When I first played ‘Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis’ in early 2000s, I was very impressed by the ambition, boldness and originality of design. Jurassic World Evolution (JWE) is heavily ‘inspired’ by operational genesis, and perhaps that is inevitable, since any Jurassic park building game will have common elements.
Jurassic World Evolution - PlayStation 4 Edition
What I liked about Jurassic World Evolution (JWE) – PS4
a) I had assumed that city building games are PC games which may not be suitable for console. However JWE worked well on PS4 and the controls were very intuitive.
b) Top notch graphics: While there are instances where T rex can ‘merge’ through a concrete fence, on the whole graphics are rich and flawless.
c) Voice actors/ sound: Popular voice actors from the Jurassic franchise which lend a lot of credibility to the game. Dinos vocalizations are authentically influenced from the movies.
d) Good financial management and contracts: Good Financial management is the foundation of any city building game. This aspect is strong in JWE, where you can control everything from the price of a ‘dino steak’ to operating cost of a power plant.
e) Diversity of dinos: Everything from popular Brachiosaurus to Indo Raptor is available. What impresses me is that one needs to address certain specific needs for each species of the dinos. (Social, population, forest , grassland etc) which directly influences the ‘welfare’ score. If you don’t pay attention to this, then Dinos inevitably break out and carnage follows.
f) Loved the monorail and the Gyro spheres (esp. the driving mode). Liked the electric supply system as well. Loved the day/night/dusk settings.
What could have been better or some suggestions: (Break them off)
a) Terrain Constraints: I am not the only one who had issues with terrain modeling functions such as flattening , smoothing. What makes it challenging is the fact that the islands are mostly limited in size and if an area of terrain is unusable due to inability of a user to properly leverage terrain management functions, then it seems like a waste. It takes a while to get a hang of this. I usually flatten the entire park , before building anything. That helps. But even so, this could have been better.
b) Feeder refills: I understand that feeder refills are necessary and since they are expensive, it makes sense to refill feeder manually. However, once the revenue passes a certain threshold, such chores become irritatingly arduous. I suggest having a research setting which becomes ‘active’ once revenue crosses a certain threshold which will allow the nearest ranger station to automatically refill feeders. This setting can be controllable at each ranger station level and can be turned off/on. This will free up time to focus on other more important priorities.
c) Electric Outages: There were times when despite outage protection upgrades, there were frequent power outages , needing the rangers to reboot the power plant.
d) Game crashes: While not often, there were instances, when the game crashed, right when I had finished developing a significant portion of the park. I kept on saving the game manually every 15 minutes or so.
e) Moronic visitors in animal enclosures: Sometimes, out of the blue, there were times, when some moronic visitors would get stuck inside the animal enclosures and who then ran around to avoid being eaten. This happened despite the fact that the fencing was totally secure. Only way to rescue these idiots are to tranquilize the dinos and open the enclosure doors – following which these visitors stroll/run out. One, visitors should not be stuck inside the cages out of no reason. Even if they could, then In operation genesis, one could depute a park Helicopter to air-lift such visitors manually. This is missing here.
New features requested in subsequent updates
a) Missing Balloon Tour attractions: If we are being inspired by the Operation Genesis anyway, perhaps, the developers had included popular operation genesis attraction such as floating balloon tours as well.
b) Lack of flying dinos: Dinos such as Pteranodons have been a prominent feature in the movie franchise. These are missing here, as of today. I understand that an open enclosure would not have worked. But perhaps one could research a ‘sonic enclosure’ feature at research station ,where one would confine these flying dinos within a normal enclosure with the aid of these ‘sonic emitters’ fixed on park cages. We are only limited by our imagination, my friends.
c) Inability to create new islands: Perhaps, it is too much, but in operation genesis, we could model and create new islands. Perhaps instead of a sandbox island, users could have been given the ability to create their own islands? Jurassic World Evolution II perhaps? Operation Genesis had site B.
d) Topographical Maps of islands: A minor request. For the purpose of planning, it will be useful if ready to print island maps are available on JWE website. This will help plan facilities for serious players.
e) Can users look from inside a mono rail as it passes overhead the enclosures?
f) Can users create new species of dinosaurs at the genetics lab all by themselves and choose traits?
Should you buy this game?
A very strong Yes. Despite it’s (minor) short comings, I loved this game. I have played almost every other prominent city building games for the last 18 years or so. This game would rank very high on my list. The very idea of being able to control a fictional Jurassic park, with such amazing production values, is gratifying. If future game updates can incorporate some of my suggestions, the game would be even better.
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From the manufacturer
Jurassic World Evolution - PlayStation 4 Edition
Take charge of operations on the legendary islands of the Muertes archipelago and bring the wonder, majesty and danger of dinosaurs to life. Build for Science, Entertainment or Security interests in an uncertain world where life always finds a way. Bioengineer dinosaurs that think, feel and react intelligently to the world around them. Play with life itself to give your dinosaurs unique behaviors, traits and appearances, then contain and profit from them to fund your global search for lost dinosaur DNA. Control the big picture with deep management tools or go hands-on to confront challenges on the ground or in the air. Expand your islands and choose your own journey in an all-new narrative featuring iconic characters from across the franchise and decades of Jurassic lore at your fingertips.
Customer reviews
My case came shattered and no game inside at all. I’m so angry. This was my little boys Christmas
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2018
Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2022
Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2018
Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2022
Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2021
Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
アシテナ
恐竜パーク経営SLG
Reviewed in Japan on November 14, 2018Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
Jake
Great game
Reviewed in Canada on May 12, 2021Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
David
Todo bien
Reviewed in Mexico on July 4, 2021Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
Amazon Customer
Used items are inspected at Amazon to see if its in working condition.
Reviewed in Canada on September 15, 2020Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
Used items are inspected at Amazon to see if its in working condition.
Reviewed in Canada on September 15, 2020
So happy I got this at a great price. It was used but the case and disc themselves were mint and without damage. Loving this game so much. A must for Jurassic Park fans.
Reviewed in Canada on September 15, 2020
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Peter Heffernan
Rocked my prehistoric expectations!!!
Reviewed in Canada on August 29, 2020Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: PlayStation 4Verified Purchase
