When Steven Spielberg finished shooting Jurassic Park, the producers were not sure it was going to be a hit. Sure, it featured impressive animatronics and expensive computer graphics, but would its story resonate with audiences all over the world? Universal Pictures was definitely hoping that it would, considering how it paid $2 million for the rights to Micheal Crichton’s novel. And that was before it was even published. When Ocean, a company with a long experience in licensed games, got its hands on the coveted Jurassic Park licence for Nintendo consoles, Amiga and PC, it took its own approach with Spielberg’s film. Ocean’s Jurassic Park is, at its core, an action game with exploration and puzzle-solving mechanics. But each platform is slightly different from the other, so as to cater to different audiences. In this article, we will focus on the Super Nintendo version, as that is definitely our favourite and one that has stood the test of time particularly well.
In you control Dr Alan Grant as he explores the dangerous park and tries to escape. Starting with a cattle prod, he soon gets his hands on a tranquilliser gun and a shotgun, giving him better odds of survival. Despite the weapons at your disposal, killing dinos is not reallypark and destroying the Velociraptor’s nest. Characters from the movie will also appear from time to time, to give missions or provide advice. And in the case of Dennis Nedry, bad advice (that guy could never be trusted). Unfortunately, their advice does tend to pop-up at the worst possible times, obscuring the view of the action and often staying there for several seconds before going away.
