Review for ARK Park. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Network, the video game was released on 22/03/2018
Ark Park VR is a great idea built on a shaky foundation, as if it were really the first attempt at a dinosaur-themed amusement park. The charm that combines the visual aspects of Jurassic Park and the crafting of Ark: survival evolved immediately piqued our curiosity.
Despite that premise, Ark Park VR stumbles upon itself, featuring a disappointing campaign and boring combat.
The Snail Games team managed to capture only part of what made Ark adventures so fun, namely the ability to explore and interact with majestic creatures. but a too short story and a poorly optimized game prevent the title from reaching its true potential.
Although there are undoubtedly some moments of great inspiration, the gameplay is mired in a combination of all-too-familiar virtual reality problems.
Ark Park VR is split into two separate game modes - Explore and Battle, each offering a completely different virtual experience. There is also a Hub World, which allows us to create objects and weapons from materials found in exploration or to incubate dinosaur eggs.
In addition to these main areas, you can also go to the Visitor Lobby and Welcome Island, a cross between exploration and battle. They serve to create a more realistic virtual dinosaur park, adding further verisimilitude and life to the world of Ark Park VR.
Explore is the game's pseudo-campaign mode, which offers five different ways to interact with the dinosaurs that reside in the region. Our goal in these areas is to use the handy scanner to scan the DNA of all creatures we encounter. The gameplay challenge comes from DNA acquisition during the window of opportunity that is presented.
In some cases, a dinosaur can swoop into our field of vision for only a few seconds, requiring maximum speed to capture their DNA. Other dinosaurs will have to be disturbed in their resting place, or we should collect objects to react with them. In many ways this mode invokes adventures in Pokèmon Snap. A layer of nostalgia and fun will accompany you as you search for the missing DNA.
While some aspects of the environment are less refined, as a reminder of the visual limitations of the PlayStation VR, coming face to face with a Sarco, a Tyrannosaurus Rex or a docile Brontosaurus remain some of the most exhilarating and terrifying moments in our stock pool.
These five different areas are closed ecosystems, linked by a menu that can be accessed at any time. It is very convenient to be able to move quickly from one area to another to collect necessary materials or DNA, but such a structure also serves to reinforce the fact that Ark Park VR is very fragmented.
The "Battle" mode, on the other hand, is reminiscent of most 'Horde-Mode' style games, with waves of dinosaurs heading towards us. This section of Ark Park VR offers a completely different experience, but one that didn't feel quite as refined as exploring the park's regions. The main objective is to shoot waves of dinosaurs using weapons created in the Exploration sessions, which in turn will provide us with the additional DNA needed to unlock some of the more complex weapons.
Adding a combat mode is a great way to diversify the virtual reality experience, but only in intent. Considering the fact