Dino Crisis (reboot)

Dino Crisis, also known by its working acronym, Dino CReboot (abbreviated as DCReboot), is a 2018 Survival-Horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is the fourth game in the Dino Crisis series and a complete reboot of the franchise, taking place in a new continuity from the 3 previous titles. It features a whole new cast, including a redesigned Regina, the star protagonist from the first 2 games.

The game centers around a special forces team, known as S.O.R.T. (Secret Operation Raid Team) who are sent to quarantine a ravaged forest in New York. Upon searching for leads, they soon discover the island to be crawling with dinosaurs sent through a time displacement event as a result of a newfound energy source, known as Third Energy, creating a void throughout the past, present and future time. With the scale of the affected region-and civilian casualties-steadily increasing, this black ops team must race against time-and great prehistoric danger-before the world becomes overrun by geographic changes and time-displaced dinosaurs.

The game was released on March 13, 2018 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows.

Playable Characters
Players select from one of two main characters before the beginning of each new save, each with their advantages, disadvantages, and unique set of weapons and abilities (including the all-new "Takedown" ability; see below for details), similar to the first Resident Evil. Despite being separated through a chain of events occurring in their respective campaigns, the two characters will communicate back-and-forth throughout the game via web cam during cutscenes.
 * Regina-One of the main protagonists and the only female member of S.O.R.T. Despite her hotheadedness, Regina is the weaker of the two playable characters, making her more prone to damage. This is exacerbated by her lack of a protective vest. However, she is faster and more tactful than her partner to compensate for this, being more skilled in stealth. Regina is also equipped with tranq gun rounds, making it easier to avoid danger. She can also pick up a rocket launcher in the forest level at the beginning to the game, a weapon exclusive to her campaign.
 * Matthew "Matt" Davian-The other playable main character. A cocky, brash soldier, his attitude is in stark contrast to Regina's, who slowly begins to gravitate towards his light-heartedness. He is stronger and more resilient than Regina, but not as fast or adept in use of stealth. Matt is a better all-around marksman, but not able to hold as many items (6 to Regina's 8). While not as tactful as a mercenary, he's more vicious in how he wheels and deals punishment to foes. As a master hacker, he has the luxury of slipping through security systems and unlocking doors with greater ease than his female counterpart albeit at the expense of having to get by with a weaker tactical weapon (trip wires to Regina's tranq darts). To further balance out the two characters, Matt merely has access to a flamethrower as a campaign-exclusive weapon while Regina has access to a rocket launcher good for taking out an entire stampede of dinosaurs.

Supporting characters

 * Dr. Jason Izzo-The antagonist/villain of the game. The mastermind behind the creation of a new, "Third Energy" source which caused catastrophic time displacement and putting the world at risk of being overrun by time-displaced dinosaurs.
 * Mark Isaacs-A veteran spy and team captain. Acts as the proverbial checks and balances between his two lesser powers, Matt and Regina, being as cold and callous as they come.
 * Kale Peters-S.O.R.T. field agent who goes missing and is later dubbed K.I.A. following an investigation into the Third Energy research.
 * Anderson Dent-The fourth member of the team. Is eaten alive by a dinosaur in the jungle infiltration, leaving the rest of the team in a quandary.

Plot
The game's Story Mode features two separate campaigns between the two selectable main characters, each with an entirely different set of levels, environments, obstacles and, in some cases, dinosaurs as their respective squads split up in the game's opening chapter. They both occur at the same time as each other, however, with the two characters eventually communicating via Skype and voice chat in various cut scenes. The video/audio feed on the other character's end is also shown/played in their respective campaigns, i.e: Matt appearing on video/Skype feeds in Regina's campaign and vice versa.

In addition, each campaign has an exclusive post-credits scene after completing the game.

Regina's Campaign
After splitting up, Regina searches the quarantined forest for leads. She eventually discovers a camcorder where a middle-aged man, Dr. Izzo, talks of his newfound "Third" energy source, during which time, a fellow colleague, Dent, is attacked and killed by a Velociraptor. After surviving several waves of unpredictable dino attacks upon further venturing through the forest, Regina is relieved when runs into Matt. However, Matt suddenly vanishes after a magnetic Third Energy force field opens up.

