The folks at Telltale games seem to be on a roll. Not only were they blessed with the chance to revamp several defunct beloved game series (Sam & Max, Monkey Island), but also they were given the chance to tackle one of the most popular film series of all time with Back to the Future. Now once again, Telltale has the chance to take on more of our childhood memories with its latest franchise revival, Jurassic Park.

The demo that Telltale had on display on the GDc showfloor only showcased one small sequence, but it did a pretty good job of demonstrating just what we could expect out of this title. As the demo started, the rep on hand told me that since Jurassic Park is a more action-packed universe, I could expect a little more action than the standard TellTale experience. Imagine my surprise when this promise manifested itself as a game that was pretty much just Heavy Rain with dinosaurs. If you’re still having trouble with the comparison, imagine the contextual button-challenge-based gameplay of Heavy Rain mixed with the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. Gameplay is all done via prompted button presses and analog stick motions. When a command pops up on screen, you’re tasked with pressing it in time to complete the action and move onto the next one. The demo I played was running on the PC, but with a 360 gamepad.

As the dem started, we saw a scene with a scientist at the park trying to transport his daughter and a wounded woman when their path is impeded by a baby Triceratops feeding in the road. Surveying the scene is done by selecting various parts of the environment which have button overlays on them. A press at the right bumper would pull at the dinosaur’s food, while B would make you attempt to move the dinosaur with your own meager strength. Eventually, I solved the puzzle and got the dinosaur out of the way, or so I thought. It was here that the more action-oriented side of the game revealed itself as the baby dino’s mom noticed our harassment and decided to charge. During this sequence control periodically shifted from the scientist to his daughter in the car as they both got bashed around. It was all decidedly intense, even though most of what I did was just hold down a few buttons for the prescribed amount of time. I found myself getting into the gameplay in much the same way as Heavy Rain, though I felt like the lack of that game’s morbidly serious tone actually worked in Jurassic Park’s favor as the action felt a little more believable.

There were numerous ways to die in the short demo, as you might imagine when dealing with rampaging dinosaurs. Just when the mother Triceratops felt like an insurmountable challenge, a slavering T-Rex came lumbering around the corner and my hopes of survival dropped precipitously.  Still, what am I if not a survivor? Jumping between the battling dinosaurs, I ushered my daughter to safety, scooped my wife up in my arms and...got both of us gored to death leaving the orphaned daughter to fend for herself. And to think, this gruesome fate befell us all because I didn’t mash the Y button fast enough. After trying again, I succeeded in the task, got my family to safety, and ended the demo.

It was all pretty hectic, but I did find myself absorbed in the QTE-style gameplay. I just hope desperately that there is a little more freedom given to the player over the course of the game. Everything felt a little too binary and predetermined, without even the illusion of free will that players were given in Heavy Rain. Still, Telltale has a lot of success stories under its belt and why shouldn’t Jurassic Park be another one? Plus, this game promises to deviate from the main series canon as a sort of side story that follows the much-speculated-upon missing batch of DNA that Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) smuggles out of the labs in the first movie only to drop into the mud as he meets his fate at the fangs of a venomous Dilophosaurus. This was something that had always bothered me, and most likely any fan of the first movie as it was something that was never explored in the later films. It gives me high hopes for the game if Telltale knows enough about what fans might want to see out of Jurassic Park to include this plotline. Let’s hope that insight carries over to the rest of the game.