Double Hawk (SMS)

This time it’s 80th Independence Day of my country. I still hoping thing gets better for my mother land and also for me. Anyway, for this occasion I review Opera House Inc’s Double Hawk (1990) for Sega master system. This is also the first debut of SMS game review here. 

 

The title screen is quite impressive even though the hawk looks too cartoonish. There’s no option on main menu so the game forces me to play the game immediately. Be patience there, we have to know the raison d’être first, right?

 

So, there’s this nameless terrorist organization that need to be wiped out but United Nations can only employ 2 generic shooty guy that thankfully have name unlike the terrorist organization. You have seen John Jackson and Jack Thomas in the title screen. They’re bootleg impersonator of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger respectively. Or you can assume they cosplay as John Rambo and Duke Nukem. The only reason why United Nations can only employ these dudes is: UN is busy with suppressing the terrorists throughout the world and they can only send these 2 veterans to infiltrate the heart of terrorist organization. At least that’s what I can assume.   

 

Because I don’t have anyone else to play the second player. I hit the 1-player new game and proceed to choose “easy” difficulty because I’m quite new to this game and there’s no way I’m professional enough to take “difficult” difficulty setting. Care to guess what’s the gameplay look like?

 

You can probably guess the gameplay is gallery shooter because our protagonist only shown from behind and from torso up. The control is as follows: d-pad to move the crosshair and also the veteran, “A” button to shoot, and “B” button to lock the crosshair if you hold the button down. If you know Toaplan’s Cabal, you probably familiar with this gameplay although there’s anomaly here and there. For starter, you can’t move crosshair up or down without shooting first which makes the veteran stiff to control. Second, there’s no dodge roll which definitely problematic if you want to dodge enemy’s projectile. Third, the veteran doesn’t carry any grenade unlike Cabal! How come he’s so ill-prepared when he’s about to take down infamous terrorists? Luckily, some terrorists drop bomb item when killed. It’s that “B” icon, see? Each picked “B” icon will add 10 hand grenades.

You can have drinking minigame here. Take a shot everytime I mention Cabal. Look. The game screams “We are Toaplan’s Cabal but different”. You can’t blame me for that.  

 

Next level introduces you with tank and naturally they’re tough to crack. But I will try to destroy them anyway. Soldier_battlecry05.wav

 

But then I got my first game over. Luckily the continue seems unlimited. Playing Cabal and Blood Bros so many times ingrains my mind with “Destroy tougher enemy to make the enemy bar depletes faster” iron-clad rule. However, the rule is not true in this game. The enemy bar on top part of interface doesn’t depletes faster if you destroy tougher enemy. No. The bar is simply timer. No matter how good you are at killing enemies the bar depletes in constant rate based on time! Spy_negativevocalization03.wav.

So, there’s no need for me to try really hard blasting those tanks except for chance to get item. Note: CHANCE! It’s not guaranteed defeated enemy will drop useful power up. Other than chance to drop item, defeating enemy will secure your survivability. But the thing is: those tanks only shoot 2 bullets and then leave to the edge of screen. Once again, there’s no need to engage the enemies really hard, then. You can just focus on dodging tank’s bullets and they will either run away or automatically die when the timer runs out. So, the game doesn’t encourage you to involve in combat actively which kills the fun. Bad mistake there, developer.

 

Next level introduces you with tank with 2 pair of wheels and without track, which is weaker target. Apparently, this kind of combat vehicle called armored car. In Indonesia, we keep calling them Panzer even though it’s just German word for tank, anyway.     

 

Much like Cabal, every 4th level is boss level. Thank God that the developer doesn’t copy Cabal’s boss. This game has something interesting afterall. So, this weird armored vehicle that probably inspiration for that boss in Terminator 2 on Gameboy or Alien 3 on Arcade. You can’t just shoot at random spot at the boss though. That will be too easy, the developer think. You have to shoot all those gunports to damage the boss.   

 

You also need to destroy the weird solar panel that apparently able to spray bullets. There you go! First boss destroyed. I have quite fun there.   

 

No! Wait! There’s more! Now I have to destroy this weird combat vehicle that for some reason can separate into 2 part and move independently. I hate to say this. But this thing doesn’t look real. It likes something akin to cardboard property for kindergarten theater show. Even very early me who’s kindergarten student, will look at this and think “This is not real tank. This is just stupid crap”. He knows what real tanks look like from 2 coloring books about tank that he owned. About the boss phase 2. It’s simply to deal with. Just shoot the gunports, nuff said. 

 

I like this intermission screen. It looks like mission briefing that John Rambo John Jackson looks carefully before going to the mission. Maybe not mission briefing, it’s more akin to movie’s chapter instead. 

 

This level introduces you with chopper which behaves quite same with the one in Cabal except only shoot few bullets instead of full bullet barrage. There’s some weapon power ups in this game but unlike Cabal they’re hard to distinguish. In Cabal you get SMG (that may or may not be MP 40) and Browning Automatic Rifle. Whereas in this game, you get “S” and “R” icon. I barely can tell which one is stronger or what are their difference. From my experience, “S” icon makes your weapon stronger a bit and crosshair bigger just a bit. I assume “S” stands for shot up. While “R” icon enables rapid fire. So “R” stands for rapid fire, definitely. 

 

Next level introduces you with enemy airplane. It moves forward like in Cabal but instead drop bombs, it just shoots 2 bullets. I know the reason behind this monotonous bullet firing is due to SMS limitation but it’s still boring sin to me.

 

No new enemy introduces in this level. Only same foot soldiers but this time they throw hand grenade instead of firing bullets which I count as blessing because: 1) It’s not boring or uncreative. 2) I can dodge grenade easier than bullets because it’s more predictable although faster than bullets.

 

2nd boss level kind of terrible, I get kicked to game over screen several times. The boss level consists of 1 armored vehicle on the back that move left and right, and these 2 armored mortar placements. The vehicle is not that hard to defeat but these mortars aren’t. All of these enemies have same attack: lobbing mortar shells. You can destroy them for a chance to get power up but they’re extremely fast. I happen to spawn “F” icon power up which increase John Jackson moving speed that probably compensates for the lack of dodge roll. John’s movement speed is tediously slow which I can describe like someone moving around while their trouser still down. Maybe that’s the case because for the rest of the game, you can’t see below Jack’s torso. Also, that explains why he doesn’t have ability to roll around and how he is so slow. I can imagine throughout the mission, Jack battles while his boxer short with star and stripes pattern, shown. You probably make Captain America impressed but not me, Jack. You weirdo. Sure, you can see his torso down a bit in game over screen but that’s because he finally decides to pull up the trouser immediately to escape the explosion easier. I assume.   

Sorry, I digress. As to defeat the boss, you have to shoot the very tip of the mortars which is pretty rubbish methodology in my opinion.

 

Next mission is “At the edge of the village”. For the love of God! This level really reminds me of Cabal with the houses, grass, soldier running sideway, walls, etc. Maybe not the paratroopers that slowly descend though. That one is credit for the game.      

Cabal (NES)

 

In case you wonder. Here’s screenshot that I took from NES port of Cabal. It may look worse like it’s Game & Watch game but colored. But in term of gameplay, it’s slightly better than Double Hawk but still nowhere as good as original version of Cabal. Why it’s not good? Because the control is not as intuitive like in arcade version. Because NES controller only has 2 buttons, it’s quite tedious to throw grenade because you have to press both “A” and “B” buttons or you can hold “B” button and then press “A” button. Then the function of “B” button is to sprint! There’s no reason to have sprint ability to dodge bullets unless you’re chronic Call of Duty player. You can do the dodge roll with “B” button but you have to hold down direction on d-pad which makes your crosshair also goes down so you can’t retaliate enemy’s attack intuitively. Besides this port of Cabal, only give you limited live with no continue at all! So, I suggest you play the arcade version and ignore this abomination altogether. Playing the NES port of Cabal game is like you have arm wrestling with Superman while handicapping yourself by cutting 2 of your fingers.     

 

Nothing new on this level except the scenery. You can’t even destroy the building like in Cabal! Sniper_jeers01.wav

 

Next level is another village area but with wall on center so enemy tank can hide behind it. That’s quite cute.

 

The boss level is these 4 cannon turrets with yellow part on them which is quite cute (again). I already get used to your stupid trick, game. I have to shoot the cannon part to damage the bosses. But I think there’s slight twist here. The cannon only vulnerable when it faces me and it keep spinning until it decides to shoot at me. There’s also helicopter that come by to help the bosses here.

 

Next mission is “Struggle at sea” and you should expect encounter with enemy divers that come out from water. There are some pipes there. I expect piranha plant or Mario to come out from there but that’s just me being delusional.  

 

You can see we have serious problem with the water part for this mission. Because the enemy’s bullets are blue colored, you can barely see them while they travel through water so it’s more challenging to dodge them.  

 

Next level has the least water part so it’s more favorable to me. I see ship yonder. I have feeling that she’s the next boss.

