Players control a team of gatherers and scientists stuck on Isla Nublar, an island packed with prehistoric animals. The story will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movie The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Anyone out there remember the infamous Atari 2600 version of E.T.? While Chaos Island is not quite as dismal, I can't imagine anyone, especially devoted real-time strategy gamers, giving this title more than a quick, cursory glance before running the uninstall program and marching it back to the store, receipt firmly in hand. Generally, games based on films are slabbed out with little or no concern for quality the name of the game is capitalization.
Unfortunately, this is the exception to the rule. When done right, a game license can actually expand the universe created in a film or television show, as is the case with the brilliant Dark Forces series from LucasArts. Star Wars has earned more money from licensing royalties than box office receipts, and the same can be said for Steven Spielberg's E.T. Licensing popular films and television shows is a way of squeezing additional profit from a franchise. For example, the film Star Wars is a "mythic western in outer space." The inspiration behind DreamWorks Interactive's Chaos Island is, "Let's cross Command and Conquer with Jurassic Park." While the concept sounds promising on the surface, the actual execution fails to offer the depth real-time strategy fans have come to expect. The best ideas are those that cross a prevalent component of popular culture with an appealing twist. High concept ideas are a dime a dozen in the entertainment industry, but when they hit the right nerve, can earn the masterminds untold wealth.
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