Game #853: Dino Crisis 2

  And people thought Resident Evil changed....

 Boy, oh boy, Dino Crisis 2 must've been a bit controversial at the time, because this is a complete genre shift. This is an action game that plays like a survival horror game, and it's really good.

 You could think of this as a Mercenaries Mode for Dino Crisis, except made as a full game, kinda like the unfairly, and I'm to blame as well, criticized  Resident Evil Mercenaries but with a bit more depth. You have a fully visible health bar, you get combo points for murdering dinosaurs without getting hit and the such. With the circle button you can quickly use your subweapon, and you can use the triangle button to dodge on any direction, which is a bit wonky because when using tank controls and fixed camera angles it's anyone's guess where your character will jump to. Oh, and characters default to a run, there's no way to walk in this game.

 And yeah, I said characters, Regina is forced to share the limelight with series' newcomer Dylan. Dylan looks like a surfer bro in armor, and I didn't really like him, I kinda hated the fact that Dylan is the new focus. Heck, you could remove Regina from the plot and nothing would change, not so without Dylan. To be honest, Regina was the original heroine and I really liked her, I don't care about the new guy. You'll start the game as Dylan, but the game will switch your playable character back and forth as the story progresses.

 The game did away with 3-D environments, it's back to pre-rendered backgrounds. It was probably done in order to fit more enemies into the screen at the same time, and even then you might come across a few moments of slowdown every now and then.

 Every zone has a seemingly endless amount of constantly respawning enemies, but after you defeat 20-25 dinosaurs they'll stop respawning until you exit the zone. I don't mind being assaulted by an onslaught of enemies, but enemies spawn every time the fixed-camera angle changes, and sometimes they'll respawn right behind you, even if what was behind you was a dead end, which is just ridiculous.

 The game is an Arcade shooter all the way through. Every time you defeat a dinosaur you earn points, when you defeat them in quick succession without taking damage you earn small bonuses and if you can get from one area to another without getting touched(But killing at least 4 dinosaurs or so) you'll get a huge untouched point bonus. Points can be used at any Save Point to purchase small bonuses, like Armor that stops bleeding, new weapons, ammo, increase your maximum ammo stock and even healing items. It's a fun system that constantly rewards you for murdering dinosaurs and trying your best not to get hurt.

 Regina and Dylan share their inventory, somewhat. Healing items, Key items and points are shared between both, but each character has different weapons they can use and purchase. This is also really neat because each character feels different due to their different weapons.

 There are a few very basic puzzles here and there, but nothing too complicated. That said, you might discover, after using the ship for the very first time, that you're missing a key. In which case, you have to go back to the island you where before. So, where is this keycard? You have to inspect a waterfall a couple of times, until a green thing pops up and guides you to the keycard. Obscure much?

 Beating the game unlocks Extra Crisis, which is but a small diversion. It's you and a pre-set loadout against 5 waves of enemies on a very basic and boring black-and-green arena. The novelty here is that you can use any leftover Points to purchase other characters, like a tank or even Rick and Gail from the first game. You can even unlock dinosaurs, which will then allow you to play a very basic 2-player dinosaur fighting minigame.

 This might get me in hot water with Survival Horror enthusiasts... but I loved this game. It's pure, arcade-shooter fun. And I love how tank controls worked in this game, it made it quite interesting.

 8.5