Rerun Article: Dino Park: Invader

OK, I'm not normally a huge video gamer. Seriously. It's not that I don't like playing video games, but I just don't have the time for it with all the work I have to do here at Smiley's News. However, when I heard that the game company Unimaginable © was going to be releasing a game featuring dinosaurs, I just had to get a story published about it! As you all might already know, Unimaginable © is responsible for creating games such as Indiana James and Noah's Lost Ark, Galactic Wars Episode IV, To the Future and Back and Lord of the Pinto Beans; their latest game is known as Dino Park: Invader! My trusty, junior photographer, Danial P. Smithwater and I went to the Unimaginable © company building to interview the head game developer, Tyson Cortes.

The game's description is as follows:

“In Dino Park: Invader!, you play as Annie, a woman who's plane wrecks on a mysterious island off the coast of Costa Rica in the Pacific Ocean and finds that she is the only survivor. Unfortunately, she soon comes to realize that the island she arrived on is not just any island – she's landed on Isla Cortez, the breeding ground for a once top-secret company known as Biogen, or Biological and Genetic Technologies Inc. and that the island is inhabited by living, breathing dinosaurs! Using her strength, wits and tools she finds on the island, Annie must escape the dino-filled island alive by reaching the helicopter landing pad. Can she make it in time?”

Tyson is quoted for saying, “After finishing Lord of the Pinto Beans, we decided to do a dinosaur-themed video game since pretty much everyone loves dinosaurs.” Tyson got the idea to start working on the game when he finished watching his five-year old son playing with his dinosaur collection and a toy person. He had the dinosaurs actively pursuing the person.

“The game is a first-person adventure staring a woman named Annie,” says Tyson. “The game involves a lot of fleeing, fighting off dinosaurs using weapons she finds lying around and solving logic puzzles. All the environments are three-dimensional and consist of quite a few different habitats.” Tyson went on to explain that the game also features Annie learning about the rich history of Biogen – the initial creation, rise and eventual fall of the company. “The player will also learn a lot about Annie's personality as the game unfolds, she's a very creative, energetic, optimistically-minded young woman.”

Dino Park: Invader! doesn't only consist of Annie of course, it's filled with a rich environment and loads of amazing creatures in each level. The game is planned to have 16 levels that Annie will have to get through in order to make it off the island:

1. The Beach
2. The Estuary
3. The Mangrove Swamp
4. The Open Woodland
5. The Sauropod Valley
6. The Jungle
7. The Plains
8. The Jungle #2
9. The Worker Village
10. The Laboratories
11. The Raptor Nest
12. The Upland Forest
13. The Mountain Forest
14. The High Cliffs
15. The Communication Center
16. The Race to the Helipad

“Each of the levels features little challenges for Annie to figure out and she'll have to battle dinosaurs in every level as well,” explains Tyson. “Well, I take that back. The . . . [level] that takes place at the Beach is a tutorial level, where the player can learn how to do certain things.”

Of course, you can't have a dinosaur game without the dinosaurs! There's a whole host of dinosaurs making their appearance in this game that Annie is going to encounter. “We tried our best to fill the game with a lot of well known dinosaurs,” says Tyson, “but also some dinosaurs that many people might not know about. One of my favorite dinosaurs in the game is Sinornithosaurus.” Tyson tells me that Sinornithosaurus is an arboreal (tree-living) raptor related to Velociraptor that leaps out of trees to attack Annie. Annie must locate as many weapons (tranquilizer guns, tasers and cattle prods) to defend herself from these and other dinosaurs. Tyson also said, “Of course, we had to put in Tyrannosaurus rex. In my opinion, you can't have a dinosaur game without T. rex. Annie meets loads of T. rex when she's on her island adventure. We also felt that we had to include Velociraptor. In the game, they try to make surviving a hard thing for Annie to do. They're very intelligent and hunt in packs. If Annie doesn't watch her back, she's a goner! Oh! I almost forgot to mention that there are three tribes of raptors across the island: Tribe A, Tribe B and Tribe C; as if one type of raptor wasn't enough!” Tyson was able to give me a list of the dinosaurs planned to be in the game. The list consists of:

• Tyrannosaurus rex
• Velociraptor
• Triceratops
• Brachiosaurus
• Pachyrhinosaurus
• Acrocanthosaurus
• Albertosaurus
• Stegosaurus
• Compsognathus
• Sinornithosaurus
• Dilophosaurus
• Diplodocus
• Allosaurus
• Styracosaurus
• Camarasaurus
• Ceratosaurus
• Cryolophosaurus
• Baryonyx
• Spinosaurus
• Oviraptor
• Pteranodon
• Pachycephalosaurus
• Dracorex
• Stygymoloch
• Torosaurus
• Kentrosaurus
• Eoraptor

Unimaginable © plans to release this game on May 21, 2014 and are very excited about doing so. They feel as if they have the perfect dinosaur game. “The development team has put a lot of work into making this game,” Tyson says, “and I'm sure that once we're done, it will be all worthwhile!”

Written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond

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We here at Smiley’s News, I have been working night and day to get articles ready. I could really use some help! So we are looking for people interested in writing (especially kids and teens). If you are interested, PLEASE(!) send an email to animaladventures@aol.com and save me from working night and day! I’m exhausted!

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