Have you played Ark: Survival, or perhaps The Isle recently? Or even once played Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, or the first Zoo Tycoon with the dinosaurs expansion? Jurassic World Evolution is a tycoon game that brings life into the classic JP/JW franchise. It came about with fire and brimstone when it released, much like Isla Nublar in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom. Maybe that’s too soon? When JWE was released, it topped the charts and had considerable coverage for over a month. With that said, I present to you my sincere analysis on Jurassic World Evolution.
About Jurassic World Evolution
There are few games that Jurassic World Evolution really compares to. However, does this make it something worthy for distinct praise in being a relatively niche game? No, of course not! What this coverage will focus on is dissecting this giant lizard tycoon game, and presenting to you interesting facts and sincere reflection on what makes it praiseworthy, and where it falls short.
Jurassic World Evolution is a business simulation game, a park management one not too far off from the Zoo Tycoon series, and rather far more relatable to its predecessor, Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. Taking from the essence of the Jurassic Park franchise that it’s rooted in, you are charged with progressing through Las Cinco Muertes archipelago. If a foreign language spooks you, then feel reassured that this translates to “The Five Deaths.” What a welcoming name, right? It’s only more comforting to know that you get the opportunity to produce various famous and infamous ancient creatures that roamed our world 65+ million years, and some of those wondrous dinosaurs sure can allow for the islands to live up to their name.
Released digitally on June 12th, 2018, and then with a physical release coming about on July 3rd, Jurassic World Evolution saw remarkable success with breaking one million sales just shortly after a month (specifically, July 19th). Frontier Developments really carved a statement with the sales figures for JWE in just a month.
Jurassic World Evolution Story
The plot of Jurassic World Evolution is as simple as has been presented before. You’re the parks manager, and it’s your job to turn the islands in their various states of development, from nothing or abandoned conditions, to five-star centers of ancient zoological entertainment. Given that, there are nuanced elements of story weaved in as you progress through the gameplay. This comes in the forms of completing Missions as well as unlocking Intel, which includes information on characters and locations from Jurassic Park’s and World’s universe. Additionally, there are notes which are more challenging to unlock. These notes give further insight on the characters you actively deal with from the three sectors that you must juggle the favor of, or risk sabotage, and they are Security, Entertainment, and Science.
Overall, given the lack of there being an actively engaging storyline besides these generally passive means to uncover elements of a weaved-in plot, it’s certainly a subject more so left on the backburner.
Jurassic World Evolution Gameplay
When you begin the game, you start on Isla Matanceros, which functions as the tutorial level. Once you reach three out of five stars, you unlock Isla Muerta. At five stars, Isla Nublar becomes unlocked. With Isla Nublar, you get to enjoy a sandbox game with unlimited money and can use it however you wish with what you’ve unlocked from the other islands as you progress through the game.
Through reaching three stars on Isla Muerta, you unlock Isla Tacano. Then Isla Pena becomes unlocked through Isla Tacano. Once you’ve reached three stars on Isla Pena, you unlock Site B, the location for The Lost World Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, Isla Sorna. It is through playing Isla Pena that you can unlock Indominus Rex, and, on Isla Sorna, you can unlock Indoraptor.
Overall, the game can give you a range of 30 to 60 hours of enjoyable gameplay, being able to unlock most of the achievements in no time at all, and through attentive work on Contracts you’ll be able to unlock everything locked by the reputation levels with the various sectors.
Jurassic World Evolution Contract System
The quest system in JWE goes by “contracts”. You can either request a contract once every minute or be presented contract offers directly by the heads of the Divisions. You can take up a maximum of three contracts at any given time and completing them will boost your connection with whichever sector that the contract ties to, and occasionally there’s a smaller boost with a second sector.
These contracts range from just completing a fossil expedition, waiting out a period of ten minutes and making sure there’s no power outages that happen in the park, to reaching a certain goal with the number of guests presently at the park, or reaching a certain income level. Some may request a specific dinosaur with a specified genome added to them, as well. Overall, the contract system is straightforward and easy.
