Review - JURASSIC WORLD EVOLUTION - Pretty dinos are shallow

  
  Announced last August at Gamescom 2017, Jurassic Park franchise is back in the rather forgotten "park management" genre, with "JURASSIC WORLD EVOLUTION". 

Accompanying the release of the movie "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom", Frontier Development puts you at the head of the famous park and lets you rewrite its history.

  Until now, Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis was the best "management" Jurassic Park game ever made, although quite overlooked at the time of its release. (Get it on Amazon!)

Let's find out if Jurassic World Evolution proves to be its true spiritual successor, giving us the Operation Genesis 2 that we always wanted.

Store	Platform	OVERALL RATING: 60%
Buy it on Steam	PC	+ THE POSITIVE - The best dinosaurs ever made - Nice OST - You can ride vehicles - The genetic customization - It's Jurassic Park! - Jeff Goldblum  - THE NEGATIVE - Lackluster A.I. - Not enough structures, and customization - Not enough animations for the dinosaurs - Expeditions are redundant after a while - Guests have no real purpose - No mods support
Buy it on Amazon Buy on Playstation	PS4
Buy it on Amazon Buy on Microsoft	Xbox One

WHAT IS JURASSIC WORLD EVOLUTION?

First, let's clear a misunderstanding: This is NOT a park BUILDER game like Planet Coaster but rather a "crisis-management" game.

GAME GOAL: 
  - Making as much money as you can, "creating" dinosaurs to attract lots of people...
And then making sure they don't get eaten by your crazy genetically modified dinos.

Now, nobody wants our cute T-rex bursting out of its enclosure, mauling our emplo... Aaaand it's happening. Okay, cool.

According to Forbes, Dentist for T-rex is one of the top-paying jobs in 2018.

Looking so cool.

  Rather than being limited to a single park, five islands will be needed to thrive and grow: 
- Isla Matanceros
- Isla Muerta 
- Isla Sorna 
- Isla Tacano 
- Isla Pena  
- Isla Nublar (the one in the movie, which serves here as a sandbox mode, strangely)
Each island can be reset, but not randomly generated. Replayability is therefore quite limited.

TIP!

  Maps are huge, but you want to try to make enclosures not too big, though!
Buildings are huge and will eat up your space pretty quick. 

  On the other hand, keep in mind that solitary herbivores like huge enclosures, for example! (check the needs for every dinosaur!)

Note!

The game is VERY DEMANDING, so we suggest 16GB DDR4 of RAM(it might be playable with only 8GB), and at the VERY LEAST a GTX 1060 GPU. (1070 or 1080 would be better though, to ensure you get 60FPS all the time.)

GAMEPLAY - A MILE WIDE, AN INCH DEEP😒

  Look, there are many things to do in the game, but all of these tasks just feel like a MOBILE GAME. 
For example, when you want new fossils, you just click an icon and wait for a damn timer to tick down...
And the same applies to researching the fossils for DNA.

  To develop your park, you can build several buildings to keep your visitors busy and/or entertained. Bars, sexy underwear boutiques(very important when you go see dinosaurs), love hotels, anyway, nothing out of the ordinary. (a gun shop wouldn't have seemed inappropriate.)

Using tranquilizers on Dinosaurs can be necessary when they escape or attack other dinos.

  This brings up one of the biggest problems of Jurassic World Evolution: 
the subpar construction system. 

  The map has boundaries, delimited by a white line. 
Problem is, the land is not leveled automatically when you attempt to lay a building. 
As a result, the numerous map constraints are frustrating. 

  While the enclosures are created without problem, the buildings are a thorn in the side.
The rotation of buildings is not very accurate and you'll have to work hard during long minutes to finally position your building the way you intended to. 
Oh, and forget about symmetry, as the constraints are far too many to tackle.

 

  Overall, buildings and attractions look bland and uninspired, and can't even get customized.(Forget about Rollercoaster Tycoon level of customization...) As for guests, they lack any kind of personality and are boring, to a point that the park itself feels really dead. 

