A Dinosaur Safari with Jurassic: The Hunted

When will we humans ever learn? Many of us would love to see dinosaurs in the flesh, but if we ever actually got the chance it would probably be a terrifying experience.  Numerous movies, comic books, and video games have been based upon this love-hate relationship, and last week saw the release of video game that carries on in this tradition called Jurassic: The Hunted.

Asking about the story played out in the game is a bit superfluous. Any plot that involves dinosaurs, the Bermuda Triangle, and a gritty heavy-weapons expert does not merit too much thinking about. The entire reason for the game's existence is to allow players to run around shooting dinosaurs with a variety of big, highly destructive weapons.

If this sounds familiar, it should. Another dinosaur shoot-'em-up, Turok, was released early in 2008. In fact, the new game shows many similarities with Turok, and it looks like Jurassic: The Hunted is a game meant to satisfy players who want to keep blasting away at dinosaurs. I have to admit that Turok had a pretty good storyline, though, something that this new game seems to have foregone.

Though gaming systems are continually changing, dinosaur hunting games have been around for a while and probably will continue to pop up for many years to come. Such games allow virtually anyone to be a heroic monster slayer without leaving the comfort of their couch. It seems that the only thing more fun than bringing dinosaurs back to life is sending them into extinction again.

Riley Black | | READ MORE

Riley Black is the author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs and many other books. She is a science correspondent for Smithsonian magazine covering fossils and natural history, and she writes about the prehistoric past for a variety of publications.