is that what makes a game enjoyable and rewarding to play? Just press the two keys you're told to, or you die?

    I just looked around for reviews and only found one (still too early?) by Ben Reeves:
    "Jurassic Park strings together a series of pass-or-fail button-press sequences. ….its few puzzles rarely require thought.
    Telltale's... approach to BTF left me hopeful... However, I was in for a disappointment."

    Please don't confuse the joy of having a new piece of a loved story, with satisfaction from playing an engaging game. The first is present, the latter isn't.

    Please tell me I did explain my point. And that this is NOT the "New" Telltale (otherwise you've lost a loving client). Thanks.
  • Sinaz20Sinaz20 Telltale Alumni
    edited November 2011
    VittoOuWan wrote: »
    Nice to read that.

    Was I clear enough in expressing my thought?

    I understand you weren't satisfied with the game (or however much of it you played.) I can't change Jurassic Park now that it's complete, but I can consider your constructive criticism when designing future games.

    I try to keep my finger on the pulse of our die-hard fans and bring up the loudest of collective complaints in our designer meetings.

    I really hope you'll continue playing through the game-- there's a lot to experience, a lot of great scenes and gameplay to discover.
  • edited November 2011
    VittoOuWan wrote: »
    Nice to read that.

    Was I clear enough in expressing my thought?

    Don't misinterpret things:
    Many say "I am a hardcore JP fan". They loved having one or few new chapters of the story. I too will probably like it (in time I might play on, but only to watch that story).

    But it's very disappointing on the game side.
    You are shown 2 keys sequences that you have to press quickly enough or you die. You have no choice, need no strategy, don't have to figure out anything, etc. etc.
    Is that what makes a game enjoyable and rewarding to play? Just press the two keys you're told to, or you die?

    I just looked around for reviews and only found one (still too early?) by Ben Reeves:
    "Jurassic Park strings together a series of pass-or-fail button-press sequences. ….its few puzzles rarely require thought.
    Telltale's... approach to BTF left me hopeful... However, I was in for a disappointment."

    Please don't confuse the joy of having a new piece of a loved story, with satisfaction from playing an engaging game. The first is present, the latter isn't.

    Please tell me I did explain my point. And that this is NOT the "New" Telltale (otherwise you've lost a loving client). Thanks.

    This is TellTale's FIRST ATTEMPT with a gameplay element similar to HEAVY RAIN's. The creator of that game, "Quantic Dream" has dabbled in this already once before with Fahrenheit (ie Indigo Prophecy). Their games had a little bit more of a gameplay element in which you could step out of the cinematic hand holding, and make choices that would later affect your decisions. As opposed to just cinematic flare and quick fingers to avoid death, there was the anxiety of hoping, whether it be through QTE crucial scenes, or talking to someone, that you made the right choice that could potentially affect the lives of other characters you're close to.

    I haven't played Jurassic Park yet, except for a little bit of the beginning.. For what I saw, I loved.. I'm not gonna play more until my girlfriend is here with me, because I know she'd love it.

    But I say this.. For being TellTale's FIRST attempt at delving AWAY from their comfort zone of point&click adventure.. you gotta give'em props, because not many companies are comfortable with doing this, and for what they've done and what I've been hearing and have seen for myself somewhat.. I think it's damned fantastic, even if it IS a cinematic story 70%, 30% interactive. It's still an official connect to the Jurassic Park franchise, and I'm glad that SOMEONE stepped up and created what a lot of people have been looking forward to for a long time.

    HOW MANY of you used to go to the Arcade back a few years, and sit in the jeep and played the LIGHT GUN game "The Lost World"? I mean.. beyond that, all you had production/presentation wise was PS1's "The Lost World".

    There hasn't really been a SERIOUS story driven game.
    Off from left field, I'd like to see someone make a great serious Friday the 13th game, but I know that will probably never happen.

    It's these people from TellTale, and other developers out there that push the effort of, "MAKING IT HAPPEN" because otherwise, potentially, it would never happen... and then when it does, you guys complain about it.

    I would actually like to see TellTale continue this Jurassic Park franchise, and hopefully with the continued series, maybe they could patch up all the elements you guys complain about, for the better.

    But for right now, be at least happy with it.. I think they've done fantastic work here.

    And to close out.. this is what Ian Malcolm has to say to Telltale:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4_jMfBq3dc
  • edited November 2011
    This has to be one of the greatest games you guys have ever released!

    The dinosaurs are amazing, the bugs are minimal, great scenes of the park. I love how we get to go back to those places and explore more and more of each one! I give this a 10/10!

    Now I'm hoping for a a second game. ;)
  • edited November 2011
    Sinaz20 wrote: »
    ...but I can consider your constructive criticism when designing future games.

