Dinosaur King is a good game. If you can get past the requisite level grinding and somewhat strategy-free nature of the battle system, you'll find a decent Pokémon-type title with real dinosaurs and entertaining 3D battles. And of course, there are Wi-Fi Connection battles and, interestingly, item-trading options. NWR is diving into this game with the same zeal they did for Pokémon Pearl. Any love lost in boss fights is reclaimed by the awesome dinosaur models. If you like dinosaurs and Pokémon, you can't go wrong here.
Pros:
+ Scientifically accurate dinosaurs!
+ Unique battle system
+ Online play
Cons:
- Battles have can be either too easy or too frustrating because of the rock-paper-scissors aspect
- Some obvious accuracy issues
- Grind, baby, grind!
TTFF:
"Overall the game is fun and once we got over the initial learning curve, the boys seemed to really take to it. The battles are kind of Pokemon-esque so that carries some street cred with the kids. The fossil cleaning is fun and different- we haven't used the stylus for much up to this point in our 2 months of DS gaming. I have seen other reviews that call this game basic and geared toward kids but for us, that works out perfectly."
GI writes: "No one person is truly immune to hype. It's a part of life from which we cannot escape due to the way society currently functions. There are things we can resist or ignore rather easily. Such as the past 20 years of the show Law & Order. I did a rather good job resisting NCIS until now (curse you USA Network ... curse you!). Or the latest Mary Higgins Clark novel. But back in the mid 1990s, there was one craze that no child - or gamer - could truly resist. And that game was the Red and Blue versions of Pokemon for the original Nintendo Game Boy. What made those two games work underneath the crazily cute monsters was the simple fact that it was a solid, traditional role-playing game. Well, folks, Sega has released a game for the Nintendo DS in this vein known as Dinosaur King. So is this clone any good? Well, no, it is not that great."
NintendoLife Writes:
"It's just a shame that there are so many battles to navigate. I just timed a section and found I didn't even manage seven seconds between battles; imagine that repeated over the whole game. It's the crucial flaw that makes it so hard to enjoy Dinosaur King in anything other than very small doses, even if you do really, really like dinosaurs."
