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| Official Homepage : http://www.dreamworksgames.com/Games/chaosisland/ | ||||||
Game Introduction:
Welcome to Chaos Island, where Dinosaurs rule and humans are just a few steps away from extinction.
Here, on a remote island, the Jurassic Park Dinosaurs were bred, and, unbeknownst to the world, many have survived. you control a team of Gatherers and Scientists as you explore the Island, set up camp, and orgainze the tools and strategies you will need to survive among the Dinosaurs.
As the story unfolds the stakes get higher. Hunters, who also inhabit the island, become more dangerous. Wild Dinosaurs begin attacking, and people are going to get hurt! It will take all your planning and survival skills to complete 12 increasingly dangerous missions.
The Manual:
Manual of Chaos Island is well coloured and have some really nice looking background graphics. They don't use the boring and o-so-much normal font but they use different font types. It gives a better atmosphere before you play the game.
Sometimes, pictures are being used for giving the gamer more information about a crucial thing.
You might think that this is the first time that I didn't said much about a game-manual. Well, you're absolutely right!
A good-looking manual where everything is well explained.
The Game:
Well surprisingly enough when I looked at the back of Chaos Island's Box , I thought, again a so called Real Time Strategy game (which I basicly adore) so this would be lots of fun.
And in fact, MicroSoft did manage to work something out with Dreamworks Interactive that looked sweet.
Like everyone else I must agree that MicroSoft is not one of the best developers when it comes in creating games.
So my intention of getting a good game was not very high until I saw that MS is in fact just publishing it and only developed some little things in that game. The big part of developing was for that magical firm called 'DreamWorks Interactive'. So, is this game magical? Ehm.
In this game you are placed with other teammates in a remote island, where dinousaurs rule and hunters are your enemies. This game is like every real time strategy game I ever played.
You are thrown in a level, you need to collect and build some structures and away you go. It isn't really new to me (and not to you either) but what I do like is the voices that they used in this game. In fact every character is the same as in the new Jurassic Park movie: The Lost World.
In the beginning of a level you mostly hear Doctor Hammond, played by Sir Richard Attenborough in the movie and in the game. You shall hear what your objectives are to complete this level successfully. You can even pick wich teammate you want to start the level aslong as you have enough points to recruit them.
The storyline is not bad but not good either, if you are a Jurassic Park fan you will love this game, if not well there are more other better strategy games out there.
But I must say, it plays very well, especially when you know that can play with all types of Dinosaurs (mentioned in detail later).
There are 12 levels to complete and in about 5 or 6 hours you can play this game out so game duration is not prior here.
You can play with Jeff Goldblum as Doctor Ian Malcolm, a mathemathician or Sarah Harding, an animal behaviorist or other teammates which appeared in the movie. Even Sir Richard Attenborough as Doctor Hammond is present. So when you play with Doctor Malcolm you really hear his voice (I mean Goldblums voice). There are absolutely No other actors that are dubbing the voices. And that is just great.
This is very innovative in one way but on the other hand after a while it becomes a bit repetitive because you always hear the same over and over again. It may be good for some hours but after that you shall get really depressed(?) after hearing the same sentences over and over again. (Did I mentioned that already?) But what the heck, fans of the actors & actrices of this game/movie will love to hear the original voices over and over.
A new and improved thing, that some people will buy this game for, is that you can actually play with Dinosaurs. With DINOSAURS you say? Yes, you have read that correctly.
After setting up a camp and a tent with the supplies you have and may find on the territory, you can also put up a hatchery. So when you grab an egg from a Dinosaurs nest you can hatch it and you will have your very own Dinosaur. Cool.
This is very neat when you want that they do certain tasks that are almost impossible for humans to do. With this feature on, you can play with for example a Dilophosaurus, a Parasaurolophus, even later with the mean machine, the T-Rex and other Nasty Evil Big Dinosaurs.
Again, a only-Dinosaur game would be a bit boring so the developers knew that aswell and have placed some Hunters on the road that are Trapping & Killing Dinosaurs and it is your task to stop them as quickly as possible!
On the graphics side it all looks nice, for a RTS game that is. Nothing is 3D-Accelerated because it isn't really needed.
Some of the scenery is pretty good displayed and is very well drawn, it is like they have scanned textures of real rocks and trees and placed it in the game with a good result! The dinosaurs doesn't look really scary to me and a bit more detail on them would do no harm. Later in the game, as usual, you can build other structures, upgrade your team, have more Dinosaurs at your command and lots more. The basics of every RTS-game I would say.
The scenery where everything happens is on your screen very small because you have also a map on the right side of your screen which indicates everything that moves. The map has Color Coding. Every color has an different code which is used for an easy identification. For example Yellow dots shows the positions of the supplies and eggs. The Red dots shows the locations of Hunters.
For Dinosaurs you can put them in 2 different types. The White dots are for Dinos that are Wild and Blue is for Friendly ones.
Herbivores (planteaters) and Carnivores (meat eaters) both roam the island. When the game begins they are all wild and potentially agressive when they encounter your human explorers and hunters. You, playing the role of the explorers have perfected artificial nest technology and can gather and hatch various species of Dinosaur Eggs into full-grown dinosaurs. Friendly dinosaurs will not harm you and your explorers or their buildings and will actually perform many useful functions.
Herbivores can be directed to eat plants to clear the landscape for building or path construction The Carnivores on the other hand also destroys or attacks buildings and fight other dinosaurs. Other Dinos like Pachys, Stegasaurs and Triceratops can also be directed to fight Hunters and their Vehicles.
Carnivores can attack Hunters and are useful as fighters and guards, but cannot clear landscapes. This is very useful to know what kind of Dino you shall use at a specific time.
Before you are thrown into a new level, you will see a computer screen from Gen. Gen is the firm who supports your fundings and you hear and see interesting things that may help you in succeeding your way up and in completing the level.
The Game:
My conclusion is that Chaos Island is a pretty good RTS-game that will give you lots of fun if you like the Jurassic Park movies or if you are just interested in Dinos. If not, I think that you will only be pleased with the fact that it shall ticker your brain.
Graphics are good for this type of game. After a few hours of intensive play, I got a bit bored. Perhaps I wasn't in good shape for playing or I just didn't like that particular level. :) I do not know.
One thing that is excellent is the Speech in this game. Why? Well because Dream Works Interactive has managed to get the real actors/actrices voices from the second J.P movie into this game. They manage that because the company that developed this game is in fact the same one that made the J.P. movies. Magic right?
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This Entire PC Game Review is © & ® of Bjorn D.B. Productions 199-8 and belongs to the PlayDevil's PC Game Review Site.
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Nothing of this Review, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form (electronic, written or otherwise) without the prior permission of the PlayDevil's PC Game Review Creator.
Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners.