Dino Crisis 2 is a rather peculiar game. It's a sequel to a game I am not a big fan of, was a completely different game from the original and did a number of things before it's more popular big brother series Resident Evil would examples being non contextual dodging, move and shooting and the much dreaded by the fandom, a heavy emphasis on third person shooting.
DC2 compared to the first is much more a third person shooter. You will be killing dinos a lot more than running away from them like in the first one which is what I vastly prefered since running away from them got old fast. Here is a heavy emphasis on running and gunning and the weapons are super satisfying and surprisingly enough there is no reloading either which is awfully old school 90s fps for a game like this, and it works to the game's favour since dinos will be high in number, attack you from all sides and will constantly rush you which makes sense for considering the enemies you are fighting. The game's overall campaign is like many have said, the Resident Evil Mercs mode but with a plot, which is interesting in of itself. The game would feel like it starts to loose steam considering you are going through the same enviroments shooting endlessly respawning dinos but luckily the devs knew that would start to get old so they break up the pace with turret sections, setpieces with big dinosaurs, a good underwater section, and some random backtracking here and there, a level where you follow land marks and more. So if you do get tired of shooting endlessly respawning dinosaurs just be ready to know that the game will shake things up enough to make the adventure interesting. The RPG elements are decently handled here as well and I enjoy buying upgrades and new guns.
So after all this praise, why a 7? Well, a big problem that saps what could be a great game is the camera, it really is a pain in the ass. So much damage will be caused is due to getting hit by enemies you won't see coming, or getting attacking off screen. This was an issue in the Onimusha games and it's an issue here as well. Also, the auto aim, I feel just isn't reliable enough to track all the enemies coming at you. Dylan's Solid Cannon is objectively the best gun in the game because of this since it kills most enemies in a few hits and it does area of effect damage where surronding enemies will get hit too mitigating the need to rely on precise aim. Regina's Dual SMGs are decent enough when you play as her but no weapon in the game that you can get easily and early on is as good as Dylan's Solid Cannon since it does much damage and it's area of effect damage makes it easier not to rely on the auto aim as much. I also wish the dodge button was better implemented, I'll give it credit over something like Resident Evil in that it's not contextual but I feel it could be better.
This is also going to sound weird since I am so strongly against remakes of good games but I feel DC2 unlike say Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 2, an over the shoulder remake of this game would only benefit it since DC2 has a heavy emphasis on third person shooting and being able to see clearly what is in front of you and being able to freely aim would only make the game better and realize it's full potental, it would make the moment to moment action gameplay more refined and smooth.
Overall, massive step up over the first game but I feel Dino Crisis as a series never did reach the potential it could have.
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