    I try to keep my finger on the pulse of our die-hard fans and bring up the loudest of collective complaints in our designer meetings.

    Thank you,
    that's what I was hoping for and I appreciate you picking it up.
  • Sinaz20Sinaz20 Telltale Alumni
    edited November 2011
    shamuboy wrote: »
    ...The dinosaurs are amazing, the bugs are minimal...

    I know-- we only put one
    cockroach
    in the entire game!

    Oh... spoilers... I'll fix.

    :D
  • edited November 2011
    Sinaz20 wrote: »
    I know-- we only put one
    cockroach
    in the entire game!

    Oh... spoilers... I'll fix.

    :D

    It may have just been one but it was huge! lol
    I would have freaked out and the T-Rex would have ate me. Much like in The Lost World where he freaked out because of the snake.
  • edited November 2011
    I just read JPlegacy's Review. http://www.jplegacy.org/board/

    I pretty much had the same thoughts.
  • edited November 2011
    It's 1AM I'm tired to I'll make it brief.

    Let's get the negative out the way. The game had too many bugs for something that was delayed by 6 months, I had graphical bugs even though I have a 1GB graphics card that handles crysis on some of the highest settings. This later caused bugging out and at the beginning caused the rain to do some weird shit like make yellow streaks. The most annoying part is where the climax at the end of Episode 4 kept on spazzing out and freezing every 10 seconds, even with the graphics altered. Fortunately when I replayed the final scenario after completion it worked, with some minor freezing here and there.

    While these were the only bugs I encountered there is no excuse for this kind of behaviour especially when you guys changed the game and took 6 months repairing things and tightening the game up.

    Secondly you used the Tyrannosaur way too much, it would have been better if you used Baryonx or even a stampede of Galimimus to shake things up, it was getting a bit tedious and I was rolling my eyes, which kinda ruined the climax of the film, with the exception that the climax was so well executed nothing could have ruined it.

    Ok now we've got that spanking out the way let's move on to the positive. Let's break the normal reaction to the graphics, for me the graphics were great, by far the best stuff telltale's ever done, I hope to expect with the money you make from this to invest in being able to afford a pay rise for all of you, so you can up the ante when it comes to graphics, animation and design. You've set the bar with Jurassic Park, now you have to beat it and keep upping your standards in graphics, animation and animation bugs. Flushing out any anomalies that still like to show up on your engine. As I said, congratulate yourselves, but realise the horrid truth that people are going to expect this kind of quality to be bare minimum now and your challenge is to now double what you did as far as aesthetics. Again either give yourselves a pay rise, or invest in better equipment or extra staff.

    Anyway loved the visual style, I'm not someone who has to have exactly photo realistic graphics or graphics that are smooth and sharp, sol long as it isn't seizure worthy or something that looks like a bog standard PS1 game.

    Still best graphics job you've done so far. It also felt very much part of the Jurassic Park film universe.

    The writing was well done, and the story was better than the second and third films. More than ever I want to write scripts for you guys, although the games industry doesn't hire screenwriters for games so I guess I'll just have to make the dream happen with my own game....

    I felt that the themes addressed were refreshing and felt adult. I also enjoyed the fact you were ballsy enough to get away with some of the stuff you kept in there. I wont give spoilers but it was great.

    However from one screenwriter to all you writers out there I would have made a few changes such as not having the raptors from another quarantine pen, but ones that were breeding unauthorised. I also felt that some parts were slow, and characters were just standing there, and there were no movement and no drive. Sometimes it worked really well like in Episode 4, but in earlier episodes I felt I was watching a Jurassic Park stage play rather than a filmic experience. Which takes me onto a small criticism.

    I loved this as an interactive movie, it was well put together, however I agree that there needed to be some limited free roam, for example the engine didn't really work for me with Nedry's Jeep. It would be better to control Nima and move her around, and have events prevent her from moving too far off. This would tie in with the heavy rain feel you wanted to give. It's not much free roam, but it's enough to keep you fully engaged.

    But apart from that and a few times where I felt pressing the keys TWICE was a mean and pointless thing to do I'd have to say I enjoyed it.

    As far as the filmic look, it was wonderfully executed, and some parts were extremely tense, the characters were some of the best characters, and the most well developed I've seen in a video game.

    The death scenes were not only amusing, but some really cut to the core of you, plus what the Troodon's do is just wrong, ugh.

    I enjoyed some nods to the novel, although I was expecting more by the hints given which left me slightly disappointed.

    There are a few more positive points but I've reached my sleep threshold and maybe I'll come back and give you those points. Sorry it's not more through, I'm sleepy and can barely write!