A distraught Regina, in her search for leads, eventually finds Dent's walkie talkie lying around. She tries to call the others, only to hear dying screams. She is soon chased by a pack of Velociraptors, merely escaping after diving off a cliff into a ravine, only to then run into a Mosasaur. After tactfully escaping the aquatic dinosaur underwater, Regina makes her way back on land, narrowly escaping a Spinosaurus after navigating through a dark cave littered with artificially-placed human footprints via Third Energy.

Regina eventually finds a control tower deep within the forest and calls for backup, having to fend off Oviraptor attacks for 7 minutes until her crew arrived to pick her up via jeep. They transport her through the forest, fending off any swarming dinosaurs via gunship, but are suddenly attacked by the Spinosaurus she encountered previously, having burst out of the soil after burrowing itself underground. Regina narrowly escapes and eventually kills the creature with a looted rocket launcher, but incidentally lures a stampede of Megaraptors in doing so. Regina outruns the Megaraptors after escaping through and sealing the gate, only to then encounter spontaneous attacks by a pair of Plesiosaurs after proceeding through the deck.

Regina navigates through the island mainlands after escaping through the deck. In a new series of thrills that sees her taking refuge inside huts, trenches, behind trees and eventually being chased into a control center by swarming Celociraptors, Regina encounters more surprises in the dark corners of the facility, being stalked by Deinochyus lurking inside. While attempting to gain more leads into Third Energy, Regina accidentally sets off a Third Energy-activated motion-sensor security system, luring hordes of dinosaurs lurking within the facility-and all nearby parts of the island-to her. Regina narrowly escapes onto the roof, using a zipline to transport her way through the island, being cut off by a clamping Brachiosaurus along the way. After navigating through the wilderness once back on foot, Regina eventually outruns a swarm of Utah Raptors while entering a nearby paddock using the cover and resources available to her, only to run into a Stagosaurus who randomly nestles itself out of the soil. After fighting and killing the Stegosaurus using her wits and resourcefulness, Regina proceeds into the nearby island research facility.

Once inside the facility, eventually uncovering the truth about Dr. Izzo and his patented "Third Energy" resource after encrypting files. After discovering a microchip-and finding a way to link it with Third Energy-she's able to communicate with Matt via Skype, learning that he'd been sucked into a time loop by a Third Energy portal. She soon discovers it to be part of an artificial transcendence, however, as it sets off a new chain of contraptions, once again testing her resourcefulness as she battles her way through more unraveled levels of terror. After reaching the end of the facility, she is confronted by a mysteriously still-alive Peters, who informs her that the Third Energy outbreak had reached beyond the island after digging through files of his own. After navigating through the facility backlot through the island passage way, they escape via chopper.

After flying over a ravaged Manhattan, Isaacs informs them that the Third Energy outbreak had been caused by a reactor inside a facility located deep within New York City, gradually increasing the scale of the affected region via artificial geographic changes and time-displaced dinosaurs. Regina and co. are sent on a mission to find and destroy the reactor in order to prevent global human extinction. However, they're blown off course when their chopper is suddenly attacked by an "unseen" force. Regina and her crewmates escape via parachute just before it crash-lands in the NYC streets.

Regina goes scouting the devastated Big Apple, eventually discovering a Third Energy-emitting hub on top of the One World Trade Center. Regina ventures up the OWTC-having to take the stairs upon stopping at the middle floor after finding the elevator to be sabotaged by Third Energy-and eventually destroys the hub after making her way onto the roof. She then levitates down the elevator, finding herself secretly stalked and followed by a T-Rex, who attacks through the elevator roof, trying to clamp down on her from up above as its agape mouth bursts through the top.

After withstanding the creature's attacks upon reaching the bottom floor, Regina receives a call from Matt at the Subway Station. Upon arriving there, however, she finds Matt to be missing, being attacked throughout the many dark corners of the station by Velociraptors. Upon exiting, she winds up in Times Square when Dr. Izzo appears on the city titantron, prophecizing world domination due to his new transcendent Third Energy. Regina is then chased by a pack of Allosaurs who spontaneously burst out of the city's sewage system, eventually running into the Pteranodon who attacked their chopper earlier. After outlasting the Pteranodon, Regina proceeds into the Third Energy laboratory.

