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Video Game: Jurassic Park: The Game

Return to Isla Nublar

What the hell kind of zoo is this?!''

— Nima Cruz

Jurassic Park: The Game is a 2011 video game from Telltale Games in the style of games like Heavy Rain. It plays like an Interactive Movie, as you don't actually control your character - rather, you guide them through quick-time events during the action scenes. During the puzzle/exploration scenes, you can look around for points of interest, switch between characters/locations, and talk through dialogue trees.

The events of the game itself are set during and right after the events of the first film, following head veterinarian Dr. Gerald "Gerry" Harding, his daughter Jess, and several mercenaries as they attempt to escape the island. Notably, the lost Barbasol can filled with dinosaur embryos is a major plot point.

The game received mixed reviews, with the phrase "Like Heavy Rain with dinosaurs," being used as both a positive and a negative description.

This game provides examples of:

Abandoned Area: Most of the facility becomes this after the storm evacuation is completed and Hammond's company leaves the island.
Acrophobic Bird: At one point, the rescue team are in a helicopter and are trying to get out of range of the Tyrannosaurus. Yoder simply backs away from it rather than flies directly up.
Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: In between getting attacked and fighting for their lives, the heroes often get to enjoy more sedate moments. Good examples include the Triceratops scene in the first episode and the Parasaurolophus scene in the second.
Action Girl: Nima.
Adaptational Attractiveness: Gerry Harding, who is a 60+ year old man with a Tom Selleck moustache. Definitely fits the profile of in-game Gerry.
Adult Fear: Many of the death scenes involve Gerry being forced to watch his teenage daughter Jess getting eaten, crushed or stomped.
After-Action Patchup: Played with: Initially, Nima only gets first aid treatment after escaping from the Dilophosaurus and the mysterious creatures. During the climax of episode one, however, Nima has to get treatment during an action segment.
Air Vent Passageway: Jess uses one to access the geothermal generator in the third episode, much to Gerry's anger. The Troodon use them to get around the facility, and try to break in to the room containing the heroes by using vents.
Aloof Ally: Nima, initially.
Always a Bigger Fish: The T. rex reprises its role in eating raptors to the protagonists' benefit.
- Another scene has it show up and get into a fight with an angry mother Triceratops that's trying to kill them, and the protagonists only make it through because, for the most part, the two dinosaurs are more interested in killing each other.
- The Dilophosaurus only back off when they hear a strange call. It looks for a moment as though Nima is free to escape, and then there is a rustling of leaves and shadowy creatures surround her in the dark. Then she gets bitten.
Amusement Park of Doom: This time it even has a roller coaster.
And I Must Scream: D-Caf's fate.
Animal Wrongs Group: Dr. Sorkin. She frees the dinosaurs of their lysine dependency, allowing them to survive off the island without help (though at the time she had no idea they could breed). When she finds out the island is going to be bombed, she first tries to use the other characters as hostages to stop it, then tries to release the park's Mosasaur into the ocean to save it. She's also responsible for many of the deaths in the game, having kept the lethally venomous Troodon a secret after Hammond ordered her to kill them.
Anyone Can Die: Out of the game's eight characters, only two or three (depending on your actions) survive the game's events.
Artifact of Death: The can of embryos seems like this at times. To whit:
- Nedry initially had it, and gets killed by Dilophosaurus.
- Miles then acquires it, and gets killed by Dilophosaurus.
- Nima picks it up, and barely survives being bitten by a mysterious and venomous creature.
- Yoder later gets hold of it, and narrowly escapes being eaten by the T. rex while trying to keep hold of it.
- Yoder goes after it at the end of the game, and gets killed by the T. rex.
- If you make the choice, Nima goes after it at the end of the game, and also gets killed by the T. rex.
Ascended Extra: Gerry Harding, who was a minor character in the movie.
- Interestingly he was a major character in the book. So he got Demoted to Extra and is now an Ascended Extra.
Asshole Victim: The game has a disturbing tendency akin to the movies to have almost everyone who dies either start as this or become a raging asshole shortly before they die. Oscar seems to be the only exception, see Heroic Sacrifice below.
Atlantis Is Boring: Averted. The marine exhibit is where a lot of the drama unfolds, and it includes an attempt to sneak past the fearsome Mosasaur.
Badass Beard: Oscar. Yoder teases him about it when the shaving cream can is discovered.
Badass Normal: Oscar kills a raptor with nothing but a combat knife!
- Gerry, while attempting to force the gate on the Triceratops paddock closed, takes a direct hit from the charging alpha female. The enormous steel gate is knocked off its hinges and lands on top of him— and yet he's still vigorous enough to crawl out from underneath, scoop up a wounded Nima, and run to safety whilst evading both the angry Triceratops and a hungry T. rex. Is this guy Made of Iron or what?
  - And according to Sorkin, Gerry was the first person ever that managed to outrun a pack of raptors.
Bad Vibrations: It just wouldn't be Jurassic Park if you couldn't track the T. rex with a seismograph.
