If you imagine a graph with axes labelled ‘cool to think about’ and ‘terrifying to experience’, then I think dinosaurs would sit at the maximum of both of them. They are undeniably cool, regardless of whether you imagine them with feathers or not. Everyone loves a big lizard*. But as the Jurassic Park series has shown us, them actually being real is terrifying. Lots of teeth and scary noises. Theropods isn’t helping things either. The dinosaurs shown are definitely cool but the game opens with someone being bloodily munched. I think I’ll stick to just seeing them in museums, thanks.
Though the mention of Jurassic Park is interesting, as Theropods feels like it’s part of a slight resurrection of point’n’click games recently. I guess they never truly went extinct, but there have been some top notch ones of late. Theropods is definitely a worthy contender, blending together the aforementioned coolness of dinosaurs, with a spicy sci-fi edge. It’s not the deepest the genre has ever been, both in gameplay and story, but it’s wonderfully pretty and has a fair few smart puzzles. Though it does suffer from what I’ll call, strangely, the ‘spear problem’.
Ground Control To Cavewoman
Theropods opens with us controlling a wee little cavewoman. She’s happily frolicking with her mum and dad in the woods, before a gigantic dinosaur suddenly appears. The dinosaur makes a quick snack of the mum, and the dad and girl are forced to flee. Years later, the tribe’s doing pretty good. That is until a giant glowing meteor hits the mountain and attracts the attention of murderous barbarians, who do what they do best. Meanwhile, in another genre, an astronaut crash-lands on the earth, looking for two things: a power source, and their lost child. The two protagonists eventually meet and join forces to journey back to the mountain and acquire the big glowy rock.
I’d say Theropods is quite brave with its choice of characters, in that neither of them speaks English. So characterisation is done through actions. The cavewoman learns to overcome her fears, for instance, which is shown by how she reacts to events around her. It’s quite nice, though does have some mixed results. I didn’t really buy the astronaut’s arc, for instance, which seemed a little unearned. That might be due to game’s overall brevity though. I wouldn’t say the characters are bad; I was definitely rooting for them and it was nice to see their relationship unfold. It’s just that stripping out dialogue, and limiting cutscenes purely to exposition, means that they begin to feel a little basic. The foot doesn’t come off the action pedal to let them breathe. They both have impeccable aim with a spear, though.
Point’n’Spear
Theropods is a nice blend of the old and new schools of point’n’click. So from the old, we’re picking up every out-of-place looking knick-knack and rubbing them against each other. But from the new, we have a handy button that allows us to see what we can interact with. So we’re not left pouring over pixels, trying to find a magical ladybug or whatever. It’s a blend that works well. It also keeps things relatively simple. We don’t have dialogue, after all, so we don’t have to listen to endless quips as we try and figure out what to do. Still, the simplicity doesn’t mean Theropods skimps on puzzles. There were definitely a few standout ones for me.
I liked one early on where we have to trap a dinosaur, by creating a basic rope trap and then forcing the dino to flee in a specific way. Theropods also shows its sense of humour through puzzles. I did enjoy throwing a tomato directly into the face of a rampaging barbarian. The gameplay shines when we have to put together multiple steps to achieve a goal, like building a raft. It does have a tendency to pad things out with easy solves, though. That’s the ‘Spear Problem’. So many actions are just hitting things with the spear, or using it as a lever. It got to the point where I’d just try the spear on everything first. So the big puzzles are good, but the journey to get to them can feel a bit repetitive.
Theropods – Pretty Pixel Point’n’Clickin’
My complaints are small fries, though, and are completely overshadowed by a big pro: Theropods is gorgeous. If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you’ll know I’m a fan of pixel art. The art here is lovely. The backgrounds are stunning; full of bright, vibrant colours. The character models look appropriately basic in gameplay and lovely in cutscenes, which gives it a distinct Sierra-esque feel to things. Sound design is pretty lovely too. There are areas like the beach where you can sit back and let it wash over you. Its dinosaurs look great too. Including one scene underwater that looks rather like it’s taking a potshot at Invincible. In a way that’s also very unsettling.
Theropods is a short but sweet adventure. The brevity, and the decision to remove dialogue, does leave it feeling a little shallow at times, but the overall experience is a pleasant one. In a way, it’s refreshing. It’s just you, some nice puzzles, and a couple of people getting to know each other. Couple that with a gorgeous art and you’re set for a pleasant afternoon of running from dinosaurs.
*I know they aren’t really lizards, but I couldn’t think of a better way to describe them. Everyone who matters does love them though.
