Warpath: Jurassic Park
Who knew dinosaurs could arrange a fighting tournament?

As a kid, dinosaurs always fascinated me. After seeing their skeletal structure at a museum, or watching a television special about them, their huge size and menacing appearance would always leave me in awe. Needless to say, I was one of the first people waiting in line to see both Jurassic Park movies. I also enjoyed playing many of the Jurassic Park games, particularly The Lost World by Electronic Arts. It's a shame, then, this Jurassic Park fighting game turned out to be such a disappointment.

No Jurassic Park game would be complete without the vicious T-Rex!

Don't concern yourself with a plot here, because Warpath cuts right to the chase. This is probably for the best, since I can't even begin to comprehend how such huge beasts with brains the size of walnuts could arrange and manage a fighting tourney. Warpath takes place in the Jurassic Park universe, so you will see many familiar backgrounds and environments that appeared in both movies. There are 14 different dinosaurs from which to choose, some of which you need to unlock.

The selection and variation of dinosaurs is nice, but only the "popular" varieties (T-Rex, Velociraptor, Triceratops) really stand out. Of course, each of the dinosaurs has its own advantages and disadvantages, but the size differential isn't as pronounced as I was expecting. For example, the T-Rex should dwarf the Triceratops, but it doesn't appear to have any great size advantage in the game. Also, many of the dinosaurs can execute moves that I'm sure would have been next to impossible when they roamed the Earth millions of years ago. For one, I don't think it would have been in the realm of possibilities for the T-Rex to jump as high as it does in the game, let alone at all.

At first, only some modes are selectable, but more become available as you play through the game. There is the standard Arcade mode, Versus mode, Team Battle mode, Practice mode, and an insignificant Museum mode where you can learn a little bit about each dino. A few more modes will become available upon completing the game, but they should have been included from the start. I don't see why the player should be forced to play through the game to unlock a Survival mode, since it really isn't much of a reward. Furthermore, this mode is standard in most fighting games, thus demonstrating how little Warpath has to offer when a mode like this needs to be "hidden."

Raptors may lack size, but their talons will make quick work of you if you're not careful.

All this would have been perfectly acceptable if the actual fighting were half-way decent. Unfortunately, it is about as exciting as the fighting in Primal Rage, which wasn't too exciting. Dinosaurs may be cool to look at — and, to be fair, they do look quite good in this game — but they're not very fun to control. Most of the moves consist of biting, clawing, tail whipping, ramming, head butting, etc. There are also several combos and an uninspired frenzy meter that slowly charges up as your dino inflicts damage or taunts an opponent. Once the frenzy meter is fully charged, the screen quickly flashes red, letting you execute a frenzy attack that inflicts an extra amount of damage.

The problem with most of the moves is they must be executed from a close range due to the small limbs of the dinos. Imagine playing Street Fighter or Tekken with characters that have extremely small arms and legs and you'll get an idea of what the gameplay is like. You can also circle in and out during a match à la Battle Arena Toshinden, but I was able to beat many of my opponents by simply standing in one spot while mashing buttons. Only when you increase the difficulty level from the default easy setting will you need to evade your opponents very much.

Feel like a little snack? This fleeing human should hold you until dinner time.

During a match, you will notice tiny humans, animals, or other smaller dinos running around the environment. These "edibles" increase your dino's health after it devours one. It also gives you another reason to use one of the shoulder buttons to circle around the environment, since the edibles very rarely stand directly in front of your dino.

In many levels, you will find breakable objects, like rocks and crates, but they don't do much to liven the action. Actually, you really need to go out of your way to break anything in the environment, with the end result being, "Wow, look at the way that T-Rex crushed that wooden crate." Come on, these are huge dinosaurs — at least they're supposed to be — so how about some real mayhem, like crashing through a building or knocking down a lookout tower.

Graphics and sound fare a little better. Graphically, the game is decent, but at no point was I in awe of the dinosaurs like I was with the ones in the Jurassic Park movies. This is a given, though, because Warpath runs on PlayStation hardware that's more than five years old and not the latest 128-bit powerhouse system. Nevertheless, the dinos are nicely detailed and pretty well animated, and they display some convincing damage as they take hits. Still, I would have to pick the dinosaurs in Dino Crisis over the ones in Warpath, appearance-wise. Even the dinos in EA's previous Jurassic Park game, The Lost World, stack up well against the ones in this game. That's not to say that the graphics are all bad, but they fail to impress. This could be due to the dark, bland colors of the backgrounds, or perhaps it's the lack of size and scale among the dinosaurs themselves. Whatever the case may be, the graphics get the job done, but that's about all.

The backgrounds should look familiar to anyone who saw the Jurassic Park movies.

On the other hand, the music is very well composed, orchestrated, and produced. It definitely fits the mood and lives up to the standard set by the Jurassic Park movies. The sound effects aren't nearly as good and are often quite annoying and repetitive. Some sound effects do stand out — the T-Rex roar being one of them — but they're nothing earth-shattering.

When it comes down to it, Warpath's biggest flaw is that it isn't much fun to play. Traditional fighting fans won't enjoy the awkward combat that occurs between two dinosaur combatants, and even Jurassic Park fans will quickly tire of the game. The secrets, hidden characters, and extra environments don't even make the game worth completing, since they're little more than filler. In the end, the game comes off looking like a gimmick. It seems Warpath was made to cash in on the dying Jurassic Park franchise, only it was released a couple of years too late. Warpath would have been acceptable if it were included as an extra mode in the re-release version of the Lost World game, but it isn't worth the price of admission on its own.

Supports:

• 1-2 Players
• Memory Card
• Vibration Function