The Bait: Yoder cooperates with Oscar by acting as this for some raptors. Oscar sneaks past them in the meantime.
Barrier-Busting Blow: The larger dinosaurs like to do this a lot. A Triceratops knocks down a steel gate while Gerry is struggling to close it. The Tyrannosaurus smashes its head through the Visitor Centre's front door, and then smashes the doorway aside on the next attempt. And this is just for the first episode.
Big Damn Heroes: Oscar rescues the Hardings and Sorkin from a raptor pack by jumping in, slashing one of the raptors in the face, and scaring the whole pack away.
Big Heroic Run: Plenty of this. The game prompts the player to push a button repeatedly to help them escape whatever monster is chasing them.
Bilingual Bonus: Nima and, to a lesser degree, Oscar, frequently speak in Spanish.
- There's an achievement for "correctly" getting a Spanish sentence on the first try.
Bittersweet Ending: If the player makes Nima save the embryos instead of Jess in the final episode, the T. rex eats her.
- Or the player fails to save Gerry in the final scene.
Bloodless Carnage: People are stomped, crushed, eaten, and mauled, but there is never any blood or gore. One can find blood spattered all around certain areas, but never in the death scenes.
Body Horror: The Troodon method of breeding.
Break the Badass: Yoder.
Bring My Brown Pants: This line:
Billy (after Oscar startles him): Dammit, Oscar! I only have one pair of pants!
Brutal Honesty: Oscar pulls no punches when he and Yoder find that D-Caf is missing. Even though he ultimately turns out to be wrong, he wasn't far off and at least the evidence was in his favour.
Cable-Car Action Sequence: A variation involving a roller coaster ride, but which otherwise fits the trope to a tee. Now with added Herrerasaurus pack!
Call Back: The power control panel that Ellie uses in the film makes an appearance in the game, and you must also do the same action steps as in the film.
- The climax of the first episode takes place in the ruins of the visitor centre, after all the chaos of the first film (it's possible to see Hammond's helicopter fly overhead at one point).
Cat Scare: Early in the game, with some birds flying out of a bush. Also later on when Gerry and Jess are getting ready to leave the maintenance shed, there are horrible metallic banging and screeching sounds...which are caused by a toucan sharpening its beak on a barrel.
The Cavalry: The rescue team, Yoder especially, present themselves as this to the surviving civilians. Nima scoffs at them, claiming that they're more dangerous than the dinosaurs.
The Centerpiece Spectacular: The climax of the first episode.
Chekhov M.I.A.: D-Caf disappears early on in the game, and isn't seen again until just before the Troodon attack.
Chekhov's Boomerang: Sorkin activates one of the tour cars for Gerry, Jess, and Nima to use when they need to get to the Visitor Centre. After a long confrontation with the T. rex, Gerry then gets her to activate it again, distracting the giant predator with the movement and luring it away. It doesn't reappear until episode four, when it turns up and takes Gerry and Nima to the marine exhibit.
Chekhov's Gun: Yoder recovers a grenade from the body of D-Caf early on in episode four. At the time, he covers it up, but later it sees use when the survivors have made their way to the rotunda.
Chekhov's Skill: Jess was sent to stay with her father on the island after getting caught shoplifting. This skill allows her to throw a monkey wrench in Yoder's plans in the fourth episode.
Chiaroscuro: The fourth chapter shifts toward this motif when the Troodon corner Yoder and others, and he has to use a flare light to see them off.
Cliffhanger: Every episode except the last one ends with a cliffhanger:
- Episode One ends with the Hardings being denied a rescue by Nima, who suddenly holds them at gunpoint to protect her cover.
- Episode Two ends with the chopper downed, three characters potentially dead, and the rest trapped on a tower by a pack of marauding raptors.
- Episode Three... well, see Wham Episode below.
Colossus Climb: A raptor does this to a Parasaurolophus, shortly after the pack arrive at the climax of episode two.
Convenient Escape Boat: At the end of the game, one is left for the survivors. It's possibly a leftover from the Biosyn contacts Nima was meant to meet up with.
Container Maze: At the climax of episode four.
Continuity Nod: Quite a few for fans of the film. At one point, Jess mentions that her father hasn't visited her half-sister Sarah in a long time. That would be Sarah Harding, Ian Malcolm's girlfriend from The Lost World.
- While investigating the site around Nedry's car, Nima finds a few clues that are meaningless plot-wise, but which match specific events in the film such as Nedry losing his glasses and throwing the stick.
- Jess spots a tour car while using the binoculars, and Gerry mentions that some palaeontologists are having a tour.
- In the same scene, Gerry mentions that he needs to treat a sick Triceratops.
- Nima notes that some of the berries are poisonous. In the film, this was what caused the Triceratops to become ill in the first place.
- There are also a few references to Site B, and at one point Dr. Sorkin asks to speak with Peter Ludlow (the Corrupt Corporate Executive from The Lost World) by phone.
