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Dino Crisis 3

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Dino Crisis 3
Developer(s)Capcom Production Studio 4
Publisher(s)Capcom
Director(s)Tetsuro Oyama
Hiroyuki Maruhama
Producer(s)Hiroyuki Kobayashi
Artist(s)Futoshi Nagata
Writer(s)Noboru Sugimura
Hiromichi Nakamoto
Shin Yoshida
Hiroaki Kanazawa
Composer(s)Shinichiro Sato
SeriesDino Crisis
Platform(s)Xbox
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Dino Crisis 3 (Japanese: ディノ クライシス3) is an action-adventure video game developed by Capcom Production Studio 4[1] and published by Capcom exclusively for the Xbox. Like the previous installments in the Dino Crisis series, the gameplay revolves around fighting dinosaur or other reptiles, but the enemies in this game are not real dinosaurs. They are mutations created from DNA extracted from various dinosaur species. The action takes place in outer space, on a space station.

The game was originally planned for both Xbox and PlayStation 2, but the latter version was scrapped early in development.[2]

Gameplay

The number of weapons was reduced to 2 guns with 6 ammo types (one gun and 3 ammo types per playable character), in addition to small machines called "WASPS" that help against dinosaur encounters. The game was played mostly through the character Patrick and only a small section was played as Sonya. There are also three types of body armor available.

Plot

Set in the year 2548, it has been 300 years since Earth lost contact with the colony ship Ozymandias, en route to a². Somehow, the ship has reappeared near Jupiter. A team called S.O.A.R. (Special Operations And Reconnaissance) is sent aboard the probe ship Seyfert to investigate.

The team, consisting of Patrick Tyler, Sonya Hart, Commander Jacob Ranshaw, and McCoy board the Ozymandias. The ship's interior is derelict, although there is still power.

McCoy is killed by a large Tyrannosaurus-like creature which chases the team. The T. rex is then attacked, mauled and killed by a swarm of eel-like mutants... though one of the mutants is ripped in half and thrown to the floor beforehand. After fighting his way through the ship's storage areas, Patrick meets a survivor, a girl named Caren Velázquez. After meeting her, she runs away in fear.

Patrick spots Caren once again, looking at a picture frame of her father, Dr. Migeul Velázquez. Patrick learns she has been on her own for 300 years. Sonya discovers that MTHR - the ship's control system - is creating the dinosaur-like creatures from the DNA of animals in storage as a replacement for the human crew. When Patrick tells them that he is shutting MTHR down, Caren opens the door and runs away.

As Caren and the team hurry out of the experimental laboratory, they are attacked by a mutant Ankylosaurus. Jacob sacrifices himself to kill the mutant by setting off his grenades at the creature's mouth. At this point, it is revealed that Caren is an android.

Later, the same beast reappears, revealing that Jacob's sacrifice is for naught. With no choice, Patrick has to put the Regulus to rest.

Caren manages to repair the ship, saving Patrick from succumbing to the broken environmental systems. Patrick returns to the Energy Core to restart it, but the room is severely damaged when a mutant Spinosaurus crashes through the wall, filling the area with water coolant.

After fighting off the creature, the team runs to the MTHR sector as the core begins to go into meltdown. As they arrive at the sector, the MTHR and Engine Sectors detach from the Front Deck, Shaft and Energy Sectors, which are destroyed by the meltdown. The Engines soon activate an emergency system and Warp Jump to Earth.

Patrick meets MTHR and questions her. He then tries to stop MTHR's main computer but she opens another hatch releasing the Spinosaurus the second time. Upon defeating the creature, Patrick tries to stop MTHR sending the dinosaurs to Earth and fights her, eventually destroying her system, which has disastrous effects on the ship, causing it to activate the self-destruct sequence. MTHR's last words are "I just wanted to complete my mission."

Patrick is reunited with Sonya and Caren as they try to escape the ship via an escape shuttle, but they are attacked by the "Cebalrai", a two-headed Giganotosaurus. The beast jumps onto the platform and chases the trio down to the bottom of the platform. As Patrick runs, the Cebalrai slams its left head into him and tosses him into the wall, making him unable to reach his gun. Caren lures the creature toward her. Patrick tries to stop her, but a stomp of the Cebalrai's paw causes the platform Caren and the monster are standing on to collapse. Both Caren and the Cebalrai fall into the abyss - much to Patrick's dismay. After defeating another T. rex, Patrick and Sonya are able to escape before the ship self-destructs. But the Cebalrai, being able to survive in a vacuum, was able to get on the top of the shuttle. Patrick gets on top of the shuttle himself to destroy the "genetic freak" in a final battle.

Midway through the battle, the Cebalrai grows a third head, and Patrick is forced to use a "Final Wasp," which weakens the creature and sends it flying into space.

