Ludography
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Jurassic Park Interactive cover

1994 · Action · Adventure

Jurassic Park Interactive

The power is out... The dinosaurs are loose... And only you stand between the guests and their certain demise! Take your place in the control room and use the computer systems and security cameras to locate those guests and help them to safety.

Released
1994
Platforms
3DO3DO Interactive Multiplayer
Genres
ActionAdventurePuzzleRacing
Developers
—
Publishers
—
Series
Jurassic Park
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
First person
Themes
ActionScience fiction
Country
United States

About

Jurassic Park Interactive is an action video game based on the 1993 movie Jurassic Park. It was released in North America on May 10, 1994 exclusively for 3DO by Universal Interactive Studios. Jurassic Park Interactive was the first video game released by Universal Interactive Studios.

Keywords

  • dinosaurs
  • minigames
  • based on - movie
  • platform exclusive
  • minigame collection
  • full motion video

Media

Jurassic Park Interactive screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game's interface is a computer screen that allows the player to navigate a map of the island, as well as a collection of five minigames programmed by Dennis Nedry. Players have to locate various guests on the map, then engage in a short first-person action level that either involves outrunning a Tyrannosaurus in a jeep, escaping from a small building containing raptors, or shooting approaching dilophosaurs with a charged electric gun. The end of the game comes once the player successfully relocates all of the island's guests to the helipad dock and locates outside help by breaking through the minigames.

Depending on the difficulty level chosen (Normal, Hard, or Expert), more guests are shown on the map to be saved, and less time is allowed in total to break through the minigames. In the minigames the player controls feather-light jeeps and microchips that blast floppy disks that read "DUMP".

Development

Jurassic Park Interactive had originally been intended as the 3DO pack-in title for the console's October 1993 launch, but delays in development pushed the release date back. Approximately 10 people worked on the game during its 14-month development period, with a budget between $1–2 million. Designer Greg Gorsiski said about the game: "It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. How do you rewrite a linear story for a non-linear environment and make it better? It's a task that a lot of game designers wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole."

The game was not showcased at Chicago's Summer Consumer Electronics Show in June 1993, as the developers chose to keep it a "closely-guarded secret" until its release. Jurassic Park Interactive was the first game to be published by MCA's Universal Interactive division. Universal and MCA hoped the game would increase sales of its struggling 3DO Interactive Multiplayer game system. Universal Interactive spent a considerable amount of money to market the game.

Reception

Jurassic Park Interactive received a mixed reception from critics. Entertainment Weekly's Bob Strauss called it "one giant slab of prehistoric cheese." Strauss wrote, "I can say with confidence that the vehicular sequences in Jurassic Park Interactive, with their clumsy controls and grainy visuals, are among the most inept I've seen. [...]

The other sequences, sad to say, are also somewhat stingy, lizard-wise-and equally uninteresting to play". Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the full motion video sequences, the use of music from the film, the innovation of the main levels, and the nostalgia value of the Nedry minigames. GamePro's Atomic Dawg asserted that the music is the game's only good point, lambasting the long load times, substandard graphics, simplistic and boring gameplay, and unvarying video sequences.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
3DO Interactive Multiplayer31 December 1994Worldwide

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Collections2 collections

Platform libraries

Licensing

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.