Convulsive Seizures: As the toxins take over, Nima begins having this kind of seizure. It's to show that the Hardings are running out of time, as Sorkin warns that this means the toxin has nearly reached its final stage.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Hammond and his company are shown in a much worse light in the game, closer to the novel's portrayal. For instance, his company evicted the natives of the island before beginning construction, destroying most of the island's natural habitat in the process and failing to provide enough for all the evicted people, who had to live in slum-like conditions. They also went for Wu's cheaper but more unpredictable solution for fixing the DNA gaps. According to Sorkin, this caused most of the abnormalities among the dinosaurs. However, most of the criticism comes from Dr. Sorkin and Nima, who both have personal issues with InGen.
- On the other hand, Hammond was the one who urged for the euthanization of the Troodon once the park staff found out about their breeding cycle and deadly venom. Sorkin secretly defied him, causing the majority of the problems in the game when the Troodon escape.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Most of the death scenes involve this, even the canonical ones. For instance, Vargas and D-Caf are implied to get one at the hands of the mysterious theropod.
Curb-Stomp Battle: T. rex versus a raptor. Who do you think wins?
Dan Browned: Zigzagged. While the dev team do include a few signs that they did their homework, at other times they simply made stuff up or went for Rule Of Cool. Case in point is the mystery theropod; the real ones were nocturnal and had large eyes that may have been reflective like a wolf's, but there's no evidence they had poisonous bites or bred in such a bizarre manner.
Dark and Troubled Past: Oscar has one that overlaps with Nima's: He was one of the mercenaries InGen hired to evict Nima's tribe from Isla Nublar twelve years before so they could begin constructing the park.
Deadpan Snarker: All of the mercenaries (especially Yoder), Jess, and Dr. Sorkin.
Death by Irony: Immediately after Dr. Sorkin frees the Mosasaur, it eats her.
- Miles gets one as well; after he throws Nima to the Dilophosaurus, they decide to attack him first. Most likely because he'd already been sprayed by their venomous spit.
Death by Materialism: Yoder's fate.
- Also Nima's fate in the bad ending.
Death World: Isla Nublar becomes this very quickly in the game.
Despair Event Horizon: Yoder snaps after witnessing the brutal death of Oscar and the horrific Fate Worse Than Death of D-Caf, his two comrades and best friends. This—combined with greed, a desire for vengeance on Dr. Sorkin, and a large amount of stress—is likely what caused him to betray the other survivors.
Diabolus Ex Nihilo: The escape through the tunnels seems to be going well, but from the moment when the steam pipes begin venting, everything seems calculated to make things worse and leaps out of nowhere.
Dirt Forcefield: No matter how roughed up the characters get, none of them seem especially dirty. The only exception is when Nima gets bitten and has to wear the bandage for the rest of the game.
Dirty Coward: Nima suggests to Miles that they need a distraction when they're surrounded by a pack of Dilophosaurus. Miles' response is to push Nima right in front of one.
Dramatic Irony: Thanks to the occasional Call Back or Continuity Nod, the player can know what's going on even before the characters do. This is most evident in Episode One, in which actual scenes from the film are included and Nima has to walk through Nedry's last few moments in order to find the can, but anyone who's read the books could suspect the bombing run long before Yoder confirms it.
The Dreaded: The mysterious predators that harass Nima at the beginning, later revealed to be Troodon, are feared by most other carnivores, even the raptors. During Episode One, Dilophosaurus run away when they hear its cries, and during Episode Two, flocks of Compsognathus flee from them in the Visitor Centre.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Dr. Sorkin's assistant, David Banks. We hear his voice in episode one, but in episode two he's died offscreen with little explanation.
- A Tell Tale Games employee said he was originally going to appear in episode two, but what they had planned for him would have upped the game's rating to M. Makes you wonder what they had planned, given what else is in this game.
- "I told him not to get too close to the quarantined animals." Said animals are Troodon... that sums it up.
Dull Surprise: Some of the facial animation of the human characters tend to fall in this category.
Dwindling Party: There's at least one onscreen human death per episode. By the end of the game, the number of survivors is never more than three.
Eaten Alive: Victims of the Tyrannosaurus are usually swallowed whole. This is also the implied fate of D-Caf.
Enemy Mine/We Are Struggling Together: With the exception of the veterinarian and his teen daughter, all the characters are anti-heroes with various conflicting agendas, and only end up temporarily working together to avoid becoming dino chow.
Enemy Rising Behind: Sorkin doesn't spot the incoming Mosasaur until it's far too late.
Epileptic Flashing Lights: Yoder accidentally mucks up the electricity circuits in the utility tunnels, resulting in the lights flashing on and off. However, Sorkin suspects its the geothermal plant beginning to malfunction, but isn't convinced until the pipes along the tunnel begin letting off steam.
Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Well, for the player, anyway. For the characters, not so much.
Evilutionary Biologist: While Dr. Sorkin herself isn't one per se, her plans for the Mosasaur are those of one.
Extremely Short Timespan: From the Nedry incident onwards, the whole story takes about one and a half days.
Face Heel Turn: Yoder has one and turns on the other characters when all of his team is dead.
