While Cadillacs & Dinosaurs: The Second Cataclysm isn't a great game by any means, it has its own charm.
The game's premise sees you driving through the jungle whilst trying to shoot obstacles that block your path, a premise that can get monotonous in single-player.
However, in the game's multiplayer, where one player drives the car as the other works on shooting rocks, logs, and the occasional poacher, it can be kind of fun... for a time.
Those accustomed to Turok and itching to blow some dinosaurs away will be heavily disappointed, as your goal here is to protect these dinosaurs from the poachers; should you accidentally shoot at the dinos, you'll either be attacked (if close enough) or lose time from the game's 60-minute- you read that right, there's one hour to prevent the titular Second Cataclysm- timer.
And how do you prevent it? By driving through a long, unchanging jungle, shooting at obstacles in the road until a cutscene plays and actual action happens... then back to driving again. It's tedious, and-especially in single player- not very enjoyable.
The graphics look like you're driving through a grainy Sega CD FMV; as that's essentially what you're doing. The levels' look is created by looping the same FMV-rendered jungle scenery passing by.
That's right, six of the game's nine levels look the exact same except for a few new obstacles here and there, otherwise it's like you're driving through the same few miles of jungle over and over again, there's very little in any single chapter to make you feel like you're ever getting anywhere, which can be confusing to players if they don't consciously realize that this is just an on-rails experience with very repetitive scenery.
That said, the game's cutscenes, despite the hardware limitations, are rather well-made, and transition into gameplay well- hit a log, a dino, a crack in the road, whatever it may be, and you'll seamlessly trigger a unique death cutscene, which are fun to see... the first time, anyway.
The game progresses through nine chapters, each of which can be returned to from the menu should you lose all your lives. Because the gameplay is so monotonous, the real reward for completing the chapter is just seeing more of the game's story.
It's a lot like an arcade game, it even sounds like an arcade machine might sound in real life, with its loud, noisy music (that thankfully can be turned off) and like many other on-rails arcade games that weren't as much fun in single player, the multiplayer experience can be at least semi-enjoyable.
It's not a fantastic game, but its unique approach to simulating a pseudo-3D environment using grainy FMV was a novel idea for its time and the cutscenes convey an art style that fits nicely with a game based on a comic.
Difficulty isn't terrible; there are two options, Easy and Hard, and the car can take a tremendous amount of damage from obstacles on Easy, but the difficulty that does exist often comes from avoiding the large insta-kill objects, the things the car cannot hit and survive.
There are also some tiny dinos to try to avoid running over (like innocent civilians in an on-rails shooter) but the game's graphics are so iffy that you'll probably shoot it thinking it's a rock or run over it anyway, which is fine, unlike the aforementioned insta-kill objects, harming dinosaurs may reduce your time but it won't end your game.
If the level design weren't so repetitive, it might not feel quite so much like a chore to play, but shooting rocks or sticks that can otherwise be driven around, or the occasional obstacle that blocks the path altogether, is honestly a pretty boring concept.
There also also occasionally poachers to shoot, but it's infrequent, and the game never provides enough feeling of resistance except from the environment itself- it feels less like you vs the poachers, and more like you vs the jungle, which it is, in every way, but it's not the jungle's obstacles that are going to stop you in your path, it's the sheer soul-crushing monotony of driving through the repetitive levels.
4/10.
Those accustomed to Turok and itching to blow some dinosaurs away will be heavily disappointed, as your goal here is to protect these dinosaurs from the poachers; should you accidentally shoot at the dinos, you'll either be attacked (if close enough) or lose time from the game's 60-minute- you read that right, there's one hour to prevent the titular Second Cataclysm- timer.
And how do you prevent it? By driving through a long, unchanging jungle, shooting at obstacles in the road until a cutscene plays and actual action happens... then back to driving again. It's tedious, and-especially in single player- not very enjoyable.
The graphics look like you're driving through a grainy Sega CD FMV; as that's essentially what you're doing. The levels' look is created by looping the same FMV-rendered jungle scenery passing by.
That's right, six of the game's nine levels look the exact same except for a few new obstacles here and there, otherwise it's like you're driving through the same few miles of jungle over and over again, there's very little in any single chapter to make you feel like you're ever getting anywhere, which can be confusing to players if they don't consciously realize that this is just an on-rails experience with very repetitive scenery.
That said, the game's cutscenes, despite the hardware limitations, are rather well-made, and transition into gameplay well- hit a log, a dino, a crack in the road, whatever it may be, and you'll seamlessly trigger a unique death cutscene, which are fun to see... the first time, anyway.
The game progresses through nine chapters, each of which can be returned to from the menu should you lose all your lives. Because the gameplay is so monotonous, the real reward for completing the chapter is just seeing more of the game's story.
It's a lot like an arcade game, it even sounds like an arcade machine might sound in real life, with its loud, noisy music (that thankfully can be turned off) and like many other on-rails arcade games that weren't as much fun in single player, the multiplayer experience can be at least semi-enjoyable.
It's not a fantastic game, but its unique approach to simulating a pseudo-3D environment using grainy FMV was a novel idea for its time and the cutscenes convey an art style that fits nicely with a game based on a comic.
Difficulty isn't terrible; there are two options, Easy and Hard, and the car can take a tremendous amount of damage from obstacles on Easy, but the difficulty that does exist often comes from avoiding the large insta-kill objects, the things the car cannot hit and survive.
There are also some tiny dinos to try to avoid running over (like innocent civilians in an on-rails shooter) but the game's graphics are so iffy that you'll probably shoot it thinking it's a rock or run over it anyway, which is fine, unlike the aforementioned insta-kill objects, harming dinosaurs may reduce your time but it won't end your game.
If the level design weren't so repetitive, it might not feel quite so much like a chore to play, but shooting rocks or sticks that can otherwise be driven around, or the occasional obstacle that blocks the path altogether, is honestly a pretty boring concept.
There also also occasionally poachers to shoot, but it's infrequent, and the game never provides enough feeling of resistance except from the environment itself- it feels less like you vs the poachers, and more like you vs the jungle, which it is, in every way, but it's not the jungle's obstacles that are going to stop you in your path, it's the sheer soul-crushing monotony of driving through the repetitive levels.
4/10.
