Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Review (PS5) – When it comes to the re-release of retro games, some prefer that the games come in their untouched form. Others wish to see minor refinements when it comes to playing the games themselves, such as touching up control input response.
When it comes to the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection, Limited Run Games opted to distribute these titles completely in their original forms, flaws and all, with only a few modern touches added into the mix.
Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Review (PS5) – A Decent Collection Of Old Games For Those Specifically Looking For Them
Pulling from several retro consoles, the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection consists of the following games:
- Jurassic Park 8-Bit
- Jurassic Park Portable
- Jurassic Park 16-Bit
- Jurassic Park Genesis
- Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues 16-Bit
- Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues Portable
- Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition Genesis
These games on their own lack a great deal of oomph or intrigue. I say that as someone who played these as a kid with my GameBoy and Game Gear plugged into my hallway outlet with a 3-foot cord. I loved these games back then.
Still, hindsight doesn’t always mesh with rose-colored glasses. The 8-bit titles are shadows of what their console counterparts offer. In fact, the two Genesis titles are the best of the bunch.
They don’t demand much of your time, and they give you a nice power trip if you play as the raptor. The others are either top-down shooters with the most simplistic AI possible or they play like Metal Slug clones.
In The Name Of Preservation
Conversely, bundling them all in one title adds some merit to the complete product. Preservation is the name of the game here, allowing players to relive their childhoods, offer a cheaper way to collect these games, or give new players chances to see the types of games that got us to now.
Still, these games don’t offer up a great deal of playtime, with the collection only asking you to spend a couple hours total across all games.
With all of this in mind, the final point is cost. Depending on what you want from this collection, the final product offers a great deal for its price, specifically if you want a physical version.
As a collector, buying any of these games individually for their original hardware runs anywhere from $10 to $250 each, with the complete boxed versions of the GameBoy games costing the most.
When comparing $29.99 to over $400.00, this collection saves collectors a nice chunk of change as well as shelf space.
As it is with Limited Run Games, the physical media crowd is the target audience. The team also offers these games digitally for anyone to grab. As someone who loved these games at one point, they are still worth playing at least once in your life.
However if you plan to buy them digitally, just wait for a sale.
Lackadaisical Modern Features
Across the board, the biggest issue with this collection is its barebone implementation of modern enhancements. While this collection includes rewind and save states, it only offers so much freedom with those options. For instance, rewind is only about 7 seconds or fewer, depending on the game.
The game affected by this the most, in my opinion, is 8-bit Jurassic Park. During most of the game, 7 seconds is enough. However, when fleeing the Tyrannosaurus, 7 seconds changes nothing. If you run out of ammo, you cannot finish that sequence no matter what.
Then, save states only grant you one save slot per game. Compared to rewind, one save slot is easier to manage, and going in with hindsight helps you better utilize these features in tandem with each other.
However, as a first experience, these features only help so much, leaving newcomers to still struggle and restart at points where we struggled as kids in the original games.
The only other enhancements included in this collection come in the form of visual filters and added maps. If you want to play with a cathode-ray tube aesthetic, you can. If you get lost, you can pull up a map of the game world to find your way.
A Welcome Collection of Retro Games For A Very Specific Audience
Much like paleontologists, only the most passionate fans of these games in the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection will take the time to dig them up. The best part is that these older titles are easily available for today’s players.
In this case, a physical bundle of these games saves a great deal of money for collectors.
Still, as a bundle of games, the collection leaves a lot to be desired. The games themselves don’t move mountains, but they offer more playtime and experiences in one package. However, the limitations implemented into rewind and save states hinder the potential of this complete product.
The target audience already owns this collection. For everyone else, these are still worthwhile games to play, though you would benefit from waiting for a digital sale.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.