Game info

• Title Jurassic World Evolution 2
• Developer [Frontier Developments]
• Publisher [Frontier Developments]
• Year 2021
• Platform Playstation 5
• Genre Simulation

Jurassic World Evolution 2 is the much-anticipated sequel to Frontier's highly successful Jurassic World Evolution, building upon the groundbreaking and immersive 2018 management simulation. It introduces a compelling, new narrative campaign, incredible new features, and awe-inspiring new dinosaurs brought to life with captivating authenticity. Together with expanded construction and more customisation options, the result is an even bigger, better and authentic Jurassic World game.

Player Select

I, like many, adore the Jurassic Park films - particularly the original, and with slightly less gusto the new series. I’ve never played a Jurassic Park game though, and it felt like it was about time I rectified that. I love a park building style simulation, so this seemed to tick all the boxes, and was in a Playstation sale. Win-win!

It’s in the Game

I was surprised at how quickly I got into this game. Quite often with simulation types, it starts so slowly and there’s so much to take in that it can be a while before you really find a groove with it. But this one hooked me in right away. I played the campaign, so you get different scenarios in different locations, each with a set of goals you need to achieve.

Generally speaking the task is to rescue dinosaurs from across the US and build them enclosures and the facilities to look after them, whilst of course researching improvements and making money from it being an open park. I don’t fully understand why all the visitors to the park are wearing the same grey and brown outfits, but hey, who am I to say?

The graphics are great, the dinosaurs look amazing and it’s fun to get a dinosaur in, check what it needs to be happy and adjust the foliage and feeding options accordingly. From what I’ve played so far, there’s quite a lot still to unlock and do, but I’ve got a little stuck on one goal that suggests raising your points level to a certain number. I can’t figure out what exactly affects the points as it seems to go up and down a lot at random. But I’ll stick with it and figure it out.

It’s a fun park simulator, I don’t know if there will be more facilities for guests to unlock, at the moment I just have an emergency shelter and a viewing platform, which doesn’t seem to be the most enticing of parks to visit. The unlocks seem to take a while to work through, but then again I was quite late to realising the scientists should be doing research rather than just sitting there doing nothing. So perhaps that’s my fault. Plenty more to explore and plenty more dinosaurs to be rescued.

Thoughts

I’ve seen some reviews that suggest this game is pretty boring, and a stripped back version of Planet Zoo or Planet Coaster. Well, I definitely want to try those too because if this is the poor man’s version of them, and I’m really enjoying it, then it will be fascinating to see how good they are. I’ve long been mourning the loss of Zoo Tycoon so anything that comes close to that game is a win for me, and this one is a really good replacement.

Rating: 4 / 5