Is Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection, Worth Playing?
Honest Video Game Reviews received a free copy of this title for review purposes, however our opinions are our own.
The Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection is an excellent collection of mediocre games that relies purely on nostalgia to generate sales.

The Lowdown.

Product Details
Genre: Action
Developer: Limited Run Games
Publisher: Limited Run Games
Price: $29.99+
Release Date: 21 November 2023
Supported Modes:

Very Short Games.

Many of the titles in the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection are incredibly short, and its possible to complete most titles in less than one hour, even on the hardest difficulty settings; this figure becomes even shorter for players who only wish to complete the game as the human character (default story), which in turn reduces the playtime of some titles such as Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition both for the Sega Genesis to less than 30 minutes per game.

It’s honestly pretty astonishing that gamers in the 1990s accepted this freely, while gamers today would riot if a full-priced game* offered less than 10 hours of content, let alone less than one hour on even the hardest difficulty.

*In 1993, Sega Megadrive games retailed for $49.99, and SNES for $60, which would be $104 and $126 in 2023, far more expensive than the industry standard of $70 for a AAA title. 

Is Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Worth Playing

Quality Of Life Improvements. 

Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection launches with all of the bells and whistles we expect of a retro compilation release, including save states, the ability to rewind gameplay, quick resume gameplay, and set various filters to recreate the appearance of CRT monitors.

While these additions are nothing new regarding retro compilations, it’s always nice to have them included, as they help to make older titles, which are traditionally punishingly hard and offer limited lives and continues, more palatable to modern audiences.
Is Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Worth Playing

High Quality Ports.

While many of the titles in the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection are mediocre, Limited Run games have done an excellent job of porting them. Honestly, each title looks, sounds and plays about as well as could be expected.

Of special note is Jurassic Park (Sega Genesis), which could easily be sold today as a high-quality indie title; the character animations look fantastic, and while the audio design remains contained by what was possible on early 1990s hardware, I enjoyed playing Jurassic Park (Sega Genesis) as much in 2023 as I did when I first played it in the mid-1990s.
Is Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Worth Playing

Collection Contents.

Jurassic Park 8-BIT (NES):
  • How Long To Beat: 45-60 minutes.
  • Gameplay: Pretty simplistic even for the time, but fans of 8-bit games will enjoy it, even if no one else will.
  • Visuals: Like all 8-bit games, it’s not much to look at; however, fans of the aesthetic will not be disappointed
Jurassic Park PORTABLE (GameBoy)
  • How Long To Beat: 55-60 minutes.
  • Gameplay: Simplistic, handheld gameplay from the early 1990s; however, despite limitations, it offers slightly more content than the console version.
  • Visuals: Game boy games never looked good, the thrill was gaming on the go, and the move to full-size monitors only exasperated the issue; that being said, I think I prefer the look of the Gameboy version over that of the console port due to its tasteful green pallet and lack of bright orange set pieces.
Jurassic Park 16-BIT (SNES).
  • How Long To Beat: 85-90 minutes.
  • Gameplay: An exciting (for the time) mix of first-person and isometric 2D exploration makes this one of the most mechanically diverse games in the collection.
  • Visuals: While Jurassic Park for the SNES looks much less impressive than its Sega Genesis counterpart (the best-looking game in the collection), it is a very nice-looking game for the era, despite its strange character dimensions and limited texture details
Jurassic Park (Sega Genesis).
  • How Long To Beat: 30-50 minutes.
  • Gameplay: Jurassic Park for Sega Genesis is the highlight of the collection; with well-thought-out exploration and platforming mechanics and a heavy focus on inventory management, it feels like a very early attempt at a survival horror game as Dr Grant tries to escape the island while being pursued by the ravenous Tyrannosaurus Rex across multiple stages.
  • Visuals: Jurassic Park for Sega Genesis is, without question, the best-looking game in the collection. While it’s obvious that 1993 hardware limitations hold it back from its full potential, Jurassic Park for Sega Genesis still looks fantastic over 30 years after release, and it is honestly the only title in the collection I would choose to play for entertainment value alone.
Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues 16-BIT (SNES).
  • How Long To Beat: 85-90 minutes.
  • Gameplay: Like every other “sequel” in the collection, Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues is terrible and emphasises shooting and blowing things up more than exploration and narrative.
  • Visuals: Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues looks terrible even for a rushed, low-effort 1990s movie tie-in and is demonstrably less attractive than its predecessor in almost every way, with blurred visuals and an overly bright and cartoonish colour pallet.
Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues 16-BIT (GameBoy).
  • How Long To Beat: 85-90 minutes.
  • Gameplay: While suffering from all the same issues as the SNES version listed above, Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues has the additional burden of being limited by the processing power of the original Gameboy, making Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues (Game Boy) one of the worst games in the collection.
  • Visuals: While Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues is far more simplistic on Gameboy than on SNES, it honestly looks a lot better, with the simplistic gameplay and sprites looking more appealing on Gameboy than on SNEs, due to its tasteful green pallet, and lack of eye-watering bright and blurry visuals.
Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (Sega Genesis).
  • How Long To Beat: 30-45 minutes.
  • Gameplay: Opting to forgo the slow-paced and skill-focused gameplay of Jurassic Park (1993), Rampage edition focuses on killing hordes of dinosaurs and human soldiers as fast as possible while travelling through levels at breakneck speeds in every conceivable way possible, from riding on the back of dinosaurs, to free falling from the top of a mighty redwood while avoiding the claws pteranodons.
  • Visuals: While Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition is a good-looking game, the adoption of a Sonic the Hedgehog-esque colour pallet strips away a lot of the mystery and maturity of the first game, which overall makes it feel far less like a survival horror game, and more like a side-scrolling run and gun title from the 1980s.