On the other hand, administrative and scientific buildings, as well as power plants, can be modified with three different settings: 

- Charging speed
- increased electricity production
- accuracy of your flying unit

In addition to electricity production and increasing viability of incubations, the changes are minimal.

You can drive vehicles to visit your park, and carrying out your daily tasks, like repairing buildings and fences, catching dinosaurs(using tranquilizer guns). Enjoy being chased by a Tyrannosaurus in your slow-moving Jeep. Oh, and also, you can get a helicopter, offering you a different point of view of your park..

  The happiness of a dinosaur is improved thanks to a "Comfort" gauge, which allows you to check his daily needs. (eating, pooping, eating, pooping, eating his poop...)
If the gauge is in the blue, everything is fine. If it goes into the red, problems begin and the comfort rate will go down gradually. 

  The lower it is, the more your dinosaur will be filled with a desire to destroy his enclosure fences, to run away free in your park. 
...Which is all fun if the said dinosaur is herbivorous. Now let's imagine it's a carnivore...
 

Here is a very rare picture of Harvey "Velocirapist" Weinstein in Hollywood.

  At the moment, there are about 40 available dinosaurs, which is a decent amount. 
We don't know yet if the developers will add more in future updates. 

  As you can imagine, the emblematic dinosaurs of the saga such as T. Rex, Velociraptor or Brachiosaurus are present. As well as nice surprises like the Majungasaurus or the Gigantspinosaurus, which we don't usually see in the movies. 
(CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL LIST OF DINOSAURS)

"We're gonna need a bigger Jeep."

STILL MISSING: 
- Flying dinosaurs such as the famous Pteranodon
- Aquatic dinosaurs such as the massive MOSASAURUS😨 (visible in Jurassic World). 
Let's really hope that they'll be added in future updates!

TIP!

Don't forget that the more advanced the genome of your dinosaur is, the more you can modify it. Attack, defense, life expectancy, appearance... Also, your genetically modified dino rating will be higher and it will attract more visitors!

  Well, what can we do which is fun in this game, then? Oh yeah, I know!
How about... We put a Triceratops in the same enclosure as a T.rex?  Let's get ready to rumbleeeeeeeee!

"Hey, want to know why they call me tear-another-sore-ass-sex?"    "Keep joking and my tricera-cocks will get you a mega-sore-ass!"

A bloody show that will definitely delight your visitors, especially kids.🤗 

Speaking of which, don't forget that you can ALSO unleash your dinos on purpose on your public, just for laughs! This one will go to the blooper reel =>

*going to get eaten by a T-rex* ''Wait, let me take a selfie first!''

TIP!

How to Get ALL Dinosaurs in Jurassic World Evolution

  You have to dig up the right fossils. To do this, head over to an Expedition Center, and send out a dig team. The fossils you'll find contain DNA fragments which will be useful to complete the dinosaur's genome. As soon as the genome reaches 50%, the dinosaur can be incubated. As you build more and more centers, you’ll gain access to every dig site. You’ll need to dig up fossils in every available island. Keep doing so and you’ll find all of the genetic material you’ll need to make any dinosaur you want!

GRAPHICS - DAT DINO ASS THO!😋

  Using the same engine as Planet Coaster, the game looks very good overall.


  The dinosaurs really look amazing, and we think they look even better than the ones in Ark: Survival Evolved. 

You'll appreciate being able to give them different color palettes, to make them more unique to your liking!

Also, the game features changing weather, and the rain is beautifully made. And the "wet" effect on the dinosaurs is INCREDIBLE. 
We think that catastrophes like tornadoes weren't really necessary.
They can destroy your buildings and fences, but it won't kill any of your dinosaurs.

Caption this picture and win a trip to fenceless Jurassic Park!

  On the other hand, they're pretty boring to look at though.
They're lacking plenty of animations, like, for example, eating and drinking animations!
Basically, they only mindlessly roam around, and that's it. It almost looks like a "Jurassic Park: Zombie Edition" game.
 
  Also, they don't really interact with each other in meaningful ways.
No herding or pack hunting like in Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, a game from 2003!!

 As for carnivores(velociraptors...), they just go on killing sprees, without ever stopping until they're dead or have nothing left to kill, which makes it impossible to have a balanced ecosystem. 

