Dinosaurs for Hire for Genesis

Image: MobyGames

Dinosaurs for Hire

Dino Contra

Genre: action - gun

Publisher: Sega

Year: 1993

System: Genesis

Gameplay Score: 3

Gameplay Notes:

Pretty standard Contra clone that performs quite well. Rather slow movement. 40% draw distance. Poor hit detection. Enemies seem to tank hits all the time. Enemies are must smaller than you so your gun shot often misses them. You have to duck way too often. Annoying mechanic where enemies swarm to you and hang out within your hitbox. To kill them you have to use a melee attack. Super annoying. The only weapon upgrades I found offer two and then three spread bullets. I would've liked to see more weapons.

Level Design Score: 3

Level Design Notes:

Well, this is where things go downhill. The level design is more Robocop than Contra. Just go to the right and shoot wave after wave of enemies with only slight variations. Boring. Some levels have light platforming. It's pretty standard fare for a western developed licensed game.

Theme Score: 1

Theme Notes:

Yet another TMNT ripoff from the early 90s. You're a team of three machine-gun toting dinosaurs who wear shades and leather jackets. So you're basically green Terminators. Yeah, no thanks guys.

Art Style Score: 3

Art Style Notes:

I'd like to rank it higher, but this game is just so dark and dreary. And most of the sprites are teeny tiny. The artwork is alright, but nothing special. Some of it doesn't look much better than an NES game.

Audio Score: 4

Audio Notes:

Decent music that's held back by the Genesis sound chip. But hey, the sounds are satisfying, so I'll call it a win.

Overall Score: 60

Review ID: 872