Famous Last Words: Gerry invokes this when Nima assures him that her plan for escaping the Marine Facility will work.
Foreshadowing: Dr. Sorkin wanted to turn Jurassic Park into an animal preserve. Its a subtle hint to The Lost World.
- She is also the only one who recognizes the bite wound on Nima's arm, and how to treat the toxin.
- Nima: You're in the company of killers. You're no safer here than you were in the jungle.
- After watching the Triceratops herd, Jess tells Gerry that she would like to see one fight a T. rex. Guess what happens that night?
- Gerry mentions in the same scene that Lady Margaret (the alpha of the herd) is very bad-tempered towards those who step out of line. This comes back to haunt him later when dealing with Bakita.
- The scene where Billy retrieves the canister while the T. rex is nearby.
Friend or Idol Decision: Nima is confronted with this choice late in the game. She can either save Jess from falling and becoming T. rex chow, or retrieve the embryo canister. One choice turns out well, the other... doesn't. Though considering Nima's motivation behind receiving and delivering the embryos, it's more like Friend Or Daughter Decision.
From a Certain Point of View: Miles tells Nima that the place is "kind of like a zoo" with "all sorts of animals". As the quotation at the top of this page shows, he wasn't telling the half of it.
Full Name Ultimatum: When Jess is revealed to have stolen Dr. Sorkin's cigarettes, Gerry gives her a good chewing-out, beginning with an angry shout of "Jessica Marie Harding!".
Genocide Dilemma: Gerry and Sorkin argue over one during episode four, shortly before she releases the Mosasaur.
Genre Shift: The Action Adventure feel of the first two episodes gives way to a Survival Horror tone during the last two episodes.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: The Troodon. They appear as early as the prologue to episode one, reappear at the beginning of episode two, and then make their big appearance in episode four.
Godzilla Threshold: Do you let dinosaurs run amok and risk invading the mainland ecosystem (and kill even more people in the process), or do you level an entire island and wipe out its ecosystem first? The Genocide Dilemma is discussed in the first place because the military consider Isla Nublar to be beyond saving after the security failure. Carpet bombing the island is their last means of preventing the dinosaurs from reaching the mainland, since Sorkin countered the lysine contingency and refused to destroy monsters like the Troodon.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: For good scars, there's Gerry Harding, who has clawmark scars on his left forearm. For evil scars, there's the raptor pack leader that Oscar manages to strike with his knife, giving her a huge scar over her left eye.
Gory Discretion Shot: Several instances, most particularly when one of the main characters comes across Nedry's remains. There's another particular case when Gerry looks at D-Caf's body and discovers that the Troodon have laid their eggs within his stomach. Fortunately, we don't get to see the stomach thanks to the judicious placement of leaves, nor do we get to see Gerry pick one out.
Guns Are Worthless: Though not for lack of trying, no dinosaurs are ever killed with guns. The only firearm-related fatalities in the whole game are Bravo Team, after Vargas starts hallucinating due to a venomous bite and begins shooting at his own men. Oscar averts this, however, by shooting Vargas in the shoulder, incapacitating him without killing him.
- A weird aversion occurs in the second episode. A Herrerasaurus lands on the coaster car in front of Jess. Nima draws her gun and tells Gerry to get down. She then shoots a bit of scaffolding overhead, which falls and knocks the dinosaur off. Why she doesn't just shoot the dinosaur, which would be quicker and more helpful, is never explained.
Hassle Free Hotwire: At the beginning of episode one, Nima and Miles are trying to get Nedry's car moving, but it crashes into a tree. After getting a hysterical Miles to shut up, Nima fixes the engine by fiddling with the wiring. It works, but a little too late.
Heroic Sacrifice: Oscar manages to get the power plant's blast doors open so the others can escape, but gets killed by the raptors in the process.
Hey Catch: A variation: Gerry nudged the can of embryos across the harbour with his foot, causing Yoder to run after it and distract the T. rex. Whether that was his plan or not, it works.
Hollywood Darkness: Used extensively during episodes one and two, though the night is moonlit and could justify it a little. Then it's averted during episodes three and four when the survivors have fled into the tunnels.
Hope Spot: The ending of episode two is one big Hope Spot.
Iconic Logo: Everything at the park has this on it, though with the dinosaur swapped to fit the area of the park.
Imminent Danger Clue: Whenever you hear the sinister music playing and start seeing bits of clues that add up to danger, this is usually the case. For instance, characters notice the inactive lights and strange animal noises around the park during episode one, and in episode two the Alpha rescue team stumble upon the remains of the Bravo team.
- Despite Gerry's insistence that they haven't cloned a Mosasaur — and indeed couldn't — iconography of it is prominent around the marine exhibit. Sorkin, Yoder, and Jess walk through a hatchery containing large numbers of fish being bred as food. While visiting the Rotunda, Jess notices a large cage in the water to the right of their location.
- For the player, a gold medal appearing in the upper right of the screen is an indication that an action sequence is about to take place.
Indy Ploy: Gerry does this a lot just to stay in one piece.