Characters

  • Patrick Tyler (Michael Yurchak) - A member of S.O.A.R., Patrick Tyler's strong sense of duty and natural charisma make him an asset to any operation. Trusted by the entire team, he boosts troop morale.[3]
  • Sonya Hart (Vanessa Marshall) - Another member of S.O.A.R., Sonya's cool and flawless actions make her appealing. Her single goal is completing missions.[3]
  • McCoy (Wally Wingert) - Not much is known of him. Patrick and Sonya find him running towards them, asking about the other team member's whereabouts. After he realizes he's been drooled on, an Australis pulls McCoy into the air and throws him into the wall, killing him. His last words, 'What is this?', are heard before the beast creeps up on him.
  • Cmndr. Jacob Ranshaw (Kevin Killebrew) - Jacob Ranshaw leads S.O.A.R.; His directness and bold decision-making abilities are critical to the operation. He's a fanatic about the safety of his troops. He is inevitably killed by Regulus, after its fight with Patrick. Jacob sacrifices himself, using a grenade to kill Regulus, though it fails.[3]
  • Caren Velázquez - Voice by (Shanelle Workman) - Apparently the sole survivor of the mysterious dinosaur outbreak. She also worked as a patrol officer in one of the ship's control hangars. Caren's appearance is shrouded in mystery throughout the game. She is first found by Patrick and is later discovered to be an android, with several other copies made by the M.T.H.R. 248. During a battle against the Cebalrai, she sacrifices herself to save Patrick, by making it fall on a loose platform.[3]
  • Captain Satoko Evans (Jasmin Paul) - The Captain of the Ozymandias. After the Ozymandias is affected with cosmic rays, the crew members began to die. During her last days she and the surviving crew members searched for animal DNA, and mixed it with their own. This was all by the captain's orders to M.T.H.R. 248, who then conducted a cloning process.
  • M.T.H.R. 248: The main antagonist of the game. This M.T.H.R. (voiced by Jasmin Paul) unit is a first generation model used on space vessels. She is also the ship's main computer system on board the Ozymandias. 300 years have passed since meeting a human being and she has gone mad. She considers the dinosaur-like creatures to be her 'children', due to the fact that she created them. Her last words were: 'I just wanted to complete my mission.'

Reception

Dino Crisis 3 received mixed reviews. IGN gave the game a 6.0, describing it as a missed-opportunity to advance the series, having been betrayed by minor, but repetitive faults.[15] GameSpot branded the game with a "Mediocre" 5.4, having found the game more "frustrating than [...] fun" due to its flaws, though finding the game to be enjoyable if ignored.[12]

The most common criticism was the camera system, which was named by IGN as "The Worst Camera Ever". The problem was due to the high speeds that the player can frequently travel at. As with the first two Dino Crisis titles and the early elements of the Resident Evil series, rooms in Dino Crisis 3 are separated into separate, invisible zones where the camera is set to change once the boundary is crossed. Because of the fast-moving jetpack, players would travel between those boundaries rapidly, with multiple camera changes leading to confusion as to where the player is supposed to be going, resulting in them inadvertently turning back. Because of the large size of zones and the long-range auto-aim system, IGN expected that players would spend 80% of their game to be firing at enemies that are out of their view and dodging attacks from off-screen.[15] GameSpot suggested that the game would be a lot more playable had the player been given the opportunity to, at the very least, move the angle of the camera.[12] GamePro was also frustrated by the camera stylization, saying that the "awkward" camera stopped the game from reaching the potential it could have had.[10]

There was some disappointment regarding the variety of the enemies: IGN counted only three non-boss enemies present in the game (Rigel; Regulus and Kornephoros, excluding the camouflaging variant of Regulus), though they did admire their unique designs, particularly for the Kornephoros. There was more support for the boss enemies, though, with IGN citing the key to victory being to avoid attacks rather than to simply shoot.[15] GamePro was disappointed by the enemies' entry into battles, with them literally appearing out of thin air.[10]

IGN was supportive of Capcom's decision to turn the Ozymandias into a giant puzzle, with the ship being able to routinely change formation. This puzzle method was compared to a jigsaw.[15] IGN also admired the uniqueness of the 50+ rooms within the Ozymandias, but questioned the decision to avoid such environments as a cafeteria or a mess hall, which would have made the ship feel more like it actually had a crew to begin with.[15] GameSpot saw little 'uniqueness' in the designs, noting the same shiny metallic look of the ship's interiors being everywhere and, without using the 3D map feature, it would be hard to get lost when moving around (partly because of the camera system).[12] The 3D map, itself, while helpful to some, was also considered to be an "arduous process" to use.[10]

The voice acting was thought to be of reasonable quality, which IGN felt to be 'surprising' for a Japanese game using English-speaking actors. They did note down the presence of "corny" dialogue, though.[15] GameSpot considered it to be a "passable" B-grade, in comparison.[12] Other aspects of the sound design, such as the score and sound effects, were also found to be good or "passable"; they were criticised for being limited and repetitive in rooms, however.[15]

GameTrailers included the game in a "Top Ten Worst Sequels" feature, stating that "[i]t's a good sign you have an abysmal sequel when its developer respectfully declines to follow it up." [1]

References

  1. ^ "Production Studio 4" (in Japanese). Capcom Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on February 6, 2005.
  2. ^ "IGN: Dino Crisis 3". IGN.com. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  3. ^ a b c d Official website
  4. ^ "Dino Crisis 3 for Xbox". GameRankings. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  5. ^ "Dino Crisis 3 for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  6. ^ Edge staff (September 2003). "Dino Crisis 3". Edge (127).
  7. ^ "Dino Crisis 3". Electronic Gaming Monthly (172): 152. October 2003.
  8. ^ Reed, Kristan (2003-11-04). "Dino Crisis 3 Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  9. ^ "Dino Crisis 3". Game Informer (126): 135. October 2003.
  10. ^ a b c d Major Mike (2003-09-16). "Dino Crisis 3 Review for Xbox from GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2005-02-09. Retrieved 2013-12-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Ferris, Duke (October 2003). "Dino Crisis 3 Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  12. ^ a b c d e Shoemaker, Brad (September 18, 2003). "Dino Crisis 3 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  13. ^ Meston, Zach (2003-09-20). "GameSpy: Dino Crisis 3". GameSpy. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  14. ^ Bedigian, Louis (2003-09-28). "Dino Crisis 3 - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2013-12-21. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Goldstein, Hilary (September 16, 2003). "Dino Crisis 3 Review". IGN. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  16. ^ "Review: Dino Crisis 3". Official Xbox Magazine: 118. November 2003.
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