Dino Crisis 3 is set in the year 2548 and is set on a gigantic spaceship, “Ozymandius” that has suddenly re-emerged after disappearing for 300 years and is now headed towards earth. Players assume the role of Patrick or Sonya, members of an intergalactic marine group called SOAR (Special Operations And Reconnaissance), who are sent by the government to investigate and procure any possible survivors aboard the outpost. As Patrick and the agents infiltrate the spaceship, they come upon a horrific scene of ravenous dinosaurs inhabiting the spaceship. Equipped with hyper-speed booster units, it’s a life and death struggle against these massive beasts as they float through the dark recesses of space. Despite this unnerving situation, they must cautiously proceed with their mission to find out the mysteries of the colony ship and stop it from returning to Earth.

Dino Crisis 3 is an xbox exclusive title from Capcom, by bringing the series to the xbox exclusively they were able to achieve even greater levels of graphical and audio quality such as never previously seen in previous Dino Crisis titles, the seamless switch from cut scene to playable action is a excellent example of this as the action switches without need for loading thanks to the xbox hard drive, the cut scenes themselves are truly stunning and at times often leave you drop jawed and you have to remind yourself you are in fact still playing a game rather than watching a movie (Check out just 1 of the stunning cut scenes: right click here and save as to download or Here to stream the movie file, it really has to be seen to be believed) the game actually features around one hour of cinematic cut scenes, all equally impressive.

Dino Crisis 3 features 7 main dinos and 3 mech type opponents which you will encounter with seemingly every turn of a corner or open door “you know the type of thing”. The game also features 4 boss’s which although may sound easy you do in fact encounter each more than once throughout the game and with each encounter the boss has developed and is harder to overcome than the last meeting.

You play through using one of two characters either Patrick or Sonya although you do not select which as Mr. Kobayashi (producer of the Dino Crisis series) and his team has opted to control this throughout the story and you assume the role of either of the characters as and when the story requires. Each of the playable characters are now not only able to carry two weapons the main weapon being a machine gun with full-auto fire and infinite ammo which is always handy and a secondary weapon know as a wasp flies around the battlefield attacking your enemies! Not only are you able to carry these two weapons but also you are also able of use both simultaneously this proves a vital skill to master especially as you progress through the game and encounter the larger and tougher bosses.

Your characters also now have the ability of flight through the use of a handy jetpack that lets you jump high into the air and glide around the environment and is a vital accessory enabling you to reach and investigate the entire ship. Your Jetpack is only capable of limited use, although it recharges it’s self and throughout the game you are also able to purchase upgrades which will allow for longer lengths of in flight time. You are also able to purchase weapon and life upgrades but one of the more interesting features is the ability to manipulate the environment through changing the shape of the space ship, the ship has several areas which are inaccessible and you are only able to access them if you manipulate the ships shape correctly this is done through the timeless solve puzzle system which featured so prominently in previous survival horror titles such as Dino Crisis or legendry Resident Evil Series although the Genre of Dino Crisis 3 is defiantly leaning more towards the Action/Adventure of say a Tomb Raider title.

Graphics:

Dino Crisis 3 actually features some of the most or equally impressive visuals ever to be seen on the xbox, at any given moment the screen may be littered with seemingly hundreds of dinosaurs or critters, and the player’s adrenaline will no doubt be flowing as they defend themselves and attack the prehistoric terrors. This is all possible because Mr. Hiroyuki Kobayashi has been able to create a game specifically for the xbox he has been able to utilize the shear graphical powers which oozes from beneath the mighty black box. Dino Crisis 3 used a full 3-D engine and doesn’t follow the previous titles by using pre-rendered static scenery, needless to say everything is now stunning and even at times features destructible environments which is again a first for the series. The only negative from a graphical perspective is the shockingly poor camera which are statically positioned, all too often leave you blind sided.

Although when at ECTS 2003 and in a developer meeting with Mr. Kobayashi who expressed that the static cameras where used to create atmosphere and also control what was available on screen to the player in order to keep the suspense I found this was all to often the cause for otherwise unnecessary injury or even death at times!

Sound:

Dino Crisis 3 features a cinematic orchestral soundtrack that is atmospheric and heavy on the bass, along with excellent sound effects, Dino Crisis 3 takes full advantage of the Xbox's 5.1 Surround Sound capabilities.

Longevity:

This is far from the longest game you will encounter on the xbox yet there is between 8 – 15 hours of solid gameplay along with the hour of cut scenes should you choose to watch them all, there are extras to unlock and to many players the game may offer just enough to play through a second or even a third time, although this wasn’t the case for me.

Roundup:

Dino Crisis 3 overall is a very solid excellently produced xbox exclusive title, the game is non stop action, with lots of different and magnificent looking Dinosaurs throughout. Other than the fixed placement of the camera which previously mentioned is at times a nightmare and I really can’t believe the opted for this method over the now common place free roaming camera the game is of the highest overall quality.

Pros:

• Stunning Graphics
  
• Movie Like Cut Scenes
  

  Cons:
  

  • Shocking Camera
    
  • Shocking Camera!
    
  • Shocking Camera!