Ineffectual Death Threats: Yoder makes one to Jess when she sees the Barbasol can. Given his state of mind at the time, his "Just Joking" Justification does little to ease the resulting tension.
Infant Immortality: Played with. Canonically, Jess survives no matter what ending you get. The gameplay, however, makes it possible for her to die in gruesome ways just like any other character.
Interface Screw: There are quite a few quick-time events that are impossible to succeed at in the game, and the game doesn't even dock you points for them.
Interface Spoiler: The Achievements list on the 360 version - which is completely readable from the start of the game, unlike a lot of 360 games - gives away quite a bit of the plot, such as the Troodon and a fight against Yoder.
Interquel: Set somewhat during and shortly after the original film, but set before the events of The Lost World.
Involuntary Group Split: Happens twice; once at the climax of episode two, and again at the start of episode four. Both times, unexpected dinosaur attacks are involved, though Nima's attempt to hijack the chopper mostly cause the first split.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Oscar and Yoder. Well, Yoder before his Face Heel Turn, anyway.
- Played with for Oscar, as Nima frequently calls him out for his actions while working for InGen, and during one argument, he outright agrees with her that he's a bad man.
Jump Scare: This happens a lot during the story. A particularly shocking one happens during the climax of the first episode.
Karmic Death: Several characters actually. One of which you can decide.
Kleptomaniac Hero: Jess is a literal example. She was spending her weekend on the island with her father after committing shoplifting. Throughout the story, she kept on stealing things from other characters, including a pair of binoculars from Hammond, a pack of cigarettes from Dr. Sorkin, and the can of shaving cream containing the dinosaur embryos from Yoder.
Knife Nut: Nima and Oscar tend to draw knives before tackling danger. At one point, Nima throws the knife at Oscar, but misses and damages the helicopter controls.
Knight of Cerebus: While none of the dinosaurs are exactly light, things get very dark whenever the mysterious theropods with glowing eyes appear. For one thing, they're shrouded in enigma, with Gerry Harding being unable to identify the bite wound despite his familiarity with all the dinosaurs.
Last Second Ending Choice: See Multiple Endings.
Last Villain Stand: Yoder attempts to fight the other survivors when they catch up.
Law Enforcement, Inc.: Subverted: Yoder points out that the bombing run wasn't organized by InGen, but by the US Military.
Let's Get Out of Here: Most of the Quick Time Events involve fleeing a scene. The most memorable example is the giant fight scene in episode one, which involves the Tyrannosaurus and the Triceratops.
Loophole Abuse: InGen promised to provide the evicted natives with things like housing and education. They did technically deliver those things, but the things they gave were so cheap and squalid they might as well have not bothered.
MacGuffin: The embryo container.
Made of Iron: Nima takes a fall during the prologue that would probably cripple her in real life, at the very least.
The Many Deaths of You: Unless you want to become dino chow, you'd better be quick on those buttons, as there are many ways to die horrible (and in some cases, darkly amusing) deaths. The developers even stated that dying and watching the numerous death scenes would be half the fun.
- One of the best ones is when Gerry is carrying an unconscious Nima through a battlefield between an attacking T. rex and a Triceratops. Fail at just the right time, and he becomes impaled by the Triceratops just as the T. rex bites at the horns. Gerry Dinosaur Sandwich!
Matchlight Danger Revelation: Twice.
- In Episode 3, Jess sneaks away from the group to a dark hallway for a quick smoke break. She turns on a lighter, revealing a raptor just inches from her.
- In Episode 4, Billy sees a suspiciously dark hallway and slowly approaches it. He lights a flare, and reveals that a whole pack of Troodon is just inches from him.
Men Are the Expendable Gender: Initially played straight, but later subverted with Doctor Sorkin's death. It's not portrayed as especially tragic like some "subversions", and even has a dash of Karmic Death about it given the circumstances.
Midair Repair: Subverted Trope. After the Pteranodon attacks the rescue chopper, D-Caf is knocked out, forcing Yoder to take over. He is only able to land the craft, and D-Caf — when he wakes up — has to repair it on the ground.
Mission Briefing: Not onscreen, but this was provided to Yoder, D-Caf, and Oscar before the rescue operation. Yoder asks Oscar to refer back to one when dealing with Sorkin.
Monster Delay: Though there is a brief glimpse of one when Nima checks Nedry's car, nobody gets to see a Dilophosaurus until Nima finds the can and is told by Miles what's so special about it.
- The mysterious predators aren't shown fully until episode four. They're not even given an explanation until the very climax of episode three, and by then they've already wiped out most of the rescue team, tried to kill Nima, and terrorized the raptors just by being around.
- Despite the clues, nobody suspects a Mosasaur exists beneath the marine exhibit until Sorkin explicitly confirms it, and it isn't shown properly until it rams the glass.
Mood Dissonance: Oscar, a hardened mercenary, battles a lone raptor, one of the most vicious creatures on the island, in a dimly lit hallway. What better time to play a cheesy and chipper little musical number over the intercom?