 

The terrorists hijacked HMS London and they use her against me! For first few seconds, two enemy choppers come to provide some fire support. You should destroy them to make this boss fight easier. HMS London travel left and right while firing all of her cannon at me. Her big battery cannons will behave like turrets like in previous boss fight, spinning and occasionally shoot at me. I suggest you take her smaller cannon at the center because they’re so many yet more fragile than the main cannons. Once you destroy all of her cannon, you have to destroy her bridge to finish the boss level. She’s relatively fine as long as she’s not sunken. Believe me. Or not.

The last mission takes place in mountain range much like Cabal. Enemy trooper has ability to come out from sandy ground. I don’t shoot at camouflaged enemy there. I just shoot at random spot because I’m bored that there’s no enemy appear at this moment. This is not the only occasion where enemies refuse to show up to fight. It happens quite often throughout the game. It’s enemy’s lost anyway. because the level is limited by timer and their absence works in my advantage. Perhaps some of them become sensible and think that fighting me is futile and only cost their life unnecessarily.  Soldier_taunts04.wav

 

The level is filled with same old paratrooper. There’s some neat animation when they are successfully land on ground.  But when I shoot them while still airborne, they just disappear. Disappointing!

 

Nice mountain villa. Too bad it’s occupied by terrorists. But we almost there. Just defeat the final boss, John Jackson and Jack Thomas can have this villa for their own!

 

Here’s the final boss. I swear to Gork! These turrets come out from ground, are freaking similar to the one in final boss of Cabal. Besides the ground turrets, there are also tower and F-16 Fighter Jet that shoot projectiles at me. Needless to say, with inability to dodge roll it’s extremely hard to dodge bullets in this part. So, my strategy is: destroy the front turrets on corner and then you can work your way to other corner and lastly hit the tower while occasionally destroy the jet fighter that passing by.

 

Strangely the tower fire projectiles from those 2 spike things on the sides. The question is where do I have to hit it? I assume in the window because the game has conditioned me to shoot at the gunport up to this point and apparently it works as the tower burst into explosions. Soldier_cheers01.wav

There you go. With the weird tower and ground turrets destroyed, the anonymous terrorist organization is crushed. The double hawks watch the sunset from the balcony of mountain villa that they deserve to get. Good for them.

 

Opera House Inc’ Single Double Hawk (1990) is gallery shooter that...I want to say Toaplan’s Cabal without the charm and the intuitive gameplay but that’s quite harsh opinion and fairly inaccurate. Because the player is represented with someone who only have upper torso, the game more similar to Dynamite Duke or Dead Angle. All of three games don’t have mean for player to dodge enemy’s attack, so there’s alibi for the absence of dodge roll. Although the enemy’s bar is only timer instead of defeated ratio, which I need to get used to. It’s quite functional and make the gameplay feels different than Cabal but it's not in good or fun way in my opinion. As I’ve mentioned before. Because the enemy’s bar ticks down consistently no matter what you do, the game kind of discouraging you to fight enemies actively. It’s like the opposite of slogan in Contra III Alien Wars on SNES: “Let’s attack aggressively”. Because of the that, the game’s slogan should be “Let’s attack lazily. Enemies will die on their own when time is up anyway”. Fortunately, in boss levels you have to be active in combat but with note: you have to hit the bosses in very specific spots as though like puzzle game but with gun. Cabal doesn’t do that. Cabal be like “Here’s level boss, shoot it in any part. Go on! Go gun-blazing all you want! You will win as long as you don’t forget to dodge attacks.” While Double Hawk be like “You can’t just win by shooting the boss at any possible spots. Noooo! You have to shoot their specific spot and there’s no hit indicator if you do it right. Also don’t bother to dodge roll because there’s none. You get game over unfairly? Then get git gud, dumbass!”. Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you that there’s no graphic indicator if you hit boss in correct spot which is unacceptable. If you think “Maybe because of SMS’ limitation”. I like to disprove that by pointing out that there’s hit indication on NES port of Cabal! So, “Ninten-DO something that Sega doesn’t” in this case. Take aside of convoluted way to deal with bosses, I like their graphic design including the simplest ones: the yellow turrets. The power up items although lame in appearance, they’re useful. “F” power up is useful to make the veteran moves faster which is quite necessary. I fairly often experienced that I get hit more often when I pick speed up item but not in this game. So, credit where’s due. “S” and “R” power ups are pretty useful to boost the measly default firepower. “B” power up is useful to stock up hand grenade. I suggest you keep the grenades for the boss instead for any lesser enemies. But beware that when you get game over, your grenade becomes zero. That doesn’t mean you will get hardlock when fighting boss without any grenade. It’s just grenade really useful for boss fight. There’s barely any defensive option here. You can’t shoot enemy’s bullet and dodge roll unlike Cabal. You can shoot down mortar shell or grenade but it’s not easy thing to do because they’re fast. The score does nothing because there's no extra life when you get certain amount of score point and there's not even top scoreboard. Another thing that kills the fun is the inability to destroy any part of scenery for score or power up item. The sound effect is acceptable. The music is actually pretty good. I like the jovial music on intro/title screen and finishing a level. Sadly, the soldier doesn’t dance on the level finish music like in Cabal and he just waddles slowly to the edge of screen, instead.    