Once inside the base, Regina discovers more mutilated corpses. Shortly thereafter, she discovers via security camera footage that Dr. Izzo used the tourists as bait, luring them into the path of secretly time-displaced dinosaurs while unveiling his new "Third Energy" source. After evading and killing more dinosaurs, Regina once again communicates with Matt who, at this time, is located in the same facility set in the year 3033 as part of the Third Energy time displacement. Having to rely on his expert hacking skills to bypass the transcendent obstacles that await her in the Third Energy lab, she eventually finds Dr. Izzo along with the rest of her crew. Upon trying to apprehend him, however, Regina discovers a security breach up on the surveillance cameras, allowing him to escape. Regina finds the Third Energy reactor, but is met with the reemergence of the tyrannosaur she encountered in the OWTC elevator. After fighting and killing the T-Rex, Regina and her crew detonate the reactor, escaping and taking cover just before it explodes.

Following the reactor's self-destruction, Regina and her crew are confronted by Matt, who emerges from the base's rubble, having undone all time-distortion caused by the reactor and him being in the same facility decades into the future.

In a campaign-exclusive post-credits scene, Dr. Izzo winds up inside of a secret lab at an undisclosed location along with his secretary, Marissa Walker (a young, blonde-haired woman) as they walk through a slide door labeled "Fourth Energy". He approaches a glass test tube while hinting at a far more sinister project to his colleague when a large mutant dino silhouette emerges.

Matt's Campaign
Coming soon

Gameplay
The game returns to its Survival-Horror roots from the first game (and earlier Resident Evil titles), focusing on slowly building suspense as a nod to Alien: Isolation and The Evil Within while leaving you with scarce ammo/resources. While venturing through the jungle in the game's opening chapter, you'll encounter giant footprints, trails of blood, eviscerated corpses, hustling in the bushes, solemn reptilian grumbles, and shaking footsteps (or screams from afar depending on who you select) in your search for leads. Later, in the game's various research facilities, you'll venture down dark hallways with flickering lights, randomly-closing slide doors, randomly activated laser trip wires, spontaneous quaking, moving dino shadows on the walls, sudden power outages, and other tension-building elements.

Dino Crisis also makes rampant use of jump scares, many following a slow build. After gaining multiple leads in the opening level, Regina, upon finding a video camera with Dr. Izzo unveiling his insidious plan of harnessing Third Energy, finds her crew ambushed by a flock of oviraptors through the forest. In a highlight of the game, Matt experiences a power outage after overriding the Third Energy Facility security system before a Giganotosaurus breaks through the glass window to attack him. They may also be used interchangeably, with one jump scare leading directly into another. For instance, the jungle level sees Regina fleeing from a pack of megaraptors, only to run into Plesiosaurs randomly bursting neck-first out of the water after reaching the deck and closing the gate. The game also makes use of jump scares inspired from Resident Evil 2. For example, raptors bursting out of side doors, biting velociraptor heads breaching through side wall openings, or velociraptors plowing through doors while in the opening animation, during which time, you're forced to "hold" them back via QTEs. In the city streets towards the end of the game, you'll walk past numerous sites of devastation (i.e: ravaged buildings) and eventually encounter large quaking before a pack of Allosaurs break out of the sewage system and begin chasing you down Times Square. These are just a few of the "surprises" waiting for you.

In addition, the game has "hidden" side-missions/objectives. At one point, during Regina's campaign, Regina calls in an extraction team via the jungle's control tower. During this time, a timer goes off at the bottom of the screen, denoting that you must survive swarming attacks of dinosaurs in the 7 minute time frame within that area while you await for evac to arrive.

New to the franchise is a special "Takedown" ability equipped with each character. Each respective "Takedown" ability is consistent with their use of weapons and tactics. For example, Regina can latch onto a dino's back and pierce its throat with her hunting knife while Matt can latch on from behind and "choke" it out with his garrote wire.

