Dino Crisis Creator Has Doubts On A New Game, But I'm Not Convinced (2024)

Over the years I've been pretty vocal about my desire for a new Dino Crisis game. I played the original round a friend's house when I was probably far too young - I was almost 8, the game was rated 15 here in the UK - because I was obsessed with dinosaurs at the time it launched, and their parents clearly weren't too bothered with the age rating on the case. After all, it was the 90s and Steven Spielberg's movie adaptation of Jurassic Park had captured the imagination of many through its groundbreaking visual effects that blended practical animatronics with computer generated visuals to truly make it seem like dinosaurs had been brought back to life.

Whereas those movies had a variety of games, from top-down shooters on the SNES to the side scrolling adventures of Jurassic Park on the Sega Genesis or The Lost World: Jurassic Park on the PlayStation, none of them really made me feel the intensity of being hunted by dinosaurs like the final third of the 1993 movie did... Until I picked up Dino Crisis. I hadn't played Resident Evil at the time so wasn't familiar with the controls from there, but that blend of survival horror and a dino threat had me hooked, and when I was a bit older, I picked up a copy for myself that I could then complete on my PS2, finally experiencing the whole story.

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Dino Crisis Fans Have Been Extremely Vocal In Wanting The Franchise To Return

Dino Crisis Is One Of The Most Mentioned Titles In Capcom's Annual Survey

Over the years, the Dino Crisis fanbase has been extremely vocal about wanting a new Dino Crisis, be it a remake of the original ala Resident Evil 2, or a new entry. It's almost unanimously agreed, however, that if it's the latter, we'd prefer one that picks up after all the set up in Dino Crisis 2's ending, and not whatever Dino Crisis 3's space adventure was. This year, over 200,000 fans participated in Capcom's annual Capcom Super Elections survey, and it was abundantly clear that they wanted the franchise to return in some capacity from the results shared on Capcom's social media.

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Dino Crisis Creator Shinji Mikami Doesn't Seem Too Enthusiastic About The Series' Return

Suggesting Another, Surprising Capcom Title May Be The Reason

Dino Crisis Creator Has Doubts On A New Game, But I'm Not Convinced (3)

Unfortunately, in a recent interview with Eurogamer, Resident Evil and Dino Crisis creator Shinji Mikami addressed the fan response to Exoprimal, noting that "fans got their expectations up" and pointing out that "the concept [of Exoprimal] is pretty different from that of Dino Crisis." He also stated that he was "very surprised" to hear about the fan demand for a new Dino Crisis, as he doesn't "feel like there's a whole lot of space" for a new Dino Crisis game thanks to the success of Capcom's Monster Hunter series.

Mikami's reasoning for this was "The awesomeness of dinosaurs and the stuff you can do with dinosaurs, that's been kind of really nailed down by Monster Hunter in recent years. So even if I were to decide to make a remake or a new version of Dino Crisis, I don't really feel like there's a whole lot of space for that kind of game right now, just since Monster Hunter has become such a big game."

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Mikami's Comparison Misses The Point Of Why Fans Want Dino Crisis To Return

We Don't Just Want Cool Dinosaurs, We Want Dino Horror

While I understand wanting to focus on something fresh and new by continuing with new Monster Hunter titles, I can't help but feel a bit unconvinced by Mikami's statement. While I like the Monster Hunter games, they are action role-playing games, rather than a survival horror like Dino Crisis, and I think the point being made about Monster Hunter's monsters fitting the role that dinosaurs could in a title misses the real reason why fans are clamoring for a new Dino Crisis, as it's not just about the cool dinosaurs, it's about the fact it was a survival horror with dinosaurs, and the first Dino Crisis actually made us feel the intensity and fear of what it would be like to be hunted by such creatures. It should also be noted that while the creatures present in Monster Hunter are fictional, the fact that dinosaurs actually roamed the same planet we inhabit today is one of the reasons that so many seem to be fascinated by them.

In fact, the success of the recent Resident Evil remakes is likely to be a huge reason the community wants Dino Crisis to return. We've seen some of the classic 1990s and 2000s-era zombie survival horrors brilliantly recreated with the latest game engines, and have experienced how its gameplay can be modernized, and therefore, it seems logical to see Dino Crisis, which had similar gameplay, get the same treatment.

It's disappointing that Dino Crisis as a franchise seems to be staying extinct, but at least there are many titles being made that seem to want to capture that dino-survival horror essence. In recent years, Jaw Drop Games has announced its Kickstarter-backed first-person co-op survival horror, Deathground, Great Ape Games announced The Lost Wild, and most recently, Saber Interactive revealed its licensed title Jurassic Park: Survival, which is set to explore more of Isla Nublar after the events of the first movie, so at least there should be plenty of upcoming dino content to keep me satisfied until the fans eventually twist Capcom's arm and convince the studio that a return to Dino Crisis is worthwhile. Who knows, maybe if these other titles are successful, Capcom might see its value once again.

Source: Eurogamer