Trespasser (game)
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Trespasser is a computer game that takes place in the fictional Jurassic Park universe. It was developed by DreamWorks Interactive and released in 1998. It is a first-person shooter whose main character is a woman who crash-lands on Isla Sorna. She must fend off dinosaurs and solve puzzles while seeking a way to signal for help and escape the island. The game features seven species of dinosaur: Brachiosaurus, Velociraptor (by far the most common in the game), Tyrannosaurus Rex, Albertosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Stegosaurus and Triceratops.
The main character is voiced by actress Minnie Driver. In certain portions of the game, the main character recalls passages from a fictional book written by John Hammond; Richard Attenborough provides the voice of Hammond in these sections.
For its time, the game had many revolutionary ideas and concepts, including the ability to use any item as a weapon, and complex AI.
The game was somewhat notorious, however, for a number of reasons. Many people reported that the game either failed to run or frequently crashed on systems that seemingly met the game's stated requirements. Trespasser featured a much-heralded "realistic" physics engine, but the player's main interface was via an awkward, difficult-to-control arm that presented major challenges in simple actions such as picking up an object. Lastly, the game removed the familiar "health status bar" from the screen (presumably in an effort to increase the game's realism) and replaced it with a heart-shaped tattoo on the character's breast. To check the character's remaining health level, the player had to look directly downward, which was often dangerous when hostile dinosaurs were in the vicinity.
Despite these shortcomings, the game retains a loyal following to this day. The Trespasser Community, established in 2002, is a popular website for the game's fan community, offering tools and level editors available for download among other features.
People who worked on Trespasser include Seamus Blackley and Austin Grossman.
External links
- Dreamworks' official Trespasser website (http://www.dreamworksgames.com/Games/Trespasser/)
- Trespasser Community (http://www.trescom.org/)