Dinobreak broke my heart. And in less than 10 minutes too. That’s all it took for the sense that Dinobreak is awful to set in. Which is surprising, because it could have been set up to succeed. It had all the tools to be awesome. On the Steam Page, it even says:
BEWARE: DINOBREAK looks, plays, and sounds like a survival horror game made in 1999. It is a truly retro experience made for folks who miss that bygone era. Only proceed if you’re ready to return to the world of true survival horror!
Except the problem is, Dinobreak does not play like a survivor horror game from 1999. Meaning, it does not play like Dino Crisis, which this game is a homage to. It manages to be worse. I sat through and enjoyed most of DIno Crisis, and if it wasn’t on my Raspberry PI, which is MIA, I’d go beat it. Here, instead of one or two dinosaurs at a time, you’ll possibly fight three or more, with no room to run and only very clunky combat to rely on. You’ll just be chewed to death with no recourse. And that is the warehouse, the first major area.
On top of that, there are dinosaur eggs, which if you touch or shoot, spawn more dinosaurs, making things even tougher. Dino Crisis, meanwhile, eased you into the survival horror, but never made things you couldn’t run around, or from. It even tells you you’ll have to fight through certain encounters early on, which is the antithesis of survival horror. I tried hightailing it to the warehouse exit after getting the wrench, and was set upon by so many dinosaurs, i died in short order. Dinobreak, in short, was not balanced at all. I just gave up. If that’s the first area, I can’t imagine later ones. And I was playing on “easy.”
This is disappointing, because as I said, the game could have been a success, they nail the blocky 1999 graphics. They nail the bad voice acting in Resident Evil games. There are many way to play. Modern controls or tank controls. Tons of graphical and game play options. If the game was in the hands of more competent developers, Dinobreak could have been something, instead its a failure.
Dino Crisis is not coming back. Exoprimal, while good, was Capcom laughing in your face. Dinobreak stepped up to take its place, and failed miserably because it doesn’t know if it wants to be action or survival horror. Don’t tell me this is survival horror then give me an assault rifle and force me to maul down dinosaurs. Instead of being a classic, this will go extinct is short order.
Overall: Dinobreak doesn’t know what it wants to be, survival horror or action, and as a result, fails at both.
Verdict: Not Recommended
| Platform | Nintendo Switch |
| Release Date | 10/4/23 |
| Cost | $19.99 |
| Publisher | Drop Dead Studios |
| ESRB Rating | M |
Update: According to a mutual on Discord, this is apparent the same game as Outbreak: Contagious Memories, except with dinosaurs instead of Zombies. I have not played that game, so I cannot comment, but the screenshots of both sure do look mighty similar…
P.S. The only other Dinosaur game i reviewed was Ark: Dinosaur Discovery.
Adam
Unfortunately I played their previous game, Contagious Memories (which is actually their seventh Outbreak title….) and it seems like they have taken that game and swapped a few things around – notably NPC placement – and then swapped out zombies for dinosaurs. Having seen gameplay footage, I recognised almost all of it. A lazy effort from a lazy dev. Considering Contagious Memories is by far the worst game I’ve played on the Switch, I’ll be staying away from this garbage.