Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender

Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender
Developer(s) Knowledge Adventure
Publisher(s) Knowledge Adventure
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Release date(s) 29 June 2001
Genre(s) Action
Mode(s) Single player
Distribution CD-ROM

Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender, or just Dino Defender is a 2001 side-scrolling video game as franchise to the movie Jurassic Park III. The player is depicted as a person in a bio-mechanical suit hired by Jurassic Park to bring power back to the electrified fences and capture all the free-roaming dinosaurs.

Plot

After the training mission, the player is shown a cutscene. It shows a typhoon raging across Jurassic Park and destroying the fences. The dinosaurs were let loose, and the player is briefed that one must trap all the dinosaurs "before they destroy one another". Since it's too dangerous to deliver it by hand, the helicopters drop gear in supply boxes onto Isla Sorna. "Call boxes" can be used to lure dinosaurs and various other weapons to tranquilize them. "Circuit Breakers" scattered around the island can be switched on to activate the island's electricity. In the first level, the player lands on a beach with a few compys on it. The first circuit breaker is on the left, whereas the player must either avoid, distract, or capture the compys. Soon after, the player will run into some Velociraptors in a small cliff (there is a hidden 4th raptor on top of the cliff). The player advances to the right where they must swim while avoiding jellyfish and mysterious poisonous purple plants. The other disadvantage is the air tank. After the player survives the swim he finds an underwater cavern. The player then goes down the cave and hears a rumbling. Just as the player looks down, a large area of where he is standing crumbles causing him to fall to the near bottom of the cave. Level 2 starts here. The player must advance downwards, capturing all dinosaurs in the way. Left of the first circuit breaker is an elevator, as you pull the lever to the circuit breaker, the elevator lowers down. The thing is there is a raptor in the elevator. The player must act fast and tranquilize the raptor before proceeding. There is another part if the player wishes to capture the remaining raptors and/or compys. Up in the surface is another raptor. After tranquilizing it the player walks on, but a few stegosaurus block the path (or at least with their tails) the player must dodge the tail attacks before finding the last circuit breaker After opening the gate it will go to a cutscene. The player discovers a steep ravine. As the player is about to turn around and go back, a Pteranodon knocks the player down a cliff. Level 3 begins here. The player goes up a cliff, jumping over many gaps and tranquilizing and dodging dinosaurs (Baby Pteranodon, Adult Pteranodon, Compys, and a raptor). When climbing to the top, the player needs to hit a circuit breaker before discovering a rock bridge. When walking across the bridge it starts to break causing the player to sprint to the bridge without falling. At the end of the cliff, the player is chased by baby Pteranodons, and encounters a Tyrannosaurus Rex. (The player freezes as to what Dr. Grant says in the movie) The baby pteranodons distract it while the player escapes. At the 4th level, the T-Rex chases the player and falls down a pit after it crosses an unstable bridge, but survives. The player goes down it to turn on the 1st circuit breaker while warding off the king of the dinosaurs. Now the player goes into the jungle, jumping on Brachiosaurus heads, tranquilizing Velociraptors and Pteranodons, and dodging more Stegosaurus. You go down a waterfall, the player gets past (possibly the same) T-Rex. After avoiding the T-Rex, the player discovers a construction elevator. At the elevator, a Spinosaurus arrives and the player escapes on vines. Level 5 starts here. The T-Rex and Spinosaurus face off, with the Spinosaurus fleeing. The player is in the Tyrannosaurus pen (otherwise known as the Rex Maze). After escaping, the player goes to the underground tunnels. The player navigates through the hot gas pipes and capturing more Velociraptors. On the other side is the Spinosaurus pen (otherwise known as the Spino Maze). After barely escaping the pen, the player escapes to the visitors center unaware that the Spinosaurus has escaped from the pen. When in the visitors center, the Spinosaurus arrives. From there the player must flip switches activating the dinosaur skeletons to fall on the Spinosaurus. The last skeleton is the T-rex skeleton which is big enough to pin the Spinosaurus to the ground! While the Spinosaurus is unconscious on the floor you must activate the final switch making the lower half of the T-rex skeleton fall on the Spinosaurus possibly killing the dinosaur. After leaving the visitors center, multiple helicopters fly off with the dinosaurs you tranquilized, making that the final cutscene. In the end you get printable dinosaur cards depending on the dinosaurs you tranquilized.

Gameplay

The six levels of Dino Defender consist of fast-paced quick thinking challenges. The player must move around obstacles and find supply boxes, switch on circuit breakers and avoid dinosaurs. To collect gear to capture/tranquilize a certain dinosaur, the player must find a 'supply box' which contains a certain number of both 'call boxes', which are small microphones that play a dinosaur call, causing dinosaurs of that species to investigate. The other supply is gear, which can be a net, a tranquilizer or a distractor flare, which can be used to capture or distract dinosaurs.

At some points in the game, the player will have to swim underwater. When a player is underwater, an "air" gauge appears, which slowly decreases. If the gauge runs out before the player breaks the surface of the water, he dies.

Once the player has completed the game, one is rewarded with trading cards showing the dinosaurs the player has captured, which can be printed out. You must capture all of the dinosaurs of that species to actually get the trading card.

Dinosaurs

There are 7 dinosaur species featured in Dino Defender.

Main Dinosaurs

These dinosaurs are the only ones that can be captured (With the exception of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Spinosaurus) and have gear and call boxes. (With the exception of Spinosaurus) If the player touches the dinosaur or goes to a certain area, a cutscene of the dinosaur that kills the player shows it eating the screen. (Or showing the dinosaur with the screen disappearing in the dinosaur's mouth.) The background also changes, depending where the player is playing (Except for Compsognathus and T-rex)

Minor Dinosaurs

The player is faced by a variety of dinosaurs, such as Velociraptor and Compsognathus

Some other dinosaurs can kill the player; Stegosaurus can kill one with its tail and the Brachiosaurus drops branches down onto the player. In Level 4 the player must jump onto the Brachiosaurus' head, however the dinosaur is moving and can knock the player off.

Non-Dinosaurs

Sequel

Later the same year, a second game called Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone, was produced by the same company and played like a board game. The player would roll a die. If they landed on different spaces, they had to play different minigames, such as one where the player must cross a ravine. It also used Trading Cards, and involved shooting dinosaurs to get DNA. If enough DNA was acquired of the target dinosaur, the player won and could visit Jurassic Park research labs.

See also

External links