Dino Crisis

Play it on: Windows (via GOG.com)
Current goal: Outride a crisis

I need a vacation. What’s that? You say there’s an island I can visit where a secret research laboratory has been infested by deadly dinosaurs? You say there’s a very good chance I’ll get maimed or eaten? Sounds good to me, sign me up!

Yes, in one of this week’s more pleasant pieces of news, GOG.com announced that both Dino Crisis and its sequel are now available to buy and play on PC. Never having played either of these games in their PS1 heyday, I immediately hopped over there and snagged the two-game bundle. (You can also buy either game separately, of course.) I’ve heard mixed things about the first Dino Crisis and whether it feels worthy of the studio that, at the time, had already created the early survival horror masterpieces of Resident Evil and RE2. Meanwhile, I’ve gleaned that the second Dino Crisis departs somewhat from the survival horror formula, with interesting results. Now I get to dive in myself and make up my own mind.

Horror can be cathartic, perhaps most of all in genuinely scary times. The “crisis” of facing dinos who want to tear me to shreds sounds terrifying, but I also know that it’s manageable. And maybe in some small way, facing and overcoming that crisis will make the crises happening hee in the real world feel just a bit more manageable, too. — Carolyn Petit