A Walk in the Park

Jurassic Park recreated in ambitious Crysis mod.

---

By Nathan Davis on 19 March, 2009

Tour vehicle: Model nearing completion.Where’s our modern Jurassic Park game? I demand to be stuck on an island with a half-eaten car and dinosaurs hunting me down because the electric fences aren’t. It’s been a long while since someone developed a game based on the vicious, reptilian park. The most recent would have to be Operation Genesis, but that was a theme park manager and was released six years ago. This is all kinds of wrong.

Thankfully, it seems I’m not the only one holding this sentiment. Not planning to wait for someone else to amend this dire situation, a bunch of people are working on a mod for Crysis they’ve simply named Jurassic Park. The group calls itself Miriscus Interactive, and it’s been been slowly developing the game over several years. However, a fresh new project leader, John ‘Fugitmdup’ Niccoli, is helping to pick up the pace, and he intends to see it through to completion. “I would say things are running a lot smoother now,” he says on Mod DB. “You should see a lot of progress in the coming days/weeks/months.”

According to Miriscus, the adventure will take place on a pretty expansive island. “The setting is a 10 mile long island, resembling an upside down tear drop,” it says. “The island resembles the climate of Hawaii, but is covered in dense fog in many areas. Some areas of the island are so hot from volcanic activity that the soil [itself] is hot.”

The developer also promises a good dollop of story. Set in 1993, it will be based on a hybrid tale of both the first film and Michael Crichton’s novel. “You will progress through a great deal of this island throughout the story,” says Miriscus, but suggests that free-roaming exploration is also on the list of possibilities.

T. rex: Start running now.

“The current player role has been decided as Dr. Alan Grant,” the developer says. Nonetheless, it’s mulling over the idea of switching players between various characters as the story progresses. “Multiple player roles are being debated, such as interchanging between Dr. Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler.” What we think would be nifty is if players could also control a velociraptor, just like in the original 1993 game. Nothing beats chasing around people when you also happen to be a toothy dinosaur. With the developer mentioning multiplayer support, even more so.

You gotta go: When you gotta go.

Jurassic Park initially started as a mod for Source, but due to some rather lofty goals, the game migrated to a fully-blown independent title using a custom engine. Under the new leadership, Miriscus recently agreed to wind it back so as to make things easier, so it’ll now be created as a mod for Crysis, which uses CryEngine2 (CE2). “We have started to import assets into CE2 to make them fully functional for Jurassic Park,” Niccoli announces. “We have a long road ahead of us, however it will be enjoyable and a great learning experience.”

There is more than one: A gas-powered jeep you'll get to drive.

Unfortunately, breaking copyright law is clearly a big issue with this game, mod or otherwise. Interestingly enough, the developer claims it’ll only finish and release it to the public with the nod of approval from the copyright holder, Amblin Entertainment. “I know we need to get it, so don’t worry about that,” says Niccoli. “We will ask for permission because I will not release this mod if we do not have that permission.”

We have two hopes for this mod. First, that its developer actually manages to pull off a really cool Jurassic Park game, and second, that the copyright holder doesn’t just demand to know ‘what the hell do you think you’re doing in here?’

The Raptor Pen: Ever have lamb chops?

• Login to post comments

---