Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection (Nintendo Switch) Review

Sticking firmly to source material plucked from the original (not as good as 3) instalment of the Jurassic Park Series, Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection contains seven titles spanning the 8-16 bit eras with both console and portable titles included. A lot of bang for your buck but this is countered by the fact that most of these games are far from enjoyable. Nostalgia certainly plays it if of a certain age, with the NES original being one of the most fun in the package.

The main issue, however, is what feels like an unfair difficulty spike paired with a complete lack of understanding of an objective. If new to the 8-bit affair for example, its incredibly easy to wander around wasting ammunition and getting harassed by terrible lizards until death. Only by luck may you stumble onto one of the posts littered around the area and discover the means to progress. Issues like these could have been easily rectified with a bit of the usual love given to a collection like this, such as adding a scan of the instruction manuals. Herein however, lies the problem, throughout every part of this outside of the games themselves, love lies in ruin.

Maybe hoping to stick with the nostalgia aesthetic, the opening crawl into the main menu looks like a rejected PS1 attempt. Add to that a less than inspired menu for each game with the only option outside of playing being a music player and the normal language and credits options. If you are somebody who believes that a game based on a franchise with a memorable theme should also have said theme, no such luck here. On the plus side most of the music spanning each of the games is excellent. Weirdly, quality of life features seem to have been kept to a minimum with an option for one filter and one border being the only framing/viewing options available. There is however a save-state option available clunkily through the main pause menu option.

As previously mentioned, if only looking to revisit or experience these games for the first time, all are emulated as well as can be expected with a nice inclusion of upscaling so that they look and play as well as they possibly could. Only one useful feature outside the original presentation is the map option to try and navigate the increasingly more complicated areas. The 16-bit inclusions are your usual 90's affair of unfair jumps and an overwhelming array of enemies running in your general direction.