The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Adventures in Jurassic Park, part 12.

Well, say goodbye to Isla Nublar, we're probably stuck at Site B for the rest of the games. I wonder why these games all have the characters, logos, settings, everything from the movies except for the music. Would they have had to license that separately or something? The music in this sounds like it belongs more in Street Fighter 2.

This isn't really much of an intro. Shots of a helicopter landing on Isla Sorna interspersed with the words 'SOMETHING. HAS. SURVIVED.' flashing up against a background of dramatic lightning.

Hey, this has a co-op mode too! Wait, am I Alan Grant AGAIN? C'mon, he wasn't even in this movie. I'm pretty sure player two is Ian Malcolm though.

Hey, I've got a computer watch, with a mission briefing, dinosaur encyclopaedia, map etc. Wait, 'be aware of LAND MINES'? Fuck. Why do they keep putting land mines on these dinosaur islands?

Those must be the aforementioned poisonous plants, so damn deadly you can see the toxic gas coming off them.

Weirdly I can't seem to pick up this health kit, I guess I need to run out of armour before I even need extra health. I'm actually pushing it across the ground, which is pretty unusual. Enemies can push pick ups around too.

I saw this id card looking thing sitting on the ground, and immediately started worrying that I'd have to find hidden cards like in Jurassic Park on the Amiga, or collect 5 of them to get the exit door open like in Jurassic Park 2 on the Game Boy. But no, it wasn't an id card, it was a map of the area for my awesome watch.

It's almost as if this game is trying to make me like it, instead of punishing me for playing. It's a bizarre concept for a Jurassic Park game, but I'll keep playing and see where it's going with it.

Please tell me I can drive that! I want to run over this damn dilophosaurus that's been chasing me around, spitting at me.

I CAN DRIVE THE CAR! Whoa, is that a checkpoint? So dying in this doesn't necessarily throw me back right to the start of the level? I guess I'll find out when I run out of lives. Shouldn't take long.

Okay, the good news is I think I've spotted the minefield. The bad news is that I seem to be in the middle of it, and my car is a little awkward to steer. It faces the direction you press, instead of steering like a car, so turning to avoid land mines is a bit challenging.


LATER.

Great, now I find a repair item. I really could have used one of these back in that minefield. Perhaps then I'd still have a car.

Hey look, there's a guy over there and it looks like he's fighting with a dinosaur. I can't be certain though because when I got closer they both immediately ran to kill me instead, but it'd be cool if it actually was the case. It'd make a nice change from being the only target for every other creature on screen.

I don't know who these guys are, but they seem pretty keen on murdering me. I imagine they're probably evil mercenary goons sent rather than the hunters from the movie.

Awesome, I've found my base camp. Level complete! Just in the nick of time too because I'm pretty much out of health.

Happy victory music! Whoa, I'm working for the tyrannosauruses?

Next level, and now I've got grenades to play with. Useful for blowing up generators and shutting down forcefields. I don't know why they have sci-fi forcefields on Site B, but whatever, it's broken now. Lets just forget about it and move on.

Okay, I found a cave labelled 'CAVE RESCUE' so I guess that last level was a mission hub of some kind?

Apparently this place has lava caves just like Isla Nublar, complete with steam venting out that I have to dodge. And stupid dinosaurs hiding in them.

Also, velociraptors are a bitch to kill in this too. I'm trying to circle around them, throwing grenades in their direction, or shooting them with darts, but I have to be pointing directly AT them to hit them. And in a head on confrontation, Alan Grant isn't going to be the one walking away.

I guess this is the guy in the cave I was sent to rescue. He tells me to head south to find the reactor to shut off these forcefields. Ten seconds later I'm running back with velociraptors at my heels, and he doesn't even fire off a single shot to help me!

Hey, my watch has a feature that lights up the generators on my map so I can find them easily. The dot flashes though, and I screenshotted on an 'off' flash, so you'll have to take my word for it though.

How the hell am I supposed to make it through here without taking damage? Apparently the exact point I'm standing right now is lethal, seeing as I just lost a life.

Agh! Damn velociraptors, I hate them so much. Well okay not as much as I did before I realised how good the assault rifle is against them, but I'm still holding onto a reasonable amount of hate here.


Well screw replaying all that. Next game!

Huh? I respawned back at the checkpoint, with a full set of lives and the generator still destroyed.

Dude, if you don't want me to accidentally spray you with some of my extremely limited and vitally important assault rifle ammo, then get the fuck out of my line of fire when I'm trying to save your fucking life! Here's a clue, I'm aiming at the killer dinosaur that will very probably soon be dining on my corpse. Try moving in the opposite direction like every other creature on Earth with a survival instinct would.

I can't complain though really. Gameplay-wise this guy seems to be more like a keycard I've collected than a character to babysit and protect. I'm just getting tired of his bitching.

Mission complete! Those are some damn fine looking graphics in my opinion.

That's interesting, I think I got this delivery by collecting a certain number of JP tokens. Whoa, it's got a free extra life, new armour... I love it when things like this just fall out of the sky on me.

Okay, I've found a new car, and my car has a TURRET! Plus my turret has infinite ammo.

I think I'm going to stop playing here. To be honest I think I've probably made the game look better than it is. Actually fighting the dinosaurs isn't that great, and when the core gameplay in a game isn't much fun, then that game has problems.

But this gets so many things right that I can't honestly say that it's a crap game. So it gets the star.

Part 1: Jurassic Park (NES)
Part 2: Jurassic Park (GB)
Part 3: Jurassic Park (SNES)
Part 4: Jurassic Park (Amiga)
Part 5: Jurassic Park (Master System)
Part 6: Jurassic Park (Genesis/Mega Drive)
Part 7: Jurassic Park (Sega Mega CD)
Part 8: Jurassic Park Interactive (3DO)
Part 9: Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (Genesis/Mega Drive)
Part 10: Jurassic Park II - The Chaos Continues
Part 11: Jurassic Park 2 (GB)

Part 13: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (GB)
Part 14: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (PSX)
Part 15: Warpath: Jurassic Park (PSX)
Part 16: Jurassic Park: Trespasser (PC)