Mood Whiplash: Starkly done during the first few scenes, no less. The prologue shows a wounded and poisoned Nima fleeing through a dark rainforest, clearly out of breath and on the verge of panic, while glowing eyes of doom pursue her, and from everywhere around her come the spine-chilling hisses of unseen animals. The next scene is bright daylight, and shows a father and his daughter admiring the magic of Jurassic Park's dinosaurs together.
Morality Chain: Oscar to Yoder, and vice versa. For instance, when D-Caf disappears, Yoder begins to freak out and talk way too fast, insisting that they should stay and look for their fellow soldier instead of leaving. He even becomes threatening towards Oscar. Oscar brings him to his senses by reminding him of his job.
- Conversely, Yoder reigns in Oscar's Combat Pragmatist tendencies by stopping him from killing Vargas and a Dilophosaurus, in both cases after they'd already been incapacitated.
Mr. Exposition: Sorkin often acts as this. It becomes a plot point later when she reveals information about an otherwise mysterious toxin, hinting that she knows something about the dinosaurs that Gerry couldn't identify.
Multiple Endings: Depending on one particular choice at the climax:
- If Nima saves Jess, all three survive.
- If Nima goes back for the can, she dies, and Gerry and Jess are the only survivors.
Mythology Gag: Remember the video surveillance feed with progress bar of the movie? Well, it's present in the game too.
- Looking at the Mosasaur feeding schedule will reveal that the events of the movie took place on June 11th, the same day the film was released in theaters.
- In one scene, Gerry and Nima are startled by the sound of a ''Dilophosaurus'', only for it to be revealed as a tour recording explaining that this was actually the call of a whooping swan. In Real Life, those were the sounds used for the Dilophosaurus vocalizations.
- A Pteranodon knocks down the helicopter during episode two. While this didn't actually happen in the films, there was a scene cut from The Lost World in which a flock of the creatures attack the rescue helicopters.
- Quite a few musical cues resemble those of the films; for instance, when Nima is discovered by the Hardings, the soundtrack resembles the one playing in the first film when Ian Malcolm is found.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Sorkin's delay results in Nima getting a chance to escape and raptors getting a chance to show up. It also comes back to haunt her when her Troodon pack escape from quarantine, effectively resulting in many needless deaths. This is basically her schtick.
- Jess unwittingly draws the raptors to their location in episode three.
No FEMA Response: Averted with the rescue team, and then Played for Drama when the next planned incoming flight is a bombing run.
No OSHA Compliance: The roller coaster, but then it is still under construction.
Noisy Guns: Every time a character waves a firearm, it rattles like a Yahtzee cup full of dice.
Noisy Nature: There isn't a single dinosaur that can do anything without roaring, bellowing, growling, or hissing. The nearest to an exception is when the T. rex is feeding on a Parasaurolophus carcass.
Non Fatal Explosions: D-Caf's stolen grenade does nothing worse than make the heroes fall over, though it also makes the glass crack, and given their location that's not a good thing.
Non Standard Game Over: A particularly nasty one can occur at the very end of the game. If you make Nima pick the canister instead of help Jess, and fail the last quicktime event as Gerry, you'll be treated to a cutscene involving a traumatized Jess, all alone on the departing boat, as the T. rex roars in the background.
No One Gets Left Behind: Yoder is forced to avert this twice, which drives him to the brink of despair.
Noodle Incident: From Yoder:
Look, were are NOT leaving without D-Caf! I mean, we agreed, right?! Oh, man. I will NOT let you turn this into Nicaragua again!
- A lot of these are brought up during scenes with Yoder and Oscar, usually as part of their banter. Gerry and Jess occasionally refer to past family incidents while working their way across terrain.
Nothing Is Scarier: How the new dinosaur earns its mystique. The viewers are only able to hear the snarls or see the eyes of the Troodon until the last episode of the game.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Yoder behaves like this when Nima is shouting at him for taking the can. As he's already discovered the secret compartment, he's just teasing her until she talks.
Nima: Stop shaking it!
Yoder: But you're supposed to shake it before you use it! It says so right on the can!
Oh Crap: Almost every time one of the characters sees dangerous dinosaurs heading in their direction. Invoked directly by Miles when he notices the Dilophosaurus for the first time.
Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Dr. Sorkin. For a geneticist, she also has remarkable knowledge in toxicology, and a considerable skill in computer science, as she is able to easily undo one of Nedry's logic bombs.
Open Says Me: Gerry gets into a padlocked hatch by seizing a heavy air tank and smashing the lock until it breaks.
Papa Wolf: Gerry will do anything to protect Jess, and will react badly in the event that she dies.
Le Parkour: Characters often have to slip, jump, slide, or vault in order to get past obstacles and away from a dinosaur.
Point-and-Click Game
P.O.V. Sequel: This is essentially the first film from Gerry Harding's viewpoint.
Precocious Crush: Jess seems to alternate between having one on Billy and Oscar. It ends after Oscar dies and Yoder betrays everyone.
Press X to Not Die: Pretty much all of the game, excepting the times when Telltale lets you stop, catch your breath, and look around.
Ptero Soarer: One inexplicably flying kicks the helicopter, causing the first crash. It's most likely a reference to a cut scene from The Lost World, in which pterosaurs attack the chopper.
Quick Time Event: When you are not solving puzzles, the rest of the game is almost entirely this.
Raptor Attack: Comes in original or extra-venomous.
Recycled In Space: Heavy Rain with dinosaurs! The developers actually called it this in an early interview.
Rule Of Cool: Triceratops versus Tyrannosaurus. Never mind what a coincidence it is that the T. rex shows up at that moment; just enjoy the carnage!
- A lot of the things characters do to evade the dinosaurs, especially the T. rex. The climax of episode four features huge amounts of it, for instance when Gerry runs through the Container Maze rather than follow Nima and Jess overhead.
Rule of Scary: The Troodon look barely like their real counterparts, with oversized heads and bodies much smaller than they should be. Their breeding method, venomous bite, and glowing eyes are as fictional as the frill of the Dilophosaurus. They are also the reason this game is one of the darkest in the franchise.
Scenery Gorn: The environments of the first episode often touch upon scenes of the film, such as Nedry's last known location and the visitor's centre. Players can take the time to look over such locations in detail. The latter location in particular is a total wreck, and anyone who's seen the first film will get why, for instance, there's a dismembered raptor's foot amid the ruins.
Science Marches On: Dr. Sorkin's journal handwaves a lot of the differences between recent scientific discovery and how the dinos were portrayed in the movies. They basically just excuse it as being the fault of splicing in the frog DNA and advise that we try not to worry about it.
Sea Monster: A really huge (and really terrifying) Mosasaur shows up late in the game. It's essentially an underwater Tyrannosaurus rex.
See Water: The Mosasaur lagoon around the rotunda. May be justified, as there aren't many inhabitants to disturb the silt, and in any case it seems quite isolated.
Shout Out: Mostly to the original movie. There are a couple of scenes which use lines directly from the movie. Miles copies Nedry's "We've got Dodgson here!" line, and there's a scene that takes its dialog directly from "let go of the fence" scene. D-Caf also says "Hold on to your butts!"
- The trophy/achievement names are all puns or references as well.
Shown Their Work: Troodons were selected as the apex dinosaur because they are thought to be the most intelligent dinosaur that ever existed (though that's relative, as they were not as smart as an average house cat). Troodons are also a favorite of Cryptozoologists as the predecessors of "intelligent humanoid dinos".
Smug Snake: Billy becomes a pretty big one after his Face Heel Turn.
Sounding It Out: Characters sometimes read out messages they find in the vicinity. For instance, Gerry reads out the instructions for the elevator key and pass codes in the marine exhibit.
Soundtrack Dissonance / Stylistic Suck: During Oscar's fight with the lone raptor, an original (and intentionally cheesy) song in the style of a 60s/70s acid rock ballad plays over the intercoms. Hear for yourself.
Stealth-Based Mission: Oscar engages "stealth mode" by sneaking after the raptor pack, and following them through the utility tunnel. A large part of this involves him trying to sneak up on one that's separated from the pack.
Stock Dinosaurs: Averted and played straight. T. rex and Triceratops appear, and even get a classic dinosaur fight. Parasaurolophus and Pteranodon also make appearances. Averted with the Herrerasaurus, the Troodon, and, debatably, the Mosasaur. Velociraptor and Dilophosaurus are a special case, as they're only Stock Dinosaurs because of the movie this is based on.
Suddenly Always Knew That: Jess turns out to be competent at diving in just the right scenario. It even comes as a surprise to her father, who denied her diving lessons in the past.
Suicide Mission: Oscar goes on one at the end of episode three.
Super Persistent Predator: The T. rex brings down several large herbivores and keeps right on chasing those pesky humans, often seconds after having swallowed one. The Herrerasaurus put their own lives in danger just to nab a few humans on a coaster ride, and all of them meet the bottom of the cliff for their trouble. Even the otherwise intelligent raptors fall under this trope, bringing down a Parasaurolophus that should have fed the whole pack, then still chasing the humans into the tunnel system.
- Lampshaded by Nima after the T. rex kills and begins eating a raptor: "Do these things ever stop eating?"
- Spectacularly averted in the first T. rex appearance, though. Confronted with several humans and a full-grown Triceratops, it completely ignores the humans until one accidentally grabs its attention by running right up to it (by accident). Even then, when said person proves a more difficult meal than expected, it quickly turns its attention back to the Triceratops. The danger through most of the scene is avoiding being crushed by two enormous dinosaurs that barely register the characters' presence.
- Though in the same scene, the T-Rex suddenly stops fighting when it sees Jessy and focuses on her instead, and the Triceratops just stands there, for about 30 seconds before charging the T-Rex again... What.
- Played with for the mysterious predators. Sorkin comments that their behaviour is territorial at one point, but they otherwise act like persistent hunters.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Herrerasaurus in the second episode are a lot like the Velociraptor, so much so that they may be mistaken as (bad) models of them. This is confirmed in Sorkin's journal, as she writes that the Herrerasaurus were meant to be a safer alternative, being less intelligent.