 

In conclusion: Double Hawk (1990) is gallery shooting game with mediocre quality, at best. Thankfully It’s pretty short game. There are only 5 levels altogether. Although it’s not as good as Cabal. It’s quite fun game to play. Then I can play Cabal more. :P

Warpath - Jurassic Park (PSX)

I watched Jurassic World Rebirth so I’m in mood of Jurassic Park Game. Let’s go with Black Ops Entertainment’s Warpath – Jurassic Park (1999) on PS1.

The game opens with this CG where it shows Jurassic Park gate (slightly modified with addition Warpath on the logo). T-Rex roars loudly as always and then stomps the camera. He’s quite rude git.

 

On to main menu, the clever girl is here and occasionally scream like neighbor’s annoying dogs bark at anyone passing. I hate them. The menu list is in unusual position. Most video game put it in top-left or center. But this one is on bottom-right and the menu is descending order! Anyway, I had the physical copy of this game and I quite like it so the menu anomaly doesn’t bother me in practical.   

 

Before we’re on to the game, let’s check the museum where you can see dinosaur’s biodata, when they live, or the correct pronunciation of their name. Funny thing is the unit is not in imperial standard units even though this is US version. They use meter for size and kilogram for weight. Maybe the developer can’t look up the biodata with imperial units or too lazy to convert those numbers. Slichomimus here is my favorite because his diet is fish. He’s considered mild even though his jaw looks like crocodile’s and I hate crocodile. You can’t blame me to hate crocodile because even crocodiles themselves hate each other and do cannibalism on occasion. Anyway, Slichomimus prey on fish according to the narrator and that makes him pretty tame among other bipedal carnivore dinosaurs like T-Rex and others. Slichomimus is like honey bear among grizzly bear and polar bear.               

 

Before go to arcade menu, I like to do some practice. There’s no command list even though Tekken 3 was released before this game. Oh, Well. At least there’s tutorial. Press the right input and you get to next move. Eventually you will go back to input for first move. 

 

My real purpose of this training session is to relearn the combo. Each dino has 2 set of combos. The combo is very reliable way to deal damage. On the last hit of the combo, the camera closes up to show off how awesome the dino is. I’m not sure if the finishing hit is unblockable that it deserves to be looked this close. By the way, I choose to pick T-Rex because he’s the staple of every Jurassic Park movie or even video game even though his species lived in Cretaceous period and not Jurassic period.

As for the default control: Left or right on d-pad to move forward or backward depend on your dino’s facing direction. “square” button for light main attack, “triangle” button for heavy main attack, “cross” button for light 2nd attack, and “circle” button for heavy 2nd attack. On to shoulder buttons: “L2” button to move outside, “L1” button to move inside, “R2” to taunt, and lastly “R1” to block. I feel like the attack buttons are baffling to understand. Maybe main attack is like bite and 2nd attack is like kick or tail swipe. The attack control is not easy to understand. Take Tekken for example: “square” button for left punch, “triangle” button for right punch, “cross” button for left kick, and “circle” button for right kick. The configuration kind of resembling human’s limbs. Or like Street Fighter with 3 strengths of punch and kick. Those are easy to make sense whereas Warpath-JP is bit baffling. Taken, that not every dino is bipedal or able to kick/punch.

 

I think I’m ready for Arcade mode. Here’s the roster. There are 8 dinosaurs and 6 secret dinosaurs. If I remember correctly the secret dinosaurs are just copy of original cast. Although Mega Raptor, Slichomimus, and Ankylosaurs don’t have counterpart on the unlockable cast. Unlocking the secret Dinosaurs is easy. You have to beat the game with all of the dinosaurs. But only one dinosaur for each playthrough that counts.  

 

My first opponent is Stygimoloch. He enters the arena by breaking wall and headbutt that standing lamp. Quite dynamic entrance. This is one of the charms that the game offers, each dinosaurs have their own entrance cutscene when they fight in their place.

