Jurassic Park III Roars Into Your Computer
If dinosaurs with teeth that can rip you apart and tails that can knock you from here to tomorrow sound like fun playmates—read on. With this week’s opening of the PG-13 movie "Jurassic Park III" comes two software titles for children under the age recommendation for watching the movie.
Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender is an intense action/puzzle game that is best played by children 9 years of age of older because it is so challenging. Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone! is an intriguing board game where most squares lead to exciting mini-games. But, because it contains violence in the form of dinosaur battles, it may not be appropriate for children under 10. Both software titles let children get upclose and personal to many carnivorous dinosaurs—here’s the tooth-gnashing scoop.
Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender
Published on July 20th, 2001
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Children join the ranks of the Dino Defenders, an emergency team that helps keep Jurassic Park in order. A powerful typhoon has just ravaged Jurassic Park, leaving several of the electric fences non-operational. Kids jump into the Park to restore the electric fences manually while avoiding the jaws of the dinosaurs.
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In each of the six levels of difficulty, children must size up their surroundings, avoid renegade dinosaurs, find supply boxes, and then use the limited supplies in them to trap, tranquilize, or distract the ferocious dinosaurs. Only then can they access the electrical switches.
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If a player misjudges or proceeds through a scene in the wrong manner, he becomes dinosaur fodder. Luckily, every time you screw up and are eaten (the dinosaur head with all those BIG teeth descends upon you and then the screen goes black), you are reincarnated.
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Dino Defender works well because it requires an agile mind in addition to good hand-eye coordination. Each scenario is a complicated maze-type puzzle that requires children to plan carefully how to use their limited supplies and how to traverse a given scene. It was not unusual for kid-testers to retry a scenario more than 10 times before they finally got it right.
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Dino Defender will be intense fun for the days it takes to become a hero. Testers thought they would play it again—just not for a few months.
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Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone!
Published on July 20th, 2001
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Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone! is a virtual board game that can be played against the computer, but it is even better with a friend.
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Here’s the setup: a violent earthquake has just rocked Jurassic Park and destroyed all the stored dinosaur DNA. Kids race around a game board that looks like the Jurassic Park Island trying to be the first to collect enough DNA to clone a dinosaur.
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Players take turns moving their trucks the number of spaces designated by a spinner. Here is where the fun begins—most spaces on the game board lead to mini-games or challenges including memory games, games that identify dinosaurs, and arcade-style games. At certain spaces, players can earn the DNA needed to win the game.
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This software earned a “Violence” descriptor along with its “E” rating because the mini-game, “Raging Raptors,” is a fierce and brutal battle between two dinosaurs. Players use the keyboard buttons to have their dinosaur bite, claw, dodge, or tail-whip its opponent. This mini-game may not be appropriate for some children.
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Our boy-testers (ages 11-14) loved this software, but their enthusiasm waned the longer they played because the novelty of finding new games disappeared. This software would have provided better replayability if the programmers had randomized the mini-games so that the board changed in subsequent play-throughs.
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All software is judged on a five star scale by looking at the following five factors:
educational, fun, ease of use, value, technical.
Jinny Gudmundsen is the Editor of Computing With Kids magazine. If you have
questions or comments, please write to: .
© 2010 Computing With Kids
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