Mega Drive Movie Based Platformers Double Header: Jurrasic Park vs Toy Story

Game: Jurassic Park
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: BlueSky Software
Release Date: 28th August 1993

Games based on movies are almost always a recipe for disaster. Whether they follow the plot too closely, or not at all, it can be hard to make a good gameplay experience out of a big screen blockbuster. Jurassic Park is no exception to this rule, making for a short yet almost unplayable game in places, which lacks many features that most decent games have. You're allowed to play as either Dr. Grant or a Raptor, both of which have their own set of levels, although the goal for both characters is to get them to the end of each level to start the next one.

Playing as the raptor there are 5 levels in total, The Jungle, Power Station, Pumphouse, Canyon, and finally the Visitor Centre. The raptor is able to attack guards or jump onto them to kill them. There's also a super jump which allows the raptor to get to platforms which would be unreachable otherwise. In all of the raptor's levels it's difficult to jump where you want to go because the controls are imprecise, and being hit by anything will knock you backwards. There are also places where you'll need to drop down without being able to see what's below, usually resulting in instantaneous deaths.

Playing as Dr. Grant you'll move a lot slower than the raptor, and instead of being able to jump on enemies to kill them, you're given a variety of firearms and weapons to take down the dinosaurs in your path. There are 7 levels to complete with the doctor, which include all of the raptor levels and those of the River, and Volcano. In the river level you're tasked with guiding a raft (which is low on fuel) down river, whilst avoiding dinosaurs and collecting cans of fuel to power the raft. What's striking here is that the river is animated as if it's flowing quickly, yet if you run out of fuel your raft will move incredibly slowly.

Both sets of levels seem to be designed fairly poorly with many instances of being expected to drop down to a lower level whilst blind to the risks. When the levels are able to be completed, they're short and not particularly interesting and when they're not, there's parts which are seemingly impossible to beat. The storyline parallels that of the film I assume, although it seems to take some liberties. Overall the gameplay and overall control isn't that enjoyable whatsoever.

Although a little dark in places, the game is impressive graphically and features nice variation in its levels as well as detailed surroundings. The characters and dinosaurs in particular are easily recognisable and border or frightening in cutscenes. The music of the game is enjoyable and probably its best feature, with tunes that enhance the levels on which they're featured. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the sound effects; every time Dr. Grant lands, he makes a sound as if he's hurt although no damage to him occurs. The dinosaur sounds are decent, however.

Overall as a video game this feels like just another lazy movie tie in; it's not enjoyable as a platformer, nor as a Jurrasic Park game, as the controls, gameplay and level design are all lacking in several places. The graphics and music of the game improve the experience a little but there's nothing that could bring the overall standard up high enough to call this game a good experience. It's especially disappointing that this game is so bad when you consider that Blue Sky Software also produced Vectorman for the Mega Drive which is often considered a classic.

Rating: 45/100
Grade: D

Game: Toy Story
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Traveler's Tales
Release Date: 26th April 1996

In contrast to Jurassic Park's mediocre conversion from big screen to videogame comes Toy Story, also for the Mega Drive. The game's plot follows that of the film closely, featuring cutscenes inbetween each level to explain why you have to do the task ahead of you. In every level you play as Woody, although other toys (including Buzz later in the game) are able to help you. Most of the game's levels are platform based with enemies and obstacles to be avoided, but there's also some levels which change up the formula.

On each level of the game you're given 5 chances to be hit before losing a life, and three lives before a continue is lost. Although this may seem like an excessive amount of chances, there's a lot of levels where the lives completely necessary to even think about winning. With 19 fairly short levels overall, the game is a good length and it's possible to complete in one sitting.

Inventive takes on the platforming concept included in the game include a level where you're tasked with returning toys to the toybox, and under the bed before Andy comes back into his room, a fairly standard but well designed level inside of a grabber machine with many moving parts and obstacles, and a level where you're attempting to navigate your way through a restaurant under a branded fast food cup, avoiding falling food, drinks and concealing yourselves before children see a moving toy.

Levels which aren't based on platforming include an overhead driving level where the player must navigate RC (the remote control car) through a course collecting power cells and ultimately knocking Buzz out of window, a level with a first person viewpoint almost like that of Doom where Woody must navigate a maze, collecting alien toys and returning them to their friends, and a Super Mario Kart-esque driving level chasing the moving van.

Controlwise the platforming levels are almost perfect, it's usually easy to achieve whatever you're trying to do and the only real problems come from attempting to use the lasso or trying to jump onto things rather than past them. The Doom style level presents the most problems in terms of control although it's not unplayable. As it's only one level the game can be forgiven for this, it's a nice change of pace anyway. In the driving levels there's levels featuring both the view from above and behind; one level where the view is above doesn't have enough field of view to see what's coming at you and is fairly frustrating.

The difficulty of this game is very high in places, especially platforming levels with many enemies. There are a couple of levels where you're tasked with escaping from places and so must dodge all onscreen enemies and obstacles whilst travelling at speed, with most of the screen taken up by things that can hurt you. I had to skip a fair few levels of the game in my playthrough, (although I attempted all of them and made some progress even on the harder ones) due to their sheer difficulty. When you consider the ages of the kids that would have been watching the film, it's hard to imagine them being able to make their way through the game.

Graphically the game looks great, especially for the era; although some of the background and objects are fairly simple, the shading and animation is of such a good standard that I would have said this game was from the fifth or even sixth generation, had I not known it was on the Mega Drive. The music from the game is also of a high standard with exciting tunes which fit well with the game and really enhance the general experience of the title.

Overall Toy Story is an incredibly good film based videogame, with a lot of fun gameplay in several different styles, which helps to tell the story from the movie. The controls, graphics and music are all very nicely done and the only real downside to the game is its relentless difficulty which makes some levels almost impossible. At 19 levels long there's plenty of enjoyment to be had without the game feeling endless or repetitive, and although there's not a huge amount of replay value, it's a game that'd be nice to come back to every now and then.

Rating: 83/100
Grade: B