Is Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Worth Playing

Jurassic Park Controversy.

Growing up in the early 1990s in the UK was a time of both excitement and frustration; misinformation and third-hand “facts” were rife, and well-meaning parents were fearmongered into labelling all manner of mundane things as evil, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Video Games.

Jurassic Park, with its “excessive violence, horror, and gore”, was a target like no other, even in my small Welsh village where the internet was only just getting known (and was already being labelled as “evil”); somehow, the concerns and accusations of American conservatives were starting to spread.

I remember being told why Jurassic Park was evil and how the devil used it to confuse and corrupt people by well-meaning family members (who also thought Batman was also “off the devil.” and a corrupting influence). Thankfully, my parents were more grounded, and I was allowed Jurassic Park, Batman toys & video games like anyone else.

While there is something to be said about Jurassic Park being too violent for small children, the accusation of dinosaurs being “off the devil” has always fascinated me, and a review of Jurassic Park is a great time to look into the accusation.

In short, some American evangelical Christians believe that demons created dinosaur bones to confuse people and stop them from believing that the world is only 6000 years old.

While some have tried to rewrite history to fit dinosaurs within that time frame, others still insist that dinosaur bones were planted there by the devil and his fallen angels.

Now, I will be forthright with you: I am a follower of Jesus Christ, and his references to God making male and female” in the beginning” are enough for me to believe in creation.

I have witnessed time and time against direct evidence of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ in my own life (including witnessing people cured of cancer and incurable blood disease ); I do not doubt for a second that our current existence is the work of God.

However, that does not mean that humanity as we are now, were the first humans on Earth, and the Bible itself lends credence to this with God stating that Adam was to replenish the Earth, something he and Eve would not have been able to do if they were the first humans.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth. - Genesis 1:28

In addition, we are told that before creating mankind, God spoke and said, “Let us create man in our image”, with some original texts containing a word that modifies meaning to be something closer to “this time let us”, or “this time we will”, implying that mankind in some form had once lived on Earth before it becoming formless and void, as it is rediscovered at the start of Genesis.

As for why the Earth was created and then became formless and void, only to be repopulated, the Bible does not say; however, many believe this was due to the heavenly rebellion which saw Lucifer cast out from heaven, with many theologians believing this act was the catalyst for the end of the old world, which then entered a rapid cycle of decay until the Earth was entirely devoid of life and light.

Could this explain the elusive final “missing link” between modern man and Neanderthals, the extinction of the dinosaurs and proto-humanity, and why modern human history only existed back 6-10k years despite evolutionists claiming that humanity in its current form has existed for much longer?

Very likely, as we know, these things did exist (despite some extremist Christians trying to claim dinosaurs were not real), and yet there has never been any scientific or religious proof that bridged the gap between the “old world and proto-man” and modern humanity, signifying that a break occurred and that the history of the Earth is not as linear as we have been lead to believe.

In short, Dinosaurs existed, and they are not the work of the devil, and calling them as much dismisses the beauty of their creation.

Dinosaurs and some likely form of a lesser evolved proto-man lacking the divine spark of creation existed before the events of Genesis, and calling anything related to “cavemen” & dinosaurs satanic is a poor witness for Christ and honestly makes Christians look insane and focused on unimportant things, while important issues such as poverty, immigration and healthcare are left unaddressed.

Jesus told his followers to Love God and Love one another, not to spend their lives attacking the world around them and making mountains out of molehills.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. - John 13:34

If more Christians spent their energy doing this instead of instigating the next “satanic panic”, the world would be a much better, kinder, and happier place indeed, and the true and rarely preached Gospel of Jesus Christ would be known by all people and nations.

Is Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Worth Playing

Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection FAQ

Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection is a action video game developed and published by Limited Run Games, it was released on 21 November 2023 and retails for $29.99+.

Platform Availability.

Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection is available on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

What Peripherals Are Supported?

The following peripherals are officially supported:

  • Console - Controller.
  • PC - Controller.

Is There Any Mature Content?

Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection is rated PEGI 7+ and contains:

  • Gore
  • Violence

Final Verdict.

If you have been itching to replay class Jurassic Park titles for the last three decades, then the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection is a great way to expierance them in modern hardware.

That being said, with most games being either ports of other games in the collection or low-effort sequels, waiting for a sale is a good idea, as while it’s a good collection of games sold at a fair price, many of the games are of average quality at best, and there are much better ways to spend $30 than replaying some of the most iconically generic movie tie-in games of the early 1990s.

Is Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Worth Playing In 2024?

7
Honest Video Game Reviews has given "Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection" a rating of 7/10, indicating that it is a good game, that is well worth playing, and while it may have a few shortcomings, the average gamer will enjoy it.

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