There is no shortage of questions surrounding the upcoming Jurassic Park game from TellTale Games, not the least of which being how the maker of point-and-click adventure games will handle a property known for its adrenaline-fueled, fast-paced action. Luckily, IGN has gotten a preview of the game, and the gameplay trailer released gives a good idea of what to expect. Apparently, the developer's choice to take some control away from the player will lead to a much better experience.

The first trailer for the game showed that it would be sharing the same look and feel of the Spielberg films, which should come as a relief to die-hard fans. TellTale isn't looking to tread on any treasured properties, a fact they proved with their recent episodic release of Back to the Future.

But with a franchise known for entirely different action and suspense, the developers can't go about the production in the same way. TellTale revealed that they would be following the lead of Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain, using button to control onscreen characters.

We thought the game's use of the system worked amazingly well, so we're happy to see more developers adopting the same approach. But taking some control away from the player is always risky, since players may be more likely to fail or slip up in gameplay.

The first gameplay trailer released by IGN shows that one way of keeping players interested is to supply some incredibly satisfying animations in the event of failure.

If you're adverse to gratuitious death at the hands of dinosaurs, avert your eyes:

We know the game won't be using any of the characters from the original film, although the character screens released show that they won't be straying too far from their source material. The preview also reveals that players won't have the ability to walk characters through game environments, only change the game's camera position to highlight new points of interest. The concept isn't anything new to point-and-click titles, but Jurassic Park doesn't seem like the type of game that would institute such a control scheme.

In the demo that IGN was given access to, the player is given control of Dr. Gerry Harding, accompanying his daughter Jess in trying to coax a young Triceratops back into its enclosure. The game quickly jumps in pace when the dinosaur's mother attack's the pair's jeep, and the player must follow a series of button prompts to rip wires out from under the dash in an effort to silence the vehicle's horn.

IGN was also given an explanation of the game's story from executive producer Kevin Boyle, and how it fits into the overall plot of the first movie:

"We saw this loose thread in the first movie, which looked like a great opportunity for a story that is really tied into Jurassic Park, but in a way that your outcome isn't pre-determined as it would be if you were replaying the events of the movie...So we take this loose end from the first movie, this can of embryos that Nedry loses, and there's no real final resolution to it -- it's presumed lost -- and Nedry had people he was delivering that to, keenly interested in receiving it."

It should please fans of the film to hear that one of the biggest loose ends of the series - the can of embryos - is not only going to be addressed, but has had an entire game built out of it. With a strong story based in the fiction of the original and a tense and suspenseful way of delivering gameplay, Jurassic Park is already looking promising.

If the game stray from the studio's usual fare as much as it seems, who knows what we can expect from The Walking Dead, King's Quest, or whatever treasured property the studio acquires next.

Jurassic Park will be available for the PC and Mac later this year, with rumors circling of a console release as well. We'll keep you posted on a final release date and included platforms.

Source: IGN