In addition, the game features two entirely different campaigns, both occurring at the same time as each other, between Matt and Regina, time travel via Third Energy portals being used to separate the two characters in their individual quests, taking them through various locations in the past, distorted present and future. Both campaigns are linked and the objectives within each are necessary to each other's completion. For example, Matt, in a futuristic Manhattan research facility, must use his hacking skills to guide Regina through the same facility set in the present time in order for her to locate the Third Energy machine, only to then find themselves being ambushed by the end boss, a Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, respectively. The machine's destruction following Regina's defeat of the T-Rex undoes any time distortion caused by the harnessed Third Energy, and they meet up back in the present.

Adding to the game's replayability is the addition of a special "VR Mode" unlocked after completing the Story Mode with either character. Through the Xbox One's Oculus and PS4's VR Headset, you get to experience the game through the eyes of Matt or Regina, making for an unnervingly terrifying experience.

Offline Game Modes
After completing the game's Story Mode, you unlock several distinct mini-games in the offline single player:
 * Extinction: Much like Resident Evil's Raid mode, you select a character and stage, then navigate through the level. A future-enhanced nuke is linked to a Third Energy portal, leaving the planet at risk of global destruction. You must mix guts with resourcefulness, raiding through an unpredictable wave of dinosaurs in a tension-filled setting like those featured in the riveting single player in search of the Third Energy portal-linked bomb and diffuse it before the world is reduced to smithereens. You are graded by completion time, health, enemies killed, and accuracy after completing, from which you can earn in-game currency for unlocking other characters and costumes.
 * Dino Colosseum: The 'Dino Colosseum' mini-game mode from Dino Crisis 2 returns. It's a survival mode where you're in a VR-themed dome, fending off packs of dinosaurs that grow larger and deadlier as time elapses.
 * Dino Battle: Much like in Dino Crisis 2, you take control of a dinosaur and fight another in the form of a fighting game.
 * Virtual Reality: with a PSVR or Oculus headset, you play the single-player in a first person VR game mode, adding for new dimensions and a whole new level of terror!

Online Game Modes

 * Extraction: Survivors have been called in for an emergency extraction, and the S.O.R.T. team (which can consist of up to 4 human players, each controlling a member of S.O.R.T.) have been called in to extract them. They must venture through the tension-filled SH-themed levels of the first game in search of 5 civilians and extract them to safety. Game ends when all survivors are rescued or killed or all human-controlled players are dead.
 * Alpha Predator: 1-4 players team together and roam through a selected level in search of the AI-controlled Alpha Predator-which can be a T-Rex, Stagosaurus, Pteranodon or Giganotosaurus-fending off smaller raptors along the way. The longer it remains active, the stronger it becomes. Game ends when either the Alpha Predator or all human players are dead.
 * Dinos vs Hunters: A party-based game mode where 8-16 players are divided into two teams: Hunters, consisting of the game's human cast, and Dinosaurs, consisting of the game's dino rogue gallery. Humans must also fight through hordes of raptors in search of the player-controlled dinosaurs on the opposing team. Game ends when all players on a respective team are killed.

Development
On April 6, 2016, executive producer Jun Takeuchi, who also worked on the Resident Evil franchise (which many credit with having spurred the series, lending it the "Resident Evil with dinosaurs" moniker), announced in an official statement to fans that Capcom had begun working on a reboot of Dino Crisis shortly after wrapping up production of the highly-anticipated Resident Evil 2remake.

In an interview, Takeuchi stated that he wanted to capitalize not only on the success of REmake 2 and other recent SH titles, but on the dinosaur hype train surrounding the upcoming Jurassic World 2 (slated to hit theaters on June 22, 2018). He had specifically aimed for a 2018 release date for just this reason.

When asked about his direction involving characters, Takeuchi clarified that he created the game with the intention of crafting the modern-day, dinosaur-hunting equivalent of Chris and Jill from its "sister" series, Resident Evil, while also reinventing the star character (Regina) for a franchise reboot, her new, black spandex gear serving as a subtle nod to Jill's purple battlesuit outfit in RE5.