Ryan Davis of GameSpot called the game's premise "bizarre and convoluted" with "not a lot of coherence". Davis criticized the game's selectable control schemes. Playing exclusively with the GunCon 2, Davis wrote that "using a single hand to move and shoot is difficult and will wear out your arm more quickly than your average light-gun game". Davis also criticized the alternative method of using a standard DualShock controller: "The targeting reticle is far too sensitive, and you'll often find yourself dealing with bouts of overcorrection while trying to draw a bead on a dino". Davis noted that the best option was to utilize both the DualShock and the GunCon 2 simultaneously: "But even this configuration does not compensate completely for the game's inherently slow movement or the inability to look up or down, and you'll spend an equal amount of time-fighting the controls as you will fighting dinosaurs". Davis also criticized the game's poor graphics, and wrote that the only notable sound effect throughout the game "is the 'reload' command you'll hear whenever you're out of bullets, and this is only because the computer voice noticeably mispronounces it". Davis concluded that the game would have been "infinitely more playable had Capcom discarded the Gun Survivor control scheme and just left the movement control on rails, like all other light-gun games. But with its needlessly frustrating control scheme intact, Dino Stalker's appeal is incredibly limited. Though the game is loosely affiliated with the Dino Crisis games, there's not a lot here to draw fans of that series, and with several superior light-gun games available on the PlayStation 2, there's little reason for anyone without a masochistic streak to play this game".