A real curveball from Dino Crisis 1, but a darn fun one. When I fired it up I was very confused since I was expecting to continue the trend of the first game with minimal dinosaurs, limited ammo, and mostly trying to avoid conflict. I literally had to google it to make sure I was correct in understanding this was now a full-on action game. Once I got over that hurdle, this game was a blast. Felt like a proto-Resident Evil 4, and the run-and-gun nature was cool. The story got a little loopy, but I still had fun.

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

Gostei mais da continuação que do original, o original apesar de ter uma ambientação quase que única nos videogames (aquele clima de jurrasic park) tem diversos problemas ao meu ver por tentar simular resident evil, já esse, apesar dos pesares, personagens rasos, level design ainda sendo um pouco abaixo do normal, é um dos melhores jogos de ação do PS, como disse, o jogo começa lento pelos controles "tankies", a tua arma é fraca, e o level design como dito, pouco atrativo, mas, conforme se vai pegando novas armas, se torna altamente prazeroso joga-lo, destruir os mais diversos tipos de dino, a história é meio galhofa mas okay para seu ano, no fim, recomendo jogar, um dos melhores e mais divertidos jogos de ação do PS.

Had good memories of playing this game with my brother, we played both this and the previous game a lot but that one ended up filtering us and we only finished this one, it was a good time. In the years since I ended up finally being able to defeat Dino Crisis 1 and started replaying the fuck out of it but had not touched this one since, so it was interesting to go back finally.

There's a lot of cool gameplay ideas in this game, it starts on a very strong note showing you the more arcadey action oriented gameplay with intense music playing on the background. As you clear rooms with big combos you get rewarded with points that you can spend on a lot of cool gadgets. You get rewarded even more if you clear rooms without taking damage (but only if you get a big enough kill count on the way). Moment to moment gameplay is very satisfying... but the game honestly kinda fails to really take advantage of it?
Like for one, you're juggling 2 different characters with completely different arsenals, weapons are quite expensive and the game kinda forces you to spend your points on some weapons that are extremely situational in combat but mandatory to clear some obstacles that only show up in like 2 rooms at most.
You don't really get free choice either, as new weapons unlock in the shop only as you progress the story, a story that happens to be extremely short too (like seriously, this replay of a game I hadn't seen in almost 20 years took me less time to beat than my most recent replay of Dino Crisis 1, which I have completely memorized), so by the time you have access to some of the coolest stuff, the game is basically over already anyway.
There's a lot of gimmick sections too where you don't have access to your regular loadout either so the time you spend with the stuff you spent all your points on is even shorter.
It also just occurred to me that not a single one of the "boss fights" require use of your regular arsenal either, it's all just interacting with the environment (or the underwater fight that uses the underwater only gun).
And all that would be probably fine if the game had ng+ options or something, but if you start again from a cleared save file, you're completely naked once again, nothing carries over.
Also, weirdly enough, there's quite a few times during the game where no music plays at all, not even more atmospheric stuff like what DC1 plays at all times, which makes some actiony areas really dull.

As for other stuff, I feel like the characters don't have nearly as much personality as the previous cast, Dylan is kinda boring as hell and Regina has a much more reduced role in this. There's a couple other important characters too but they barely show up so you have no time whatsoever to really get to know em. The story is nonsense lol, and the climax comes out of nowhere and it just ends. Visually the game is really nice to look at tho, prerendered jungle is cool as heck and some cutscenes have this cool filter over em that makes em look real nice.
Finished the game feeling extremely underwhelmed honestly...

Esse jogo é perfeito, ele supera em muito o primeiro, ele deixou de lado a ideia de copiar a jogabilidade do Resident Evil, e encontrou a própria identidade, o sistema de pontuações para comprar armas e upgrades foi uma decisão muito assertiva, deixou o jogo muito mais dinâmico, a jogabilidade é fluida, os gráficos são muitos bonitos até para a época, com cenários rodando a luz do dia, indo contra os sempre cenários noturnos de outros jogos do gênero, trilha sonora maravilhosa, mas, o maior ponto positivo é a historia, emocionante demais, o final me pega demais até hoje.

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.

Overall, I found Dino Crisis to be a decent PS1 survival horror game but one of my main gripes was that it didn't justifiy its title or concept with how few dinosaurs there actually are and the journey often felt a little stale because of it. Luckily, the same can't be said about Dino Crisis 2 since you fight more dinosaurs in the first 5 mins here than you would in all of DC1 and it makes the game so much more memorable.

Gone is the mixed bag of survival horror elements and in their place is action-packed arcadey fun and I much prefer this approach. The gameplay loop here is incredibly addicting. The vast majority of the game boils down to mowing down hoards of dinosaurs room to room which may sound repetitive but the game manages to keep things fresh with constantly giving you new weapons to play around with and the game has a healthy amount of set pieces to keep things fresh though they're hit and miss, I particularly liked the rail-shooting segments but the underwater segment can go fuck itself. It's a very easy game and it's nearly impossible to not be fully stocked up on healing items with how dirt cheap they are, but that's fine, since the fun part isn't beating it but rather, enjoyment from going for high scores, getting your combo meter up and getting those No Damage bonuses which shower you with points if you're able to get them.

A lot of issues I had with DC1 are rectified here. There's greater weapon and enemy variety (some are annoying though like the Inostrancevia), the arduous mixing system is gone and areas are much more open so there is no point where dinosaurs body block you from moving forward like they did in DC1. You also keep the files and memos you read with you so it's easier to get a grasp on the story and thanks to it, I can say, with confidence, that this story is some stupid ass shit. I didn't really care for it all that much and I found Dylan to just be whatever compared to Gail and Rick, but when you get all the revelations in the last 5 mins of the game, I can't lie, it makes it all worth it through how batshit insane it is.

