Warpath: Jurassic Park

The idea of hulking dinosaurs ripping and clawing at each other's throats is pretty exciting. It's great as a theme park ride. Even better as a movie. It's pretty good as a game, too. But as a fighting game? Well that depends on what angle you take. Primal Rage had those crazy pseudo-prehistoric beasts, and similar environments, so the fighting dino thing worked fairly well. The beasts in Warpath: IP, however, are simply dinosaurs, and the environments are jungle compounds and a gas station. It's just not very exciting really. The gameplay mechanics and overall feel of the game should've been reworked. Many of the dinosaurs' moves are very similar (like jump kicks, bites, tail whips, head lunges, etc.), and the overall fighting system simply lacks depth and detail. I like the edibles (humans and animals running around each arena, just waiting to be munched on by a dino for some health), and the impressive taunts (which look like displays of dominance). But when it's all said and done. I just have trouble identifying with regular old dinosaurs as fighters. Why are they fighting? As ridiculous as it sounds, I'd have an easier time identifying with Jeff Goldblum or one of the other characters from the film if they were in a fighting game. The visuals and sound are well in place--the other areas of the game need work.

Fighting game...Jurassic Park...seems like it would make a good combo, right? As good as the license is, that doesn't mean it's going to be a good game. The fighting engine is weak, and battles amount to constant button mashing and jumping around. What is cool are its interactive environments (you can crash through objects, people/dinosaurs run through the ring). But there's not enough challenge or technique here to keep most players occupied.

Well, it looks nice--and the sound effects are even better--but Warpath isn't a fighting game I'd wanna play for more than 15 minutes. That's how long it takes until the novelty of clawing, screeching, battling dinos wears thin. Dreamworks may claim this thing packs a deep fighting engine, but I just don't see it. Control seems sluggish. The tap-tap-tap gameplay is too shallow. I rarely used more than a few moves to zoom through the game.

According to Dreamworks, Warpath is pretty comparable to Tekken 3, gameplay-wise. Hmm...am I really supposed to believe Warpath is Tekken 3's equal? This game doesn't have what great fighting games have: interesting characters, a complex yet enjoyable fighting system and that certain natural feel. The game engine just isn't precise enough. There are clipping problems, and it's hard to tell where exactly the dinos are hitting.