Dino Crisis (video game)

Dino Crisis
European PlayStation cover art
Developer(s)Capcom Production Studio 4[a]
Publisher(s)Capcom
Director(s)Shinji Mikami
Producer(s)Shinji Mikami
Designer(s)
Programmer(s)Ryuta Takahashi
Artist(s)
  • Kazunori Tazaki
  • Yasuyo Kondo
  • Yuichi Akimoto
Composer(s)
SeriesDino Crisis
Platform(s)
Release
July 1, 1999
  • PlayStation
    • JP: July 1, 1999
    • NA: September 23, 1999[1]
    • EU: October 29, 1999
    Dreamcast
    • JP: September 6, 2000
    • NA: November 15, 2000[2]
    • EU: December 22, 2000
    Windows
    • JP: 2000
    • EU: September 15, 2000[3]
    • NA: December 4, 2000
Genre(s)Survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player

Dino Crisis[b] is a 1999 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom originally for the PlayStation. It is the first installment in the Dino Crisis series and was developed by the same team behind Capcom's Resident Evil series, including director Shinji Mikami, and shares many similarities with it. The story follows Regina, a special operations agent sent with a team to investigate a secluded island research facility. Finding the place overrun with dinosaurs, Regina must fight through the facility to discover its secrets and ultimately escape alive with her team.

Instead of the pre-rendered backgrounds of the Resident Evil games that preceded it, Dino Crisis uses an original real-time engine with 3D environments. Gameplay features traditional survival horror mechanics including action and puzzles, and it was developed to have more consistent visceral terror with the dinosaurs being quick, intelligent, and violent. Capcom would later market the game as "panic horror" as opposed to "survival horror" due to these design changes. The team used carnivorous animals as references for animating the dinosaurs and programming their behaviors. Mikami's vision for the game was not completely fulfilled, as he wanted to develop more complex dinosaur artificial intelligence. However, he did believe the team was able to create sufficiently detailed environments despite hardware limitations.

Dino Crisis was a critical and commercial success, with the PlayStation version selling over 2.4 million copies. Critics drew heavy comparisons to Resident Evil, with some describing it as "Resident Evil with dinosaurs". They also praised the game's intensity, graphics, and gameplay. Some criticism was directed towards the lack of dinosaur variety, repetitive environments, and tedious puzzles. Dino Crisis was ported to Dreamcast and Windows in 2000, and was re-released for the PlayStation Network in 2006. Two different versions for the Game Boy Color were in development, but both were cancelled.

Dino Crisis was re-released on 15 October 2024 for PS4 and PS5 PlayStation Plus Premium tier subscribers.

  1. ^ I. G. N. Staff (1999-09-24). "Dino-Size Mod Chip Crisis". IGN. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  2. ^ "Capcom: News". 2001-04-19. Archived from the original on 2001-04-19. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  3. ^ "UK releases". Eurogamer.net. 2000-09-15. Retrieved 2023-04-20.


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