360 Review – Jurassic: The Hunted
I’m not going to beat around the bush. By most sane reviewer’s standards, Jurassic: The Hunted is not a “good” game. The story is boring and uninspired, the voice work sounds like it came out of a ridiculous B-movie, and the human character models are bland and poorly animated. The campaign is too short (around 3-4 hours) and offers very little incentive for replay.
So why, after all of these glaringly atrocious issues, did I enjoy it? The answer is simple. Jurassic: The Hunted is a guilty pleasure – like a fast food run to McDonald’s when you’re trying to lose weight. It isn’t good for you, and there are better options out there – but you just don’t care! Jurassic is so over-the-top ridiculous that it’s nearly impossible not to enjoy yourself while playing it. If game reviews were based solely on the fun factor, this game would rank among the highest in history. Sadly, that’s not quite how it works. Let’s start with the plot – if we can even call it that.
In 1983, an expedition to the Bermuda Triangle was lost. All of the explorers, including project leader Dr. Sayrus, were never heard from again. Three decades later (kind of late, in my opinion), his daughter decides to organize a security group in an attempt to discover and ultimately continue her daddy’s work. She and the security crew board a plane and head off to the Bermuda Triangle. As they near their destination, they pick up an S.O.S. transmission from the long-lost Dr. Sayrus. Not long after, their aircraft is struck by a powerful storm – forcing them to abandon the plane via parachutes. As they fall towards the surface, the crew members are sucked-up by energy portals and transported to prehistoric times. Upon regaining consciousness, players find themselves in the shoes of Craig Dylan, one of the security guys. From there on, you must battle your way through fourteen dino-filled levels and try to figure out how to escape.
The combat, though fun and admittedly scary in the beginning, quickly becomes a repetitive chore. The first time I was attacked by vicious raptors with nothing but a semi-automatic pistol to defend myself with, I really felt like I was fighting for my life. However, you are soon granted more powerful weapons that greatly diminish the challenge factor. Adding to this problem is the fact that ammunition crates are littered all over the place. Not even two levels into the game, players will be accustomed to triggering a raptor charge, unloading their weapons into scaly dinosaur faces, restocking at an ammo crate, and moving on. A few different enemy types are introduced as you progress through the levels, but they prove to be brief exceptions to the overall combat design.
Throughout the game, there are a handful of times where the battles are drastically changed. Unfortunately, these refreshing sections are few and far between. For example, players will find themselves barricaded inside half-assed forts while holding off wave after wave of deadly dinosaurs. As the dinos attempt to bash open the barriers and make you their next meal, you must run around blasting them in the face so you can buy enough time to make repairs. Also, there is a cool battle involving a mounted machine gun, a t-rex, and several of his prehistoric pain-in-the-ass flying buddies. These scenarios are certainly welcomed, but they don’t occur often enough to balance out the dozens of run-of-the-mill raptor attacks.
The weapon variety in Jurassic: The Hunted is actually pretty solid. There are pistols, assault rifles, snipers, and crossbows from different stages in time. Weapons from the civil war, the present, and the future will make their way into your arsenal. A new weapon is unlocked after completing the game, but I won’t spoil any details for you. Dylan puts these weapons to fantastic use, especially when he uses a powerful and utterly unexplained ability called “adrenaline burst.” In this mode, enemies move in slow-motion and their vital areas - including brain, heart, and lungs – are highlighted. Attacking these vulnerable areas causes massive damage to enemies, and can quickly help level the playing field when you become outnumbered.
Gamers looking for replay value in this title will have to look to the game’s “Survivor Mode.” In this scenario, players essentially replay a fort-barricading sequence similar to the ones found in the campaign – but on a much grander scale. The point is to hold out as long as you possibly can before inevitably succumbing to the vicious dinosaurs. Surviving a round rewards the player with new weapons, ammunition re-supplies, and a few other goodies. As the rounds go on, the number and type of enemies becomes greater and more intense It’s a blast to play, but only hardcore fans of the game will be playing this a few months down the road. Were this a multiplayer mode, the game could’ve extended its appeal dramatically.
Overall, Jurassic: The Hunted is so terrible that it turned out to be fun — for me at least. B-movie voice acting, a ridiculous story, and some interesting fort-holding scenarios provide a funny and fantastic way to spend part of an afternoon. However, the game is absolutely not worth a full-price purchase. If you feel the need to punch a velociraptor in the face, rent this game or borrow it from a friend.
