Well, I just 10 minutes ago finished Trespasser after 3 weeks of intermittent daily play and all I can say is "WOW"! I read Randy's review some time back and felt that my opinion being so different to his (and on a more modern machine), that I should enter a review. This game is not perfect by any means but there is much to like… The game played smoothly, with only one or two slowdowns. I did not experience one crash or hang during the game-a pretty impressive performance.

Interface
The game is controlled by a combination of mouse and keyboard, fully configurable to your comfort. Or should I say frustration... This game has one of the worst set ups in any game I've seen, requiring you to have keys for extending the arm, turning the arm, and picking up as well as the usual action, jump, and arrows for movement. I recommend that you persevere because the effort in getting comfortable makes for a worthwhile story. I configured the left mouse button for action and the right mouse button for jump. I used the arrow keys (be sure to map "run" not "walk" to forward!) and the following specific keys (you'll see why I mention it when you play the game): "Z" for turn arm, "X" for extend arm, and "C" for grasp". I mapped "S" to throw and "D" to change weapons. Knowing these last two keys is very important because you can only carry two objects at a time. This includes key cards to get in buildings. The interface gets a C-.

Story
You are a fairly anonymous character called Anne. Your plane has crashed on a tropical island near Costa Rica. You are relieved to find there are signs of civilization, though you soon find so much more… The island is, of course, Site B from the Jurassic Park series, and as such, teeming with raptors, tyrannosaurs, and other dinosaurs brought back through modern science. The story unfolds on two levels: as you explore, you find evidence of what has happened here and from time to time get voice overs from John Hammond, the genius (?) behind Site B. This is a fairly cliched story but very well done. Each progression to the next level makes sense, because it is all driven by Anne's desire to contact the outside world and be rescued. Story receives a B+.

Gameplay
This is a first person game leaning more toward action than adventure. The levels of each are affected by how you choose to play the game. The dinosaurs are positioned in reasonable places and often are found in pairs, which seemed to make sense. The workers have stripped the island, but for some reason they left guns and other weapons at handy locations. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Without those guns, I would have died very quickly indeed. The biggest selling point for this game is the flexibility contained within it. Objects can be manipulated and used much as in normal life. There are numerous solutions to each problem. For example, at one stage I found myself out of ammunition. I coaxed the remaining dinosaur to me and pushed it off the gangplank I was standing on. Just like in real life, you can elect to fight, flight, or puzzle your way through the situation. In many situations, the dinosaurs were otherwise engaged and ignored you. Anne moves like a turtle with two broken legs, even when running. This bothered me at first, but I took it in my stride and found it added tension that wouldn't be there if you could outrun the dinosaurs. Similarly, looking down at your chest (whoa, boys!) illustrates not how much health you have, but is more of a reading of your heart rate/fear. As time goes on, the heart loses its redness and you return to normal. It was good not to have to worry about replenishing health in addition to mastering the controls. Gameplay gets an A.

Graphics
This game was way ahead of its time. Unfortunately, when it came out, few people could play the game without turning everything way down. These days, the computers far exceed the minimum specifications, and I wished throughout that I could turn the graphic quality up further. Yes, there are some beautiful moments-look to the sky or up the mountain at the end. Rendering distance was low, such that some things in the near distance appear blurry or blocky. As you approach, they are rendered well. The dinosaurs, walls, and other objects in close up lose their resolution and appear blocky but don't detract too much from the experience. The distance is often fogged nicely. Dinosaurs bleed when shot and slow down and act injured when shot, though I'm sure technology these days would not have them bouncy up and down like marionettes! Some graphical artifacts I noticed included dinosaurs stuck in trees, weapons went through walls, buildings and trees rising out of the air. These were by no means the norm but are quite amusing to see. Graphically, this game deserves a B.

Sound
The sound is top notch, particularly the voice acting of Sir Richard Attenborough (reprising his role as Hammond) and Minnie Driver. Ambient noises are good, though have a tendency to appear suddenly rather than grow in intensity as you approach the sound. The dinosaurs' sounds are great. My heart raced the whole way through when I heard them behind me, coming towards me, or in the distance. The sound of footsteps on different surfaces was a nice touch too. This also occurred when objects were dropped on surfaces. The music is sparse, but when it rears its head, you know something is coming. It was very cinematic and really set the scene. Sound deserves an A.

Overall
Despite the flaws I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and will probably play it again. It is one of the most interesting games I've played, not merely action nor adventure. Though flawed, it added a dimension of realism not seen in most action games. I'm awarding this an A.

NOTE: I played this game after installing a hefty 35 Mb patch, released to address issues of game stability and to improve the graphics. I recommend downloading it.

Final Grade: A

System Requirements:

Windows® 95 or Windows® 98
Pentium 166Mhz
32 MB RAM
120 MB free disk space
Direct X 6.0 (included)
Windows® compatible mouse
Windows® compatible sound card
4x CD-ROM
1 MB Video Card

Recommended:
AMD K6-2 OR Pentium II 266MHz Processor
64MB RAM
AGP2X 3D Accelerator Card