Unlike DC1, the game uses pre-rendered backgrounds and I'd say visually it's a slight visual stepdown because of it, and the fixed camera often obscures the enemies from your view which spawn anytime the angle changes. With that said, this is basically the perfect sequel. It overhauls the series and puts it into a genre which is more harmonic with its concept and gives it a much needed sense of identity while mending most of the shortcomings of the first game. S'good

Finally finished this masterpiece on Twitch, and I have to say, it was the most fun experience ever.
Even though I had a doubt that it will meet my expectations, because of the doubts i was having because of the whole change of the graphics and textures, but I got totally proven wrong.
It's an amazing game, that feels like an arcade game with all the point system and all the different weaponary choices you can pick from with all the points you have gathered from killing dinos, it's very action-like just because of the whole dynamic with the dinos, and we have different types of dinosaurs and even dinowiki about them with information about the creatures and how we could kill them easily sometimes.
I like the story. It's much more on surface level then the first one I felt like, even though the premise does feel a lot more harder than the first game.
It's so sad that from the ending point of the game after this the game wasn't built upon anymore, but I'll always remember Regina and Dylan, and i'll never forget the great time I had while playing with them!

Everything is interesting about this game.
The music, very much exciting, especially the guitar solo at the credits,
The characters, very much filled with personality and power, of course i can't just overlook the most underrated DUO ever- Regina and Dylan, AND MY BOY DAVID, WHO DESERVED MORE SCREEN TIME T_T,
The cutscenes, very impressive, I was so glad I could see more cutscenes from this game,
The combat system, very pleasing, it was sometimes rather annoying when dinos are popping out of everywhere, and it felt like it was rather simple to get a lot of points, which means it totally lacks the survival horror perspective of it, since I didn't feel like there is any threat of me going out of bullets or anything of this sort- like it was in the previous game. Which isn't actually a minus, of course, since I had fun just blasting the creatures and try to not get hit so I can get even extra points.

It was a fun experience, I just wish that there was a game showing us how Regina came back to Dylan ;____;
Also I just saw now how much time it took me to finish a 3 hour game.... I should really make a better schedule for future games, LOL

Went on something of a nostalgia trip recently and this is a special one for me.

This is one of the first games I remember finishing.

So many little moments of it stand out too. I was a dinosaur kid and loved encoutering all the different species as you went along.

Never played the first and my understanding was this was the last good one in the series.

I don't really have much intention of playing the first one, but hey. Never say never. Until then this reamins a sweet little nostalgic nugget from childhood.

Not gonna mince words, Dino Crisis 1 was a very paint by the numbers survival horror, which is funny given the talent behind it. The corridors of Ibis Island were bland and sterile and the dinosaurs lacked much variety in action and how they attempt to scare and put you on edge; the puzzles similarly lacked in execution and mostly fell into same-y computer and moving box puzzles. At the very least there are some interesting threads in the world and the crafting and narrative branching systems lend to some interesting pathways, but those aspects were few and far between. I was very surprised that this was the game people kept going on about and begging for a remake, which it still fully deserves. Maybe a modern take could flesh out the missed potential and give Regina the respect she deserves, and I didn't have much confidence going into the second game and was ready to write it off like the first...and yet.

Dino Crisis 2 rules. Rather than expanding upon the c-tier survival horror approach of the first game, Dino Crisis 2 completely shifts away from that approach and becomes a full on arcade action game and I generally believe it is better off in this zone and way more mechanically satisfying. This change in style might ward off those that enjoyed the puzzles, narrative and the "panic horror", and even going in this change should be a complete mess, but it's not. Oh no, I really enjoyed Dino Crisis 2 in all its stupid dumb fun and glory of an 80s action flick.

Rather than planning out routes and approaching tight spaces with threatening creatures, it's all guns blazing and killing dinosaurs in much more open arenas with Regina and new playable partner Dylan. The potential monotony is addressed well with the introduction of several mechanics and systems: the new Extinction Points system to buy resources, weapons and upgrades, the incorporation of Combo points through killing dinosaurs in precise successive fashion, and even clearing out and progressing through areas without taking damage. There's vastly more weapons available to use and each new option are sick in design and feeling while mowing down enemies and they are pretty worthwhile to invest in. The introduction of different species spices up the lack of variety issue in DC1 and prevent the encounters from feeling too mindless for awhile at least.

While encounters generally felt fun to engage with through and through, some frustrations came up from time to time due to turning lag, leading to getting jumped by numerous enemies all at once when trying to avoid or run away. The game does throw a near endless spawn of enemies which makes combat a bit more intense, though it can be overbearing when playing as Dylan versus Regina with their different loadouts prioritizing close combat and medium/long distance respectively. Backtracking is a huge annoyance with how much the game wants you to run back and forth between the base and other areas of the map. I enjoy the expanded map and level design though outside of that primary issue and there's way more interesting locales offered here compared to the first like an underwater transport section with Regina later in the game.

The arcade-y approach overall is addictive and feels more distinctive compared to what the first entry was trying to accomplish and I feel more interested in completing multiple runs. A modern remake would be great with adding in the advancements made by Resident Evil 4 and onwards and giving more Regina screentime, but that obviously won't sell as much as a Resident Evil 5 Remake.

I did not know what to think as I played this game. Not only do I not recognise some of these characters, but the game play has taken a turn, going from being like Resident Evil to a far more action-intense game. Reflected more in regards to respawning enemies and a points system to buy supplies that you need.

However, this difference doesn't make it bad and there's still an interesting mystery going on too in regards to the humanoids seen in the shadows.

Can't remember too much beyond this, which I guess I'll leave as a surprise for you if you choose to look into it, but I wouldn't hold it against you if you didn't.

Stream + gameplay