2001 · Fighting · Role-playing

Scan Command: Jurassic Park

Scan command is an turnbased 1-on-1 RPG/Fighting game hybrid that comes with a bar code scanner, that when scanned adds DNA to your dinosaur allowing it to level up and become stronger

Released: 11 October 2001
Platforms: Windows
Genres: Fighting Role-playing Simulation Strategy
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Series: Jurassic Park
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person Side view
Themes: Action Science fiction Educational
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB E

About

Scan Command: Jurassic Park (also known as Jurassic Park: Scan Command) is a 2001 fighting strategy video game developed and published by Knowledge Adventure for Microsoft Windows. The game is based on the 2001 film, Jurassic Park III, and was considered unique for its use of a barcode scanner accessory known as the Scan Command.

Keywords

dinosaurs

Media

Scan Command: Jurassic Park screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Scan Command: Jurassic Park involves an evil scientist, Dr. Irene Corts, who has taken over the Jurassic Park theme park with her army of genetically altered dinosaurs and plans to use them to achieve world domination. The player's goal is to stop Corts. The player must also locate five children and help them escape Jurassic Park.

The game features eight playable creatures from the first three Jurassic Park films. The player starts out as a Velociraptor, while other dinosaurs such as Spinosaurus, Triceratops, and Tyrannosaurus rex become unlocked as more levels are completed. The game features seven levels, including caves, jungles, swamps, dilapidated InGen laboratories, and steel pyramids. The final level is set inside an active volcano.

Development

In March 2001, Knowledge Adventure, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal Publishing, obtained the rights to develop video games based on Universal Studios' upcoming film, Jurassic Park III. The concept of Scan Command and its barcode-scanning aspect were considered unusual when the game was unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in May 2001. Richard Wyckoff, one of the game's designers, said: "We figure that unless you live in a cave you're going to be surrounded by bar codes. That's why we chose them.

They're so ubiquitous in our society". The game was unveiled with the initial title of Scan Command: A Jurassic Park III Game, and was released as Scan Command: Jurassic Park on October 11, 2001.

Reception

Jason MacIsaac of The Electric Playground gave the game a 79 percent rating out of 100 and praised the scanner accessory: "It's a unique idea, and as a source of entertainment, nearly limitless. [...] And I'm surprised at how well this idea works into the gameplay". However, MacIsaac negatively wrote, "game screens can look like they've locked up when moving data".

Jon Thompson of AllGame rated the game four stars out of five and wrote "scanning little black and white bar codes turns out to be more fun than you'd expect". Thompson praised the game's graphics, and its use of music and "detailed dinosaur sound effects" from the films, but the game's animation "could have been a bit crisper".