"We spared no expense."

Also, a few unimportant details but which reinforce the feeling of an under-developed game: 
- No foot prints? That would have been so cool though... Shame.
- Meat doesn't disappear after being consumed... Major immersion-breaking problem.
- Goats are retarded. Yes, in real-life too, I know, but even more in this game.

"Alright, you goat me!"

As for the rather disappointing landscapes... 
- Lighting is very realistic and you can almost feel the sunshine blinding you. And wait until you see the beauty of your park at night, lighted by a a full moon!
- Textures are a mix bag. Some plants can be extremely realistic, while some trees are just horrific and look like ripoffs from the very first Counter Strike.
- The land might be a bit too flat, or at least "smooth" in some parts. 

Great. So, I resuscitate dinosaurs, I build the best park in the world, and my customers want to go bowling? Muricans...

MUSIC - SOOTHING AND PASTORAL🌾😊

  A VERY rare thing in modern games, the OST is actually very good!
Anyway, we've never been disappointed in the mythical Jurassic Park OSTs, whether they were games like "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" on PS1, or movies like "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom". 

  This one is as good, but only with a few epic pieces, as the game is rather slow-paced, and the composer created a more appropriate "semi-relaxing" soundtrack, featuring beautiful melodies orchestrated by masterful violinists, flutists, or even choirs.

  You never get asleep though, as even when the pastoral and soothing music slowly fades away, it flares up in a myriad of fireworks-like woodwinds.
A work of beauty.😍👍

A complaint? Not enough tracks, that's all. The game is actually silent most of the time.(Which is okay, though. You know how we often advise to turn the music off to achieve better immersion.)

SOUNDS & VOICES😎

  SFX will convince you that you're definitely in charge of a real Jurassic Park!
Never in the history of games had a Jurassic Park game such a realistic soundscape. 

  You'll enjoy listening to countless exotic birds singing and various jungle creatures roaring, grunting and hissing, which is quite fascinating, but, at the same time, makes you think twice before wandering around.😁


  As for the voices...
There's Jeff Goldblum. Need we say more?😁
Him alone is enough to raise the dialogues quality to a whole 'nother level. 
He'll give you tips and scholarly analysis during your progression!

Overall, pretty good quality, anyway.

RATING BOX

	VERSION TESTED:1.0 Publisher: Frontier Developments Developer: Frontier Developments Release Date: 12 June, 2018 Genre: Management Single-player/Multiplayer Difficulty: Easy  Store Platform Buy it on Steam PC Buy it on Amazon Buy on Playstation   PS4 Buy it on Amazon Buy on Microsoft Xbox One
GRAPHICS: 84%
Maybe the best dinosaurs ever created for a video game. They're beautifully textured, but they don't have enough animations. Landscapes are pleasant yet outdated on a technical level.
MUSIC: 93%
Extremely pleasant and perfectly appropriate to set the tone in these beautiful but deadly environments!
SOUNDS: 90%
The lively soundscapes compensate for the dead feeling of your park, and succeed at transporting you in a realistic "Jurassic Park". Dinosaurs roaring sounds are as terrifying as ever, and voices are actually made by professional actors.
GAMEPLAY: 55%
There's just not enough meat in the game. Pun intended.😁 Buildings aren't customizable enough, dinosaurs A.I. is poor and overall, the parks feel dead no matter how much effort you put into them. Every task is actually too easy and feels shallow like a casual mobile game.
OVERALL RATING: 60%
Let's say it's just not worth it at the moment.This feels either like a mobile game with great graphics, or a... VERY early access dinosaur showcase game. It's obvious the game was rushed to be released just when Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom hit the big screens... The developers succeeded: we're giving it the same average rating. 😉👍   It only needs more depth. Everything else is just nitpicking.  Let's wait for the "Fallen Kingdom" DLC, which will come out on June 22nd, 2018.  We're hopeful that Frontier Developments will make it great(like they did with Planet Coaster) and turn it into the best dinosaur park management game ever made, and the true sequel that Operation Genesis deserved since a long time.

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