 

I know this place. It’s abandoned visitor center in Lost World Jurassic Park movie. Anyway, about the fight. It goes well for me. I am able to block Stygi’s attack in time. Believe it or not, T-Rex able to block even with his stubby hand. But he also blocks with his open jaw besides with his small hand so that makes sense a bit.

 

Another charm of this game is destructible objects in arena. Some of them can hurt Dinosaurs like this gasoline pump right in T-Rex’s backside although I don’t think gasoline pump is supposed to be that volatile. Anyone who’s more knowledgeable with gasoline, can correct me in this one.

 

Each Dinosaurs has on-the-ground grab or the game like to call it contact. This grab move is activated with pressing cross and circle buttons at the same time. Then to keep it longer thus inflict more damage to your opponent, you have to mash cross and circle buttons alternatively. This on-the-ground grab can deal devastating damage, like 40% of the health bar.

 

Like in other fighting game, there’s time limit and it’s 60 seconds like in Street Fighter 2 or any Capcom fighting game. But I feel like the timer is too short especially when enemy remember to block once in a while. Anyway, I win because I have more health when the time is up.

 

T-Rex celebrates his victory with roar twice. One while standing and the last while ducking. The last one looks adorable like kitty meowing.

 

Next opponent is Gigantosaurs. Hey, dude! That’s supposed to be T-Rex’s entrance which is mine!

 

That’s what you get from stealing my entrance, schmuck! I like this arena because it’s narrow and I can easily push my enemy into electric fence.

 

If you aren’t convinced that this arena is based on the first Jurassic Park the movie, there this goat roam around the place. Presumably the same goat that eaten by T-Rex and later left only their leg on the car’s roof. Probably not the same goat because this one is too eager to walk around without thinking their safety.

 

Wow! I get flawless victory! Soldier_taunts07.wav

 

Next opponent is Acrosaurus. My goodness. I’m impressed with the constituent of the gas station office there after being stomped by my opponent. To quote Hart from Vice Project Doom “It’s amazing what they can do with brick these days”

 

This game review is presented by 76 gas station. Not really. The 76 gas station is there because it’s based on that Lost World Jurassic Park scene where T-Rex runs amok in the city. If I remember correctly the light ball falls off and rolls around, causing more disaster besides rampaging T-Rex.

Then I got another flawless victory with the unblockable juggling strike. It’s performed with pressing both square and triangle buttons and you can follow it up with special strike with square button.

 

Ankylosaurs’ opening is rather lame. He breaks out from boxes that’s located under the stairs. It begs question how he got there without shoving away the crates in first place?

 

I bet everyone remember the museum part of Visitor Center in first Jurassic Park movie with “When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth” banner. That’s where we are fighting at. I know it’s iconic place but I don’t like fighting here because the place is too spacious. Ankylosaurs can easily dodge my combo simply strafing around. Is it just me or T-Rex low kick makes his leg strangely longer?

By the way, I just realized that the banner is reference to 1970 British Fantasy film from Hammer Films with same name. Mind blown! 0o0

 

Speaking of iconic place. Slichomimus’ arena is in the front of the iconic gate minus the rail for the electric car.

I think I don’t like this place too. Like the museum, it’s also arena that’s too spacious to fight. Besides both places don’t offer you destructible object. As you can see that T-Rex’s jaw is freaking terrifying. You don’t want to be in front of it too close, for sure.

 

I like this T-Rex grab where he bites his opponent’s neck then rolls sideway to throw the victim away. Soldier_goodjob02.wav

 

Next opponent is Styracosaurus and he rudely enters the arena by barging the fence. He’s quite rebellious.

 

We’re fighting at helipad but from which movie is my question. Suddenly this man with security armor run toward me who are currently gnawing Styrac cheek. No matter how tough your armor is, it won’t protect you from thousand kilograms Dinosaurs fight each other. Welp, too late. He’s already flattened at my feet.

 

I did the awesome throw again but this time the moment isn’t pictured well in this screenshot. The graphic is quite outdated, if you can’t already tell.  

 

Although Styracosaurus walk on his four legs that makes him has lower posture than bipedal Dinosaurs. I can hit him relatively fine. Same thing goes to fighting Ankylosaurus. Even my tail swipe connects to him while he’s downed. There’s barely any hit detection problem when bipedal dinosaurs vs quadrupedal dinosaurs like in Taito’s Dino Rex. I suspect the developer crew has bad experience with the infamous dinosaur fighting game and learn a thing or two for this game. By the way, I’m reluctant to play Dino Rex. You can see this guy’s review instead.    

