Jurassic Park: Trespasser

Even if this game could be better in so many ways, i think it's actually quite OK. I remember when i first heard about it when i was a kid, i loved Jurassic Park back then and i still do, so i thought what wouldn't be better than a game.

Anyway i played it and i realized that i'm all alone, in all Jurassic movies, are there anyone alone? no. The game-play would be cooler if you had some other people with you, to build up the tense. If you are alone you know what's gonna happen....

This was the first game though to use the Ragdoll physics. Explanation: Take Counter Strike for an example, the characters just falls down in an already made up animation, which constantly creates several bugs like the corpse lying in the air or through the wall. The rag doll physic simply let the animated character's function just to stop working, if a character dies it will land in a random position. This function had some negative responses first but now almost every new game has it.

Anyway forget about that for a moment, if you love Jurassic Park, then do me a favor, Don't play this game nor see Jurassic Park III

Steven Spielberg (who is a bit of a computer-game geek)one day got the brilliant idea to making a PC game, based on his 2. Great Jurassic Park movie. But he told his company Dreamworks that the game needed to be good! The dinosaurs in it should move like they did in his movies, react to object and each other, they should be able to fight each other, and be affected to realistic gravity (never before seen back then). The game also needed to be called Trespasser. The programmers worked on Trespasser for about twice the time, a PC game normally took to finish. When the game finally finished, it was as many had feared. Steven's dream game was simply impossible to fully complete, although there was beautiful nature and detailed sound effects, the game just did not work well. The dino's should have been smart and realistic, but because of all the things Steven wanted them to do, they seemed stupid as..(biip)..: They tripped over their own feet every 5th step they took, they ran into walls, and suddenly ignored you. All the things in the game that should have been bigger and better than other games was not done right, Dreamworks simply did not have the technology to create it fully. So the game did not sell very well... BUT! The many steps forward Dreamworks had made in the process, opened doors to whole new opportunities that others could use, Dreamworks had actually helped others make better games. Many game creators has since then given Dreamworks the credit for their own work, and has explained how Trespasser helped them achieve better games. So even though Trespasser was a failure, Steven once again showed that he could push technology a little further, only this time, almost nobody knew.

(8/10 for a boring but revolutionary game)

For those of you who don't know, Trespasser is a PC Game which came out in 1998, made by Dreamworks, released one year after Steven Spielberg's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park". Its basically a spin-off of TLW, its about a girl named Anne (voiced by Minnie Driver) who crash lands on Isla Sorna, and now she has to go through 8 levels of intense dino attacks, wicked terrains, challenging tasks and puzzels, its a good game if your into kiling dinos with all sorts of guns and rifles, and if you like Jurassic Park of course. I give it a 8 out of 10, because the game could have been better.

You can either love this game or hate it. If you are impatient, inaccurate, if you know only present computer graphic - don't even try. The game was (and still is) just revolutionary in some aspects. The realism level is wonderful. No controls, indicators, panels, journals, character development trees and so on. It is just YOU (I mean, Anna) and the world. You interact with surrounding world like... well, like in a world. You can see what you would really see. You can use your arm like in the real world. The problem is in controlling the arm: it is a bit difficult to learn. In most FPS games you just point, press the button and kill a 1000 of bad guys. But here you have to get a real skill before you win. That is why some people after 30 min of trying start to think it is a lousy game. Well, it is not the game which is lousy here. Once you learn how to move and interact, the game will become perfect (well, with some bugs). You sneak from tree to tree trying to survive, feeling raptor's eyes on your neck. Of course for some people it is "boring", because you don't get to shoot 100 opponents per minute. It was the first game featuring a real physical interactions between objects (from rag dolls to catching and throwing objects), the real-time-generated sound effects, the inverse kinematics, etc. Generally, it was the most ambitious video game in the history, but during developing it was too much pressed by time and funds. That is why you have to admire it's greatness through the clouds of removed and unfinished attractions. I would really like to see it in it's full glory, without bugs, with all the features which were planned, but could not be included.

Trespasser is one of the most under-rated games ever. When it was first released back in 1998, it got many bad reviews. The problem is, people did not look into the game in enough detail. There are MANY secrets in Trespasser that will make you never look at Jurassic Park the same way again.

Many aspects continue to thrill me and makes me wonder, "How were they capable of doing that in 1998?" Firstly, you can't help but be impressed by the A.I in the game. These dinosaurs think like animals! For example, if you shoot one, it may become scared and run away or on the other hand it could decide to attack. And since every dinosaur in the game is randomized with A.I, it makes the game play unique and exciting every time you play it!

Also, one can't help but be impressed by the physics engine. Things move very realistically and move differently depending on how hard you hit them. Even the dinosaurs react the environment very well. Speaking of the environment, this game has possible the most detailed jungle ever created for a game.

I was often delighted with the musical score in this game. When I saw two Brachiosaurs, a huge theme erupted and took me back to the first Brachiosaurus scene in Jurassic Park. Also sometimes the score could be very scary and make you wonder what is around the corner... Even some of the scenes were thought up by none other than Steven Spielberg himself. Knowing that fact alone is enough for me to buy the game!

Unfortunately this game is very hard to find. But if you do see a copy, I suggest you buy it straight away. If you like Jurassic Park then you will certainly enjoy the digital sequel to The Lost World.