Resident Evil meets Jurassic Park, only without cute kids and with a bit more blood and guts
Les Ellis

The team behind the PlayStation's two survival horror epics are turning their hands once again to the world of shocks and action, only this time getting rid of zombies (which will be back in time for Resident Evil 3: Nemesis) and using dinosaurs.

Dino Crisis is so similar to the two Res Evil games that anyone who has spent any time on them will find themselves immediately at home, walking around the island base, finding keys to unlock doors and getting clues as to what you can expect later. Before you start writing this off as a stopgap though, Dino Crisis has a bit more to offer than just another zombie blastfest.

For a start it uses more puzzles, and better ones as well. Instead of the obscure stuff that didn't seem to have much in common with its environment in the first two games, everything in Dino Crisis fits snugly into place. Logical puzzles accessed through computer terminals, moving containers using cranes and piecing together parts of high tech machines to get the base back online all seem to be just, well, right.

Mind you, it's not all brainbusting puzzles - you're going to have to be pretty nifty with your trigger finger to get past the island's other occupants. Take damage and they hunt you down; go into their territory and they consider you lunch. And if you meet the T-Rex? Well, enjoy it while it lasts. There's plenty of tension throughout the game, although it lacks some of the shocker set pieces that the first two games relied on for their thrills.