Everyone that follows or knows me might know that I'm a huge Dinosaur nerd and I'm also a huge fan of the Resident Evil franchise. What do you get when you combine these two things, correct Dino Crisis. Because of that I always wanted to play Dino Crisis for years but for some reason my Dino Crisis 1(PC) Version doesn't let me save my progress. Then I tried to play Dino Crisis 2 and luckily I can save my progress in this game. So here we are and the first thing that I noticed quickly is that Dino Crisis 2 isn't a survival horror game in the style of the Resident Evil like the first Dino Crisis was. It's more of a arcade like game and the majority of the game comes down to mowing down hoards of dinosaurs this may sound repetitive but the game manages to stay interesting by frequently giving you new weapons to fight all kinds of prehistoric reptiles like Raptors, Oviraptors which are your main enemies but you will also encounter Allosaurus, Triceratops and even Marine Reptiles like Plesiosaurus or Mosasaurs. I was surprised that Dino Crisis 2 even included lesser known prehistoric animals like Inostrancevia. Yes, I said "prehistoric animals" on purpose because Inostrancevia, Mosasaurus, Plesiosaurus and Pteranodon aren't Dinosaurs but this was just the Dinosaur-Nerd in me getting the upper hand. Visually the game is still beautiful if you consider when it was released and same can be said about the surprisingly good looking cutscenes.
The controls are arguably the best and most responsive tank controls which is necessary for the arcade like gameplay. Dino Crisis 2 also throws in a few rail-shooting segments which were extremely fun and a a nice change of pace. All in all I really enjoyed this game, it's not hard to beat because of it's focus on action and the arcade like gameplay that rewards you for high combos. I would have like a bigger focus on survival horror but thanks to the genre shift Dino Crisis 2 manages to create it's own identity. Yes the story is nothing special, still the big variety of enemies, weapons and set pieces made the gameplay very entertaining. But the water segment can go fuck itself. Now Capcom, please give us a remake of Dino Crisis 1.

Games I finished in 2024 Ranked

Classic, classic, classic. It was one of my favorite Capcom games for a long time, and replaying it after so long reminds me why.

Addressing the elephant in the room first, yes, it's not survival horror in the style of the REs and the first Dino Crisis, but I don't find that to be such a problem in the case of DC2. On the contrary, I think the series gains even more of its own identity and becomes something with its own style, it's a pity it was never replicated.

Visually, it's one of the most beautiful games of its generation, the controls are the best and most responsive tank controls out there, and the combo system and item purchasing probably make it my favorite arcade-like game. The way the game flows is incredible too, definitely the best pacing in the genre, and even the minigames here are fun and engaging. A significant and quite impressive leap in quality considering the first game's quality.

It's full of variety in enemies and scenarios as well, in weapons, in everything. And even though you control two characters, you never feel like it's bloated, it's setpiece after setpiece, cutscene after cutscene, gauntlet after gauntlet. You could almost call the game survival action or something like that. Few things in games are as satisfying as taking down Raptors with the Solid Cannon, Plesiosaurus and Pteranodon with the Missile Pod, and Inostrancevia with the Anti-Tank Rifle.

It's a shame it doesn't have an item mixing system like the first game, that's the thing I miss the most from the first one. I can understand the removal of the puzzles since some of the puzzles in the first game can be confusing.

And it's also a shame Dino Crisis didn't become another branch of Capcom's survival games; Dino Crisis 2 is the best game they made during that time and in that style.