One fair warning is to give a small amount of attention to the Division(s) you’re not focused on rising your reputation with. Completing a contract for them quickly makes sure that no sabotage occurs, which can run the risk of dinosaurs being released.
Jurassic World Evolution Combat
Combat is prevalent in JWE, although quite easy to avoid. Mentioned before were genomes, and as you progress through research, you can use a variety of genomes to change a dinosaur. Alterations made will raise and lower the different stats. Attack, Defense, Lifespan, and Ratings are the focus of concern; however, incubation success is important to think of and adjust your Hammon Research Lab to add incubation success rates help balance the issue of low success chances.
When it comes to combat occurring on the island you’re on, you’ll be notified on it and can even click on the notifying symbol to move your camera over to focus on the combat. Dinosaur Well-being is a stat that relates to your star level, and it will drop from fights resulting in death. This, however, isn’t a bad thing as when a dinosaur wins, its rating increases. So it can be okay for you to deal with that so one of your dinos get a rating boost for winning fights.
Jurassic World Evolution Graphics
It can be expressed that, without a doubt, the graphics for JWE are remarkable. Running the game isn’t laborious for the average computer, and the graphics are very smooth and truly bring your dinosaurs to life.
You’ll enjoy seeing your work with bringing these ancient creatures to life as they seem ever so close to the idea of being real – just in your game, though. Perhaps that’s where the line should stay drawn? However, to note a takeaway with the high-quality visuals, there exists an issue with the dinosaurs’ bodies clipping each other and their surroundings (i.e. their tails passing through another).
Jurassic World Evolution’s Developer
The developer of Jurassic World Evolution, Frontier Developments, known best for the Rollercoaster Tycoon series, its spiritual successor, Planet Coaster, and the Sci-Fi MMO, Elite Dangerous, has stepped up with their endeavor to provide a game with the intent on continuous support, opposed to dropping out after the massive success in sales.
There are numerous known bugs, many being small, but include the weather change not being triggered on Isla Nublar, issues with achievements being unlocked on Xbox One, and times where the voice overs may not trigger, leaving you to only be able to read the subtitled menu that pops up.
Fortunately enough, it appears that what bugs are all presented to Frontier Developments, they’re listening and doing what they can to pursue making fixes. With the September 13th update, there were many various fixes with weather events happening, the speed with dinosaurs fighting, a few dinosaurs rescaled, as well as smaller changes like fixing sound problems!
Jurassic World Evolution’s Price
With a retail price found at $54.99, plus tax, on Steam, and $59.99 for both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 editions, you’ll find a strange and small gap between the prices.
To make matters even more odd with the prices is that on Steam, there’s a Deluxe edition for $59.99. This edition includes the Deluxe Dinosaur Pack DLC, which rests at $10.99. Furthermore, those who purchase Jurassic World Evolution for Xbox or PlayStation won’t be receiving the Deluxe Dinosaur Pack with their purchase, it must be done separately – and thus, they will be spending a bit more to have access to the DLC. It’s an $11 difference between getting the game and DLC for the PC and console, and wholly up to you with whether that’s a problem or not.
Now. Is it worth the price? Given the release of the “Fallen Kingdom Update” which added six new dinosaurs, including Indoraptor, and the September 13th update that is coming up with various bug fixes, aesthetic tweaks, and content being added, there’s not really much of a reason to say that it’s not worth the retail price.
FINAL VERDICT
7/10
Pros:
- Graphics are remarkable, as well as game performance.
- There is variety present in that game.
- Frontier Developments will be continuously working on providing updates and new content.
Cons:
- There’s no official modding support (I.E. Steam Workshop).
- Small visual issues exist, such as bodies of dinosaurs clipping into one another, as well as other objects.
- Story isn’t a greater focus, but that’s a common theme with many business simulators.
- The gameplay is relatively limited. With Challenge Mode added, if you’re into working against the clock then this will give you some more time to enjoy overall.
