17-Aug-2002 These monsters have teeth! But they don't bite much! Oh These monsters have teeth! But they don't bite much! Oh
Dino Stalker is best described as Jurassic Park crossed with Time Crisis, with a dash of Quake. As US WWII pilot Mike Wired, you have just narrowly escaped death at the hands of a German ace, only to face T-Rexes with teeth the size of spears.
The best way to down these lethal lizards is using the G-Con2, shooting at the screen to fire off Mike's sniper pistol and using the Dpad on the G-Con's grip to move freely through the lush environments. It's tricky at first, especially when you're trying to sidestep a Raptor at the same time as taking aim at his bonce, but it gets easier with practice - too easy in fact?
SURVIVOR SKILLS Since this is the third in the Gun Survivor series, you should be familiar with the controls. The GunCon-2 handles Mike's movement through the world with its built-in Dpad, while strafing left or right is handled by the A and B buttons. It's also possible to zoom in, sniper-style, by pressing the A and B buttons together.
In some ways it successfully mimics a first-person shooter, but with the advantage of holding a gun instead of a mouse. Thing is, you can't choose to look up or down as this is handled automatically in reaction to situations. In fact, the control system is as cumbersome as it is uncomfortable. You might have a vision of rushing through jungles, popping caps into dino ass. The reality is a slow-moving, occasionally disorientating trial that you only suffer because it looks so cool.
DOOMED TO EXTINCTION You'd expect the odds to be against you in a prehistoric tropical face-off with fear incarnate. So you feel let down as soon as you see that all the shotguns, rocket launchers, missile launchers, miniguns, plasma cannons, grenade launchers and tazers are in plentiful supply. It's like shooting at tortoises (albeit really fast ones) with a Magnum. Another apparent bonus is that health supplies are never far away. So even if you are blown away by some of the clever set pieces Capcom has worked into the game, your mind starts wandering because there isn't much of a threat.
Paul Davies
// Overview
Verdict
A spectacular cinch of a game whose eight levels of potential terror are too easily massacred. Better suited to the arcade.
There are eight stages and encounters with bosses happen regularly throughout. Quite inventive they are too, with their cunning tactics, and that's in addition to hiding their weak spots.
The Carnotaurus is one of the first bosses you'll meet
Imagine if Jeff Goldblum had had a rocket launcher in Jurassic Park...
The Triceratops' hide is tough, so explode the barrels to defeat him
Trinity is a psychic dino who summons his Raptor buddies
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