Jurassic world evolution

[Darkfallen]

Dear reader,

Game development,
it has been several months now since i picked up this game. It launched a little low on content but the dev team has slowly updated the game and they seem to be still working on it.
However in one of the latest patches they added a lot more content. They upgraded the sandbox mode, added challenge modes on multiple difficulty levels. And The dlc they do sell is optional it adds a few dinosaurs but whilst they are cool they are not needed.

About the game itself, (base game)
The game itself lets you take control over the Jurassic parks on the five deaths. You start with very little but the more you play the more unlocks you get through out research and expeditions. Whilst building your parks you work with multiple divisions and these will offer you contracts that provide you with income and reputation to unlock more things. However should you choose to favor just one division the others are likely to sabotage your park. These sabotages can vary in their effects, from shutting down powerstations to letting the T-rex out to play around in your park. The goal is to build a park on each of the islands with a as high as possible rating before moving on to the next island. You can always revisit island you already have left to upgrade the rating with the dinosaurs unlocked on a different island. On the later Islands storms will also be a danger to your parks. After you finish all 5 islands you can go back to all of the islands and reset them and use what ever new unlocks you have to make a new park.

on the parks you build the dinosaur enclosures, infrastructure and guest facilities. to provide dinosaurs you incubate them at the hammond creation lab.

Incubating dinosaurs.
To gain the dinosaurs in your park you need genome that comes from expeditions. the fossils found in these expeditions will allow you to harvest genome. the % of genome you have decides the succes chance of incubation at the lab. however with research you can also genetically modify your dino's. These modifications range from cosmetic (skins) to actual combat and star modifiers. and with the Doctor Wu dlc you get modifiers that influence their habitat needs and social behavior.

Management of facilities,
The management of the buildings and shops is not as deep as in some other games it gives off the vibes of older rollercoaster tycoon games. You manage pricing and staff availability and the location of the buildings.

The Pro's:
The game's visuals are amazing.
The game seems to perform well.
The game is relaxing on the campaign mode (can get tense with the sabotages).
The game's challenging mode can be frantic and with a little bad luck the events can screw your play through.

The Meh:
The random effects can be a little overwhelming and lead to having to restart.
Some dinosaurs like the brachiosaurus are very picky and are just not worth having. (Diplodicus is awesome)
Want to have more then one t-rex per enclosure? You need the doctor Wu dlc.

Would i recommend the base game?
Yes i would recommend the base game, i enjoyed the hell out of it. Sure it is not cheap but with the latest free update there is now enough content to warrant the price.

Would i recommend the dlc?
The doctor Wu dlc adds to new facilities to play around with and adds several new genetic modifiers to improve dinosaur behavior. I did buy the dlc and noticed the difference in game play on my second play through. And i must say it adds a lot of things to play around with. I would endorse the dlc but its not a necessity to get enjoyment out of the game.

[RunningInCircles]

Oh I am Chris Simon, and I think RunningInCircles is soooo awsome :P (Not really just too long to quote)

I think with those two comments I might want to clarify something, I didn't mean that as a correction.. more a clarification :P

[JayinGray]

definitely. Chris simon made a good point in saying that i think the main factor that keeps you playing is being able to create cleaner, more efficiently designed parks...not so much a constant grind.

[Chris Simon]

Replayability is an issue, yes. I think they tried to make the game more "story-focused" and in result, every playthrough is basically the same, you just get better at managing stuff and create possible more interesting parks.

That aside, though, I'm really enjoying it.
I bought it simply because I'm a fan of Frontier's, but happened to actually love the game. Dinosaurs are really cool and the one thing that most people dislike - the lack of actual micromanagement and general livery - is actually a plus for me, because I don't normally play these kinds of games. So just building the park and looking at pretty dinos is what I enjoy.

[RunningInCircles]

solid review. I bought this game when it first released on the X1S, but only put in about 10 hours before setting it down. I have yet to return to it but i will have to check it out now that they have released new content for it. I have always been a fan of simulator/tycoon games and a huge fan of the jurassic park series, so i couldn't pass this game up. However, i feel that i grew bored of the game rather quickly, mostly because i felt like there should have been other ways of making money at the park (like more shops and stuff.) also, once i got my first island running well, i was making so much money that the challenge was almost none.

I will say that is one of the negatives that could of been mentioned! There is little to no replay-ability, and I think the reason why it wasn't is because of how the game is set up. Since you can go back and forth between Islands, and with Fossils you can even pass money between parks. So you won't 'replay' it because in one play-through you can pretty much do it all.

[JayinGray]

solid review. I bought this game when it first released on the X1S, but only put in about 10 hours before setting it down. I have yet to return to it but i will have to check it out now that they have released new content for it. I have always been a fan of simulator/tycoon games and a huge fan of the jurassic park series, so i couldn't pass this game up. However, i feel that i grew bored of the game rather quickly, mostly because i felt like there should have been other ways of making money at the park (like more shops and stuff.) also, once i got my first island running well, i was making so much money that the challenge was almost none.

[Darkfallen]

Usually its manageable but yes it can cost you a playthrough hehe i can remember with the play-through with doctor wu's dlc 2 indomitus rexes that had the social genes being released XD the carnage was real when a storm took out the ACU.

[RunningInCircles]

Dang it man was going to do this one tomorrow! lol

Good choice of game, though I think you downplayed those random events... They will hit ya with them on some islands just constantly!