Think Nothing of It: Oscar dismisses his raptor kill by calling it "just another fight", though he is intrigued by the idea of getting a raptor tattoo to commemorate it.
This Way To Certain Death: The dead soldiers at the beginning of episode two are not a reassuring sight, especially when Yoder notices that they're all riddled with bullets and hadn't even gone for cover. Earlier, Gerry notices a dismembered raptor foot lying in the wreckage of the visitor's centre, and earlier still, Nima and Miles come across the body of Nedry.
Through the Eyes of Madness: In the prologue, the player briefly gets to see things through the eyes of Nima while the poison effects her. Bright lights flash and things start to slide out of focus. Later on in episode one, she begins hallucinating and mistakes Jess for her own daughter.
- While the player does not see things through his eyes, Vargas is heavily implied to be going through a hallucinatory stage of the toxin, mistaking the rest of Bravo team for enemies. For example, he shouts that they're "too exposed on this beach" despite being in a dimly lit building a long away from the shore, and if Yoder asks him about the downed chopper outside, Vargas will reply that he was stopping some Dirty Commies from getting away.
Time Bomb: The climax of episode one. The Hardings rush to cure Nima, who's entering the final stages of the poison, while trying to avoid the angry Tyrannosaurus that's trapped her inside the centre.
- This also occurs during episode four: not only are Gerry and the others trapped in the rotunda with the water leaking in, but a bombing run is expected to hit the island within ninety minutes.
Too Dumb to Live: Yoder, you definitely should have stayed still.
- Miles qualifies as well.
- Laura Sorkin, you shouldn't have released the Mosasaur.
- One member of the Dilophosaurus pack sees Nima's car reversing fast towards it. The dinosaur responds by flaring its frill and shrieking at it, apparently trying to scare off two tons of speeding metal. It ends about as well as you'd expect.
Underwater Base: The rotunda, which is surrounded by a lagoon occupied by the Mosasaur. There's an outer sanctum, which gets flooded, and an inner sanctum containing workable phones and an opening to the lagoon. It doesn't flood because the thick glass and pressurized air prevent it from doing so.
Universal Driver's License: Jess has no difficulty driving a jeep or a forklift truck, despite being only fourteen years old.
Villain Decay: In the films, the Tyrannosaurus runs fast enough to keep pace with a jeep, and Muldoon explicitly claims that the raptors can achieve "cheetah speed". In the game, though, characters frequently outrun both species (which is closer to the actual T. Rex. In Real Life, a T. Rex couldn't run nearly that fast - and even if it could, one stumble would be fatal.)
- The Compsognathus were vicious pack hunters of the Piranha Problem type in the films, but here they are simply fodder for the mysterious predators. Gerry Harding even says they're harmless when the survivors are walking through the jungle.
- Subverted when faced with Oscar. Initially, the raptor pack turn tail and flee after he cuts one across the eye. Then he faces them later, and is killed by the very raptor whose eye he slashed.
Violence Is Disturbing
Voodoo Shark: The journals reveal that all of the discrepancies between the dinosaurs from the movie and the fossil records are because of Henry Wu using frog DNA to fill in the gaps. Including giant, featherless Velociraptor, a Tyrannosaurus with vision based on movement, and venomous pygmy Dilophosaurus.
Water is Blue: Averted. The water in the lagoon is dark and slightly greyish.
Water Is Dry: While waiting at the docks, Nima and Miles are standing in heavy tropical rainfall, and given the events of the film it's likely that Gerry Harding was still outside when treating the Triceratops. Yet once the rain stops, it's impossible to tell it ever happened.
- Although their normal clothes were worn underneath — thereby justifying this trope to a degree — the survivors who swim through the Mosasaur lagoon still look dry even when they've just emerged while wearing their diving gear. Not that the water effects were exactly stellar to begin with.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dr. Sorkin becomes when she finds out InGen's plans regarding her animals.
Wham Episode: Episode 3 ends with Oscar's death, our heroes discovering that D-Caf has become a Troodon nest, and Billy going insane from said events and threatening Sorkin with a knife.
What Happened to the Mouse?: The Mosasaur possibly remains at large. While it may have been killed during the offscreen bombing run, the fact that it lives in the water and that Sorkin released it raises the chance that it survived.
- The characters managed to keep it trapped in the lagoon during their escape. Even if it survived the bombing, it'd still starve to death.
The Worf Effect: Even the raptors flee from the territory of the new, super-scary dinos for this game, the Troodon. Fully justified, as the Troodon are highly toxic and a single bite is lethal without treatment.
- The Bravo Team, fully armed, and their chopper are taken out as an indirect result of one bite from the creatures. Think about that for a second.
Would Hit a Girl: Oscar has no qualms punching or headbutting Nima if it'll stop her from hijacking the rescue chopper.
You Must Be This Tall To Ride: "Yeah, because Jurassic Park is all about safety."