 

I encounter the “Clever Girl” but now she’s as big as T-Rex and that makes me disappointed to pick T-Rex.

 

At this point, you notice that there’s human/Compsognathus/dog/goat roams the arena and they’re not there for decoration. If you attack them with bite or any attack move that using your head, you will snatch them. Later you can eat them to replenish your health a bit by pressing X button. I think eating small creature to recover health in this game is inspired by Dino/Ape god fight-a-thon: Atari game’s Primal Rage. The big difference is in this game even the herbivore dinosaurs like Styrac or Anky can eat the small creature! Sound bizarre but it’s balanced in term of gameplay. Another noticeable thing in this eating mechanism is: you can steal the morsel from your enemy when they’re still on enemy’s horn/jaw/armored back.

 

As for the final fight, I fight Carcharsaurus who more or less has same moveset as Acrosaurus and we fight at the cargo ship in Lost World Jurassic Park movie which is T-Rex’s arena.

 

Because this place is narrow, I can dominate my enemy with my combo. Another noticeable feature in this game is you can see wound on dinosaurs. You can even see the skeleton bit peeking on the wound which looks gruesome. I don’t know much about the toughness of Dinosaurs when fighting. But when I can see skeleton bit on your wound, I think you should call it quit and go to nearest Jurassic Hospital.

 

I hope you don’t expect ending for each of dinosaurs because there’s none. You only get this CGI movie along with credit roll. Hey! They give Steven Spielberg proper credit. Good for him.

 

But I don’t stop there. Let’s going on a bit further. This time I pick Anky but I think I regret this decision as the combo start with backward + square button. The combo doesn’t constantly come out like T-Rex’s which doesn’t need start with backward + attack button. You can assume that this is my skill issue but I think there’s some sort of finicky input detection for this combo.

Funnily enough, my first opponent is the same as my sparring partner: Styrac. I’m aware that there’s human corpse on my head but before I can eat it, I need to apply some bonk on my opponent to prevent him stealing my snack.

 

Anky’s downed grab is where he repeatedly smacks his opponent’s back with his club tail. I just realize that the dog is as tall as gas pump when they stand on their back legs. That’s kind of scary.

 

There you go the ball falls of but not roll on the road which kind of disappointing. Once again, I just realize that the city is San Diego! In my defense when watching the movie, I’m more focus on Dinosaurs and some of plot but not to the detail of places.

 

The club tail is certainly deadly weapon but it’s cumbersome because -you know- it’s on my back so it takes time to swing it unlike bite attack where I only need to open my mouth and move it forward a bit.

 

Once again, I fight Carchar but this time as the armored boy. Dude! That’s not the way to safety, idiot!

 

I feel obligated to pick the “Clever Girl” but also kind of regret it because her combo starts with forward + cross button! However, the combo comes out more consistent than Anky’s. I think.

How kind of the developer to put checklist mark on Dinosaurs that I already finish the game with. You also notice that I have unlocked Carchar on left bottom. Don’t expect interesting unlockable character like Barney the purple Dinosaurs or giant Ian Malcom because there’s none. Missed opportunity, I know. 

 

This is quite bad start. T-Rex throws me into explosive barrel and I take extra damage. The explosive barrel is in yellow like that one in the back. Yellow color for explosive barrel and not red color? Crazy, right?

 

Mega Velociraptor downed grab is thorough. She bites and claws with her arm and foot simultaneously at her enemy’s neck. Medic_goodjob02.wav

 

Now we get to see Carchar’s place. He makes entry by separating those 2 trees with his head. Can’t you walk other way around them?

 

This forest looks generic but then I see hanged car behind me. That must be the car where Dr. Grant and the kids on! Don’t worry! I will protect you from Carchar. So, I can eat you all by myself! Not really. I was joking.

 

I’m still having hard time fighting Styrac mainly because my combo rarely come out. The alternative way to deal damage constantly is using my big brother’s strategy where he starts with the unblockable juggling strike -> special follow-up attack -> ground grab, repeat. The problem with that strategy is the juggling strike has short reach which is fair because it’s unblockable. Normal attack alone seems weak enough but then I discover this jumping kick that looks like Ibuki’s Hien kick. It deals quite considerable damage and I can outmaneuver Styrac with it.

 

The boss fight is against Pachycephalosaurs who has the same moveset as Stygimoloch more or less.

