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DINOSAUR KING Posted by Alec Hilton on Sep 30, 2008 19:54 (Sep 30, 2008 19:54) |
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Game spin-offs from Japanese Saturday cartoon series seem the norm these days with Nintendo’s Pokémon and Bandi’s Digimon foremost in my mind, so here is Sega’s offering into the genre. Dinosaur King is based on the same original idea as Pokémon in that it originated as a trading and battle card game but has since grown into a television series and now the somewhat inevitable videogame.
The principal notion is so childish and simple that kids will lap it up by their droves; the main characters called Max and Rex are helping out at the Dinosaur Research Lab named D-Lab when a major breakthrough is discovered in reanimating the extinct reptiles. A special gun called the Dinoshot, has been invented allowing the Dinos to be cloned from their fossils and converted into cards (the process of which is not actually explained) then loaded into the Dinoshot and fired back into existence. As is the norm for these kinds of kid orientated games this is where the bad guys turn-up and does something he shouldn’t be doing, which in turn causes the start of the adventure. This time it is the malicious Alpha Gang who want to use dinosaurs to rule the world. Alpha Gang lead by the insane Dr. Z steal one of the prototype Dinoshots, leading the D-Lab to send Max or Rex (depending on who you choose) out to uncover dinosaurs and retrieve the Dinoshot.
 From this point the game splits up into two sections, the first sees you moving around different locations across the world investigating Alpha Gang by quizzing the locals and while at each town visiting the local D-lab to analyse any fossils found, trade with any Non-playable Characters in the building and manage your collection of Dinosaurs and inventory.The other section of the game is where most of the fun and also unfortunately where the most problems are. This section of the game is something that you’re perhaps more used to if you have played any of the Pokémon games where you wander around the game world battling other Dinoshot users and generally exploring the world that is laid out in front of you to tackle your main objective. Moreover you have some great little side quests and mini-games to play as well in this section. Throughout the adventure you need to expand your collection of battling Dinos through some strangely spontaneous amounts of archaeology, only by using a special radar system that searches under the ground for fossils then equipping your drill to tunnel out your discovered dino fossil. Once you uncover a fossil you need to go back to the nearest D-Lab to take part in an archaeological mini-game to crack open your new Dino. What you need to do is use the touch screen to tap away at the encrusted stone to reveal the skeleton underneath as well as occasionally blowing into the DS mic to clear any dust away, the catch to make things a bit harder is that you need to uncover the skeleton in a set amount of time, the more of the skeleton your clear the better you Dinosaur will be, so if you uncover the whole body then you gain a rare breed.
The battles in this game are very much like what you would expect from this kind of game, with random encounters happening every few seconds, though this can really get on your nerves after a while. The battle layout is a one-on-one duel with three options of attack, but the twist is these are dealt through a school playground game of Rock, Paper and Scissors. This is really the flaw in the battle system, it works to a point and there is the randomness of the Rock, Paper, Scissors element, but unfortunately it is a little too random and at the later points in the game there is really no way to tell what is coming next, which just means that you end up getting frustrated and spending hours trying to beat a single opponent. The good thing is that at the beginning of the game there is a hint system and even though this takes any challenge out of the game, it does mean that at least you have a good chance of beating your enemy’s dinosaur.
In battle the graphics changes from the normal top-down world view of 2D to a fully animated 3D world with the two giant lizards taking centre stage to fight it out. Each of the creature’s moves are animated in there own way too, unlike that of Pokémon where the same sprite is used to show pretty much every move.
The ideas behind Dinosaur King are good and there are quite a few well thought out concepts, like that of digging fossils to add to your collection. Also the uses of the DS functions are well done and involving. But the colossal mess up of the battle system makes this game some what of a hazard unless you’re well versed in similar games. If you new to this genre then your probably better off starting with a game such as Pokémon, rather than this.
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