    All in all you've made my inner child's wishes come true, and you should probably strike a deal with Universal to sell the script to make a CG Jurassic Park movie, like what Capcom did with Resident Evil Degeneration!

    PS: I also liked the field journal to explain away some of the films discrepancies compared to what we know now about dinosaurs.
  • JenniferJennifer Moderator
    edited November 2011
    I thought it was fun. I really enjoyed the story, and the voice acting and music were excellent. The adventure scenes reminded me of Telltale's CSI games, which is fine by me because I really enjoyed those games. :)

    As for the action scenes, I thought the QTE system worked well even though I'm not especially very good at it despite playing through Shenmue I and II countless times. ;)

    The weird thing is I couldn't stop from thinking that I was younger than Jess during the time period that this story was set. :p
  • edited November 2011
    JoeGameSaga reviewed it here- http://joegamesaga.com/v/2011/11/1321497004
  • edited November 2011
    on episode four now picking the right tunnel was a bitch but i after like three tries picked the corect one. love the game:D
  • edited November 2011
    Well I must say.. Well done Telltale, I thought everything was pretty much great. Storywise it was pretty well done, i was wondering how the mercenaries were going to fit into the story but it did it quite successfully.
    I'm a bit suprised that the Pteranodons didn't make it into Dr. Sorkin's Journal, but of all the dinosaurs that were featured I gotta say I was pleased. Even the Brachiosaur cameo was pretty neat. The Aquarium sequence terrified me to death, I'm actually glad you put it in there despite my bad reaction to it when it was first shown.

    But all in all, it was a very faithful game and it's definately one of the most well done jurassic park games i've even seen. You all paid so much attention to detail! Thanks for a great game :)
  • edited November 2011
    Sinaz20 wrote: »
    I know-- we only put one
    cockroach
    in the entire game!

    That was the
    bug from Sam & Max with a little texture updating
    , wasn't it? Admit it! Even Jurassic Park gets a Telltale cameo, I love it.
  • edited November 2011
    Well I must say.. Well done Telltale, I thought everything was pretty much great. Storywise it was pretty well done, i was wondering how the mercenaries were going to fit into the story but it did it quite successfully.
    I'm a bit suprised that the Pteranodons didn't make it into Dr. Sorkin's Journal, but of all the dinosaurs that were featured I gotta say I was pleased. Even the Brachiosaur cameo was pretty neat. The Aquarium sequence terrified me to death, I'm actually glad you put it in there despite my bad reaction to it when it was first shown.

    But all in all, it was a very faithful game and it's definately one of the most well done jurassic park games i've even seen. You all paid so much attention to detail! Thanks for a great game :)

    Where was the
    brachiosaur cameo
    ? I missed that one.
  • edited November 2011
    welp after getting past the bugs i have to say i was totally surprised and blown away by this game i really loved it when i started the first chapter it was all sort of new and getting a hang of it so i wasnt sure if i liked it but as the game went the controls became like second nature. the story kept getting more awesome and action packed just so perfect all those camera angles and blending, and i loved all the references to the movie and how you really let the player take a hold of the computer or the little power grid thing (which was always something i wanted to do) also i loved how in some cases i could sit there and listen to the characters just talk to each other with a long conversation. and i liked how in the journals all the scientific details that were wrong in the film were expanded on about why they were. i feel as though i could just go on forever about how every detail was put into this game and made it great showed a lot of care and it really lived up to the movie.
  • edited November 2011
    One of the best movies I've ever played. Not bad as a game, either, even if it *was* one big QTE with some simple puzzles scattered throughout.

    The only really big problem I had was with the sound. It was downright atrocious at times. At one point, it even sounded like an actor got too close to the mic, which really comes off as shoddy considering dev time. The acting wasn't great either, for that matter, but it seemed to improve later on. The music was fantastic, though. Very cinematic.

    I was amazed at how far the Telltale Tool was pushed for this. There were some hiccups, but the graphics and animation were by far the best that you guys have ever done.

    The writing was a pleasure as well. This story could easily pass for JP4. Unlike a lot of "cinematic games", this one honestly felt like a movie. A special mention for the death scenes: surprisingly brutal, and VERY well done. One (involving a speeding shipping container's effects on the human body) even made me laugh in sheer surprise.

    The nods to the movies were never hamfisted, and always placed at the perfect moments. ("Ah ah ah! Ah ah ah!" :D) I only wish somebody had said "clever girl" at some point.

    Altogether, I was extremely pleased.
  • edited November 2011
  • edited November 2011
    Oh and any game where you can PUNCH A RAPTOR IN THE FACE get's an instant win IMHO
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