REVIEW : Jurassic World Evolution 2 (PC)
Jurassic World Evolution 2 is a follow-up to Frontier’s Jurassic World Evolution, a management simulation released in 2018. It offers a thrilling new storey campaign, astonishing new features, and awe-inspiring new dinosaurs that are brought to life with stunning realism. The result is a bigger, better, and more authentic Jurassic World game, thanks to greater construction and personalization choices.
Jurassic World Growth 2 is the next step in the franchise’s evolution. It takes the greatest parts of the first game, adds some new elements, and fixes several issues I wasn’t even aware of. Several tweaks to Frontier’s in-house gaming engine, which have already been seen in other recent titles like Planet Zoo, make Jurassic World Evolution 2 a little more user-friendly. These include making it easier to design enclosures by simplifying walkway and fence placement. To boot, the learning curve is gentler than the original.
The premise is straightforward: you’re responsible with building and managing a succession of dinosaur theme parks based on the films in the franchise. The storey continues up immediately after the events of the most recent film, Fallen Kingdom, with humans attempting to adapt to life in the midst of a swarm of (spoiler alert) newly freed dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the entire tale, which consists of only five tasks, can be accomplished in under two hours, leaving little time for exploration.
In fact, with the exception of a cliffhanger finale that teases the future film, the novel makes little attempt to develop the universe. Nonetheless, fans of the series will certainly appreciate the abundance of superbly delivered lines from Jeff Goldblum, who reprises his role as Dr. Ian Malcolm. Claire Dearing is played by Bryce Dallas Howard, and numerous other cast members return, but their presence further emphasises Chris Pratt’s absence. Despite the fact that Pratt’s stand-in does a decent job portraying Owen Grady, his performance pales in comparison to the real. Whether it was because to money limits or schedule difficulties, it’s a shame they weren’t able to film at least a few lines with the guy himself.
Any kind of traditional instructional is also glaringly absent, with the campaign opting instead for brief guided pieces. Thankfully, things never got too complicated, but the inability to obtain a fast refresher on key mechanics makes the transition between the strictly linear campaign and the more open-ended sandbox, challenge, and Chaos Theory modes a little awkward. It’s a shame, though, because Chaos Theory is certainly worth a look, despite the fact that sandbox and challenge are very self explanatory. Chaos Theory was the mode that piqued my interest the most. It has a “What if?” scenario for each of the five films, and I started with Jurassic Park. I was in my element as I was transported back to that familiar island, complete with legendary music and a new goal. It was my responsibility to ensure the success of Jurassic Park, and I was determined to succeed.
In a similar vein, the other Chaos Theory scenarios continue. They use the events of each film as a stepping stone to create a short task that allows you to correct each story’s flaws. The old surroundings bring back fond memories, while the gameplay varies from game to game, and in Jurassic World, you can even develop parks with flying and aquatic dinosaurs.
Changes aren’t simply cosmetic, either, with a few additional mechanics like aquatic enclosures and railway systems distinguishing the more modern settings from their forerunners. Sandbox mode allows players to experiment outside of the strict constraints of different time periods, and while not as deep as the visual customisation in other Frontier games, the ability to further tweak the look of specific dinosaurs or vehicles with a selection of unlockable skins is a nice touch.
The campaign mode focuses entirely on building enclosures to accommodate various dinosaurs, with success measured by an increase in general comfort level, whereas the others include people. While dinosaurs can be easily pleased by placing a few things or changing the terrain type quickly, park visitors have two sets of wants to meet.Basic needs, such as availability to food and drink, are separated from secondary needs, which are decided by the visitor’s preference for one of four categories: luxury, adventure, nature, or general. Taking luxury as an example, this type of visitor expects to find higher-priced attractions such as spas or hotels.
Despite this, I’ve always found that the appeal of the dinosaurs was more than enough to keep my attention. Each of the park’s 75 or so unique species is exquisitely modelled and animated, a fact that can only be properly appreciated by taking physical control of one of the park’s vehicles and seeing them up close. The dinosaurs, on the other hand, are at their most impressive when things start to go right. It’s fun to see a velociraptor waltz around in a cage, but witnessing it rampage across the park is even better, and the damage modelling for buildings and vehicles does a fantastic job of emphasising the monsters’ massive destructive abilities.
The ragdoll physics, which send guests hurtling across the map at ridiculous speeds, are consistently amusing, and the constant threat of random tropical storms, which can knock out power and destroy enclosure walls, means that even the most well-kept park is always just moments away from total chaos. When you add in the genetic traits system, which can lead to even more aggressive dinos if you’re not careful, the result is a game that feels more like survival horror than action.
You can also speed up time to make things go more smoothly. Just be mindful that if you utilise this too frequently, things might quickly go awry. For obvious reasons, an escaped dinosaur will lower your park’s rating. For obvious reasons, the longer it’s loose, the greater the consequences will be. This is one of my few complaints about the game; the only other one is that vehicle handling can be a little tough at times, especially when tranquillizing dinosaurs from a helicopter. Still, no one ever said that handling dinosaurs was a simple task.
