GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
OK
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 04/09/2002
- Released on: 03/25/2002
- Originally published on GameSpot: Carnivores: Cityscape (PC) Review
Since the "hunting dinosaurs" genre isn't an overcrowded one, the original Carnivores at least had a high novelty factor. For Carnivores: Cityscape, the fourth installment in the budget-priced series, Deer Hunter developer Sunstorm Interactive took over for Action Forms, the company that made the first three Carnivores games, and abandoned the hunting game structure of the series. Instead, Cityscape is a straightforward run-and-gun shooter. In this new format, the good will Carnivores received for being a clever twist on traditional hunting simulations is no longer applicable. What's left is a thoroughly second-rate action game.
Some parts of Carnivores: Cityscape look quite good.
Cityscape is essentially a value-priced version of Aliens Versus Predator. However, in the budget tradition of feature removal, it only has two playable species. Each of the game's 20 levels can be completed as either a human or a dinosaur. Rather than having unique levels for the two campaigns, the levels generally remain the same with the mission goals inverted for the different species. For instance, if you have to rescue two scientists as a human, you'll have to eat two scientists as a dinosaur.
Twenty levels may sound like a lot, but many of them are pretty tiny--a few involve little more than getting from one side of a room to another. In fact, the game's set of 20 levels is really five environments broken up into four small sections each, and the game is artificially lengthened by the fact that you can only save at the end of each section.
As a human, you'll fight through levels populated with merely five different types of dinosaurs. Once they see you, the dinosaurs run straight at you, which is probably realistic, but doesn't make for great gameplay. As the Serious Sam games proved, simple enemy behaviors can still provide an interesting tactical challenge provided there are several different behaviors occurring simultaneously across a range of opponents. Cityscape's enemies all exhibit exactly the same attack pattern. As a result, combat is simply not very engaging. Since the combat is all there is, that's a real problem.
The weapon selection is also threadbare. There are six weapons available in the game, from which you choose two to take on each mission (along with a default pistol). This lack of weapon variety further reduces the number of tactical choices you have to make in combat.
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