Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey Review - Xbox

Dinotopia is a primitive, uncharted island far away, and a place where humans and dinosaurs coexist largely in peace. The most populated area of Dinotopia is the main city, built on wooden planks above the treetops - the stuff of fantasy. Not all is happy and peaceful in Dinotopia, however; besides the usual threat of raptors and other ferocious carnivores that refuse to live in harmony with humans, an army of people known as the Outsiders threaten to destroy Dinotopia, being morally against the companionship between man and dinosaur. And Drake Gemini, a resident of Dinotopia since the age of fourteen, mourns the loss of his father who was attacked by a Tyrannosaurus while collecting root for Drake and his twin brother Jacob's twenty-fourth birthday. This loss somehow sparks Drake's desire to become a guardian of Dinotopia, and after learning that his brother suddenly wants to join the Outsiders, he sets off on his journey.

Gameplay

Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey puts you in control of Drake Gemini from a third-person view. The game's levels take you through the various exotic locations within Dinotopia, from its treetop city to the wet, wildlife-infested swamp known as the Rainy Basin. Unfortunately, however, all of the levels are very linear, featuring simple, narrow pathways with little to no incline in height or depth to keep it interesting and only a few large areas. This adds to the repetitive feeling that the game bears, and you'll quickly realise that all you're doing is following the paths through levels fighting Outsiders and wild dinosaurs. The fact that there is only one puzzle and only two short platform-jumping sections in the whole game makes this even worse. The game only saves at the end of each level, and since some are quite long this can present a problem, especially if you lose all of your lives as you'll need to restart the whole level. You'll also have to backtrack through whole levels a lot throughout the game, and you'll often wonder why some of the tasks forcing you to do this couldn't be done the last time you were there. In my opinion this backtracking was only included to extend the short lifespan of the game; I finished it on the Normal difficulty my first time through in just under five hours.

At the beginning of the game, Drake's personality starts to come out and you begin to grow attached to him. Unfortunately, from this point until the very end of the game ... (continued next page)