 

I still have hard time defeating Pachy even with the Hien kicks. I can see why Mega Raptor is not as good as T-Rex. Her combo doesn’t come out consistently probably because of the front + cross button as the starter, which is lunging hand claw swipe. Her attack reach kind of short due to her short hand and shorter head than T-Rex. But I like her Hien kick and jumping kick that’s activated with triangle button while standing. As for Anky, he’s more cumbersome fighter. His attack mostly using his spiky back which is very short ranged or the club tail which has decent range but slow. Nonetheless, I have to finish the game with those two to unlock all of Dinosaurs.

I think you get the big idea of the game so let’s end the review here. 

 

If Primal Rage is Mortal Kombat then Black Ops Entertainment’s Warpath – Jurassic Park (1999) is more like the Tekken of Dinosaurs fighting game. Although you don’t get strong attack move like Heihachi’s uppercut or Law’s summersault kick. I mean there’s some special moves but none of them deal damage that satisfying. Anky can do spinning club tail with close quarter back + square button but it’s hard to come out. That’s kind of shame. The only way to deal biggest damage is with combo. You can also try my big brother’s strategy the unblockable juggling strike (square + triangle buttons) -> special follow-up attack (square button) -> ground grab (cross + circle buttons then mash those two buttons alternatively), repeat. Although you have to mind that the juggling strike has short reach. Even if you don’t have reliable way to deal damage, you can eventually win because the health bar can be depleted pretty easily or fast. The destructible object inside arena can be used to inflict extra damage on your opponent, including wooden crate on Mega Raptor Pen. It’s empty but it hurts when Dinosaurs touch it which doesn’t make any sense. Not even the sign “fragile” on the crate can help to explain why the crate is dangerous. I feel pity to the small creatures on arena. Either they get trampled or get eaten. Both cases most likely happen accidentally by the fighting Dinosaurs. You probably wonder why these Dinosaurs fight each other. Based on commentary said by surveillance chopper when winning, losing or continue the game, it seems Dinosaur that you pick is tasked to subdue rampaging Dinosaur so you are good guy more or less. The commentaries are pretty good with deep acting. For example: “It’s not over yet!”, “Get him to containment. Move along!” “Jet fighter! Do you see this guy?”. I forget to tell you about the rage bar near the timer. You build up the bar with your attacks. Once it’s fully filled, your Dinosaur will go tantrum and they can deal more damage. However, getting hit will reduce the bar. Apparently, using grab doesn’t build the bar. Probably it means to mildly discourage you to spam grab. Taunt will build up rage bar but leaves you defenseless for second. The roster is well varied but not much interesting unless you’re really into Dinosaurs. The music is nice orchestra as if John William directs it although not so memorable. The sound effect is pretty great.

 

Warpath – Jurassic Park (1999) is pretty neat fighting game. Probably not meant for pro fighting game. It’s more for pure fun and Jurassic Park fanservice. It’s definitely serviceable for casual fighting game. You should give it a try!

 

By the way, I feel like to add something extra for this occasion and that is the small review about the Jurassic World Rebirth itself. I keep the spoiler at minimum as possible though. If you don’t want any spoiler about the movie, you should stop reading! If you don’t care about spoiler or to safe your money from watching the movie, you may proceed. Personally, I want to make this special review to remind myself about the movie in case that I get partial amnesia or sort like that.

I pick this poster because it’s the closest to the scene in the movie. I only realize the lass in the poster is Scarlet Johanson at the credit roll. I can’t even identify Chris Hemsworth in Men in Black International. But hey! I can identify Mark Ruffalo at “You don’t See Me” movie. Anyway, I watch JW Rebirth at July 22, which is 20 days after the premiere. The premise of the movie is a special expedition team hired by some capitalist guy to obtain blood sample from the biggest sea, land, and flying Dinosaurs. Those blood samples are required to research for medicine that can prolong the life of heart disease patients by 2 decades. The biggest Dinosaurs should have biggest heart that very related to research medicine that enhance human’s heart or something. The reason kind of meh whatever. Come to think of it, why they don’t just extract blood sample from the biggest land Dinosaurs because: 1) Probably the closest to human biologically 2) The Dinosaur is the biggest among the sample. 3) The Dinosaur is super tame and the least dangerous! If they just extract the blood sample from this docile guy, the expedition will be much safer. I won’t tell the Dinosaur’s name but I can tell you that he’s from ultra big sauropod kind. The expedition team is joined with unfortunate family that their yacht destroyed by Mosasaur. As you can expect the cast do generic mistake of “shout that can alert vicious Dinosaurs” and “Not looking behind them when Dinosaurs about to attack them”. If you think the mission is very hard for the expedition team. Well. They happen to be stranded at island that house to mutant Dinosaurs, including the super giant abomination which I talk about him later.

