Dino Crisis is more than "Resident Evil with dinosaurs" – it shaped survival horror as we know it

"This is just like that movie." In a game filled with goofball B-movie dialogue, this knowing line, uttered by operative Rick when it starts raining Raptors, is easily the best – and the most genuine. It's a matter of record that the game's director Shinji Mikami was directly inspired by Jurassic Park, but perhaps surprisingly, it was Michael Crichton's original novel rather than Steven Spielberg's adaptation that provided the key influence. Specifically, the scene where Alan Grant and friends visit the Raptor enclosure and witness the creatures hunting in packs.

Mikami has commented that, in the novel, the scene is written from the characters' perspective, at eye level, whereas in the movie it's shown from above, a place of relative safety. It was the former approach, and the primordial fear it instilled in Mikami – the fear of being prey – that gave birth to Dino Crisis.

A resident evil

The game follows in the footsteps of the earliest entries on the Resident Evil timeline, featuring that familiar mix of action, exploration, puzzle solving and inventory management.

But damn, those Raptors take things up a notch. The setting is a high-tech research facility on the remote Ibis Island and by the time the game starts, Raptors are already roaming the corridors. They're far more formidable than Resident Evil's zombies, chasing you down at speed and killing you with a couple of bites.

Worse, the bullets from your standard handgun seem to bounce off their scaly skin, and when you do down them, they jump right back up! Even worse, they can knock your gun out of your hands, leaving you defenceless. Worse still, you can't just leg it through a door like in Resident Evil, as the clever buggers follow you from room to room. To redress the balance, the facility features a number of anti-dino measures, such as laser gates and sprinkler systems which you can use to stop/stun them.

Thanks to its survival horror trappings and signature tank controls, Dino Crisis can't shake the 'Resident Evil with dinosaurs' label. But it did move things forward by introducing features that would become commonplace in the genre.

It added the quick 180-degree turn, a life-saving move that was quickly lifted for Resident Evil 3. You could also walk with your weapon raised, poised to fire – a feature which would become standard in later RE games.

Greater emphasis on crafting was trialled here too. Pick-ups could be mixed to create healing items (like RE's herbs), and it was also possible to craft new ammo, specifically different types of tranquilliser dart. These darts would briefly incapacitate enemies, but with the right ingredients, you could concoct an insta-death poison dart.

Clearly, the main change was the new visual style, which dropped pre-rendered backgrounds in favour of a 3D graphics engine. The camera was not free-roaming but rather 'directed', in that it moved along fixed paths. This meant it could pan, tilt and track to follow the player's movements. The system was showcased in an early chase scene, where you're running towards the camera and you can see a Raptor gaining on you from behind.

It was also used to provide some effective dino point-of-view shots and overall the whole experience was more cinematic than the traditional RE games. The consequence of this approach is that locations were relatively bland, being limited to nondescript corridors and fence-enclosed yards, which impacted on the overall atmosphere.

When it came to the level of challenge, the game was more in tune with the original RE than its sequel. This meant a lack of resources, a healthy amount of backtracking and some rather devious puzzles to solve. In contrast, there was only one playable character in Regina, but there were several branching moments where you chose to side with either cool Rick or ice-cold Gail.

And your choices led to three separate endings – where the common factor was you finally toppled the Tyrannosaurus Rex (what else?) that served as the game's recurring 'boss'. Plus, if you clocked the game in less than five hours you unlocked Operation Wipe Out, a fun The Mercenaries-style minigame.

Dino Crisis was a solid package and it reviewed well when released, first in Japan, in July 1999, followed by the rest of the world in the autumn. In the UK, Edge magazine awarded the game 8/10 and praised the changes to the RE formula. "Dino Crisis is a very different beast. Mikami has crafted a more thoughtful experience this time, [it's] tactical tension rather than survival horror."

CVG's Alex Huhtala offered a similar opinion in his 5/5 review. "Rather than another retread of Racoon City, Dino Crisis feels like a different game with familiar elements. When it's done this well few will complain. The dinosaurs are incredible and make the Jurassic Park games look pathetic in comparison."

In a contrasting view, the dinosaurs gave IGN's Doug Perry some cause for concern. "With essentially four kinds of dinos in the game, once you've seen them all much of the thrill is gone," he commented in a generally glowing 9.2/10 review. "Adding to that, the game is filled with what seems like 90% Raptors. Another complaint – these dinosaurs simply aren't as cool, scary, or creepy as zombies."

Dino conversion

The original PlayStation version went on to sell 2.4 million copies worldwide – an impressive number, but less than half what Resident Evil 2 managed.

Still, it was enough to greenlight conversions to the Dreamcast and PC in 2000. The Dreamcast version was a straight port that didn't tap the console's extra power, although the resolution was doubled to 640x480 for an overall improved (though softer) look.

It probably didn't help that it was released after Resident Evil Code: Veronica, the original Dreamcast entry that evolved the 3D graphics of Dino Crisis. The PC version offered up the same resolution bump and added a couple of bonuses – the Operation Wipe Out minigame and the three unlockable costumes were available from the off, and when you started the main game you could choose between two modes: the 'Original' Japanese version, where item placement was different and the difficulty was slightly toned down, and the 'Arrange' version that was released in the West.

Back on PlayStation, Dino Crisis 2 followed in 2000 and was more action focussed with a silly time-travelling plot (the lush jungle setting required a return to pre-rendered backgrounds, which felt like a backwards step). If the sequel's story jumped the shark, Dino Crisis 3 nuked the fridge, being set in the future aboard a spaceship and featuring jetpacks and two-headed alien dinos. This 2003 entry was an Xbox exclusive and it's honestly best forgotten.

The same can't be said about the original game – despite Capcom's attempts to seemingly do just that. It was added to the PlayStation Store in 2006, making it playable on PS3, PSP and PS Vita, but it wouldn't be until 2024 that it was made available to download on PS4 and PS5. Outside of PlayStation, the first two games finally arrived on GOG.com in January this year, sporting some welcome visual fixes.

Is Capcom whetting our appetite for a full-blown remake? At the time of writing, nothing official has been announced, but it's surely just a matter of time – particularly as a new Jurassic World movie is on the horizon. Dino Crisis Rebirth, anyone?

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