What would happen if the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park were let loose on Raccoon City? The idea might seem ridiculous, but for Capcom, it was the start of a game that would create a new form of horror game. Dino Crisis, released in 1999, took the premise of dinosaurs in the modern age and set them against a group of soldiers trapped on the island with them.
Something has gone wrong on Ibis Island. A military operation to create a new form of weapon has gone silent. The tactical team called S.O.R.T. sends four of it’s agents to find out what is going on. One agent is blown off target while parachuting and is eaten by something big. The remaining three find a building destroyed by something that should have died out millions of years ago. Dinosaurs have taken over the island and the team must find a way to get out alive.
Survival horror was not new, Resident Evil had made the genre into a household name a few years ago. This was something new, dubbed “panic horror” by the game developers. There is no creeping dread, wondering what is behind that next door. You know what it is, some sort of dinosaur hell bent on ripping you to shreds. You are constantly under assault, never getting a chance to relax or take a breath. The standard puzzles are here, but with the added bonus of a ticking clock with teeth.
Dino Crisis owes a lot to Resident Evil. The models and the action you can take are almost identical. One of the main differences was a 3D engine that would replace the pre-rendered background. This came with it’s own limitations as certain locations had to be scrapped due to the limits of computer programming. What remained was the feeling of being tripped in one location.
Dino Crisis showed that you did not need supernatural monsters to create a scary game. The sequels would go off in a much more science fiction setting, but the first always remains a standard in how to do horror right. Jurassic Park might have had some harmless dinosaurs, but Crisis only brought the meat eaters.