The reason family is on big voyage because the father wants to do that and for that he deserved to be called big idiot. After the event of Jurassic World Dominion, Dinosaurs slowly dying because of various factor including unsuitable air temperature. But those who live in Equator area, survive because the climate is suitable for them. With that crucial information, why on earth do you want to plan a big voyage through equator line? That information should be out in public and the father somehow doesn’t know about this at all! Even without Dinosaurs, doing long voyage in small ship is pretty dangerous. If you like that kind of thing, I don’t judge you. I just ask you to be very careful when doing that and don’t underestimate open sea. This damned family consists of 1) The father who’s pretty ok to me cast aside of his idiotic plan to sail over open sea with Dinosaurs, 2) The eldest daughter who’s bit annoying because she like to shout and panic unnecessarily, 3) The youngest daughter who’s even more annoying because she hates Dinosaurs at first and by the end of the movie she smuggles a baby Protoceratops as pet. Look! When I was at her age, I read lots of book about Dinosaurs. Young me probably dying to meet one. Even if he was eaten by T-Rex or any carnivore, he still thinks Dinosaurs are cool and the best. Anyone who hate Dinosaurs is automatically my enemy. 4) The last member of the family is the stoner who’s the boyfriend of the eldest daughter. He’s lazy and stupid bastard. One time, he offers the family to smoke weed when there’s more pressing matter which is to survive! Honestly, I want the small girl and the stoner die but that doesn’t happen because they have plot invincibility. The reason why they have the plot invincibility: most likely to make the movie more acceptable to family, I assume. Although the family is the most ill-prepared for survival.

So, the casualty come from the special expedition who’s noticeably more prepared for survival. Although I say that they’re more prepared but I can’t help but notice that they have lack of weapon for this situation. I mean sure, you can’t use lethal weapon against Dinosaurs that they need to extract the blood sample from. But there are other vicious Dinosaurs that better off dead for the expedition’s survival. So far, their weapon is hammer for climbing need, pump rifle that shoot special dart to extract blood sample, and weird gun that shoot neurotoxin darts. The last one is gone as the wielder get eaten by swimming Spinosaurus who’s in cohort with Mosasaurus for some unusual cooperation. There’s also a handgun that the capitalist guy secretly has and use it to calm the eldest daughter because he pushed her out of expedition’s boat. Honestly, the capitalist git’s evilness is in mid level. I have seen worse corporate lapdog. He doesn’t use the gun to kill the daughter (even though she’s better off dead in my opinion) instead he uses it to shoot mutant Dinosaur but barely hit. Even when he’s about to die, he contributes to survival of the other cast. Speaking of antagonist, remember that I say about the super giant abomination? He’s like super unnatural bastard. Even more than the Dominus Rex in Jurassic World. If I make comparison with truck, Dominus Rex will be pickup truck, and that humongous Nemesis will be Monster Truck! On top of that he’s extremely horrifying. I won’t tell the detail of this mutant abomination look like. Although they made action figure of him and you can find what the bastard looks like from browsing at least from his action figure. The movie ends as the survivors escape the island and from the bizarre mutant monster, with hovercraft. Later they are accompanied by peaceful dolphins which is absurd. Like I don’t remember the survivors on first Jurassic Park movie is accompanied by doves as they fly with helicopter. There’s no further story about the abomination and worst of all there’s no after credit blooper.

Summary: Is it worthy to watch Jurassic World Rebirth? If you expect reasonably good plot, you will be disappointed because the plot feels handicapped and way too unnatural. I complaint so little about JP Trilogy and Jurassic World. But JW Rebirth makes me criticize every part of the movie which I usually don’t do that. There’s always mandatory kid character throughout the movies and that little girl is the worst in my opinion. That kid in Jurassic Park 3: Eric Kirby is badblood. He remains calm and has strong sense of survivability. Probably unnatural but it makes sense that he can survive in the Dinosaur island for 8 weeks. Meanwhile the little girl (her name is Isabella by the way) tend to panic unnecessarily and shout a lot. She shouldn’t survive but she does because scenario demands her survival. Anyway, you can only enjoy the movie only to see the marvelous technology visual on Dinosaurs. I bet everyone who want to watch this movie only want to see the Dinosaurs. That everyone includes me, obviously. The human cast and plot involves them only serve as side dish, I assume. Also, no Chris Pratt (the cast of Starlord). Quite disappointing! That’s the end of my side review. See you later! ^_^