What can I say, this picture kinda sums up the whole soup:
Like already stated at JPL, it appears more like a spin-off than a true sequel and I think Sayles was definitely not being serious with this. It reads off as something that he was writing to merely play tongue-in-cheek and there probably were a lot of re-writes judging by the Homocraptor art that followed. While the human characters are interestingly written the main attractions weren't being treated passionately, most evident being the Dilophosaurus that Sayles not only calls "Chlamydosaurus" in obvious reference to the Australian frilled lizard but also gives it physical traits that simply could not exist in the creature that we saw in the first movie without being a horribly executed retcon(kinda like the Sornaensis Raptors being presented as Nublarensis identity). Don't even get me started with the "Excavaraptors" and the random Pteranodon attack of the last page. Von Drax wasn't all that interesting and played out as some Mission Impossible type of antagonist with convenient second hand thugs doing his bidding out of loyalty and greed.
What I did like about it;
- Nublar as a returning location at the beginning.
- The Deinonychus/Velociraptor being capable of changing skin color akin to Carnotaurus and Raptors of the novels as that makes them more intimidating(I know some will disagree).
- Dilophosaurus being at least featured as a more recurring threat. Same with Ankylosaurus.
- The main characters having well established backgrounds(save for the aforementioned villain).
Definitely not a proper JP sequel that we are wishing although I did enjoy reading it. Nevertheless, Jurassic Park: The Game pretty much owns this in every conceivable way as the Barbasol can plot line and I'm happy that TellTale had the chance to make it a reality instead of this becoming a movie.
A lackluster sequel spin-off that we are definitely better off without although it makes me all that more curious about what else Universal is up to now.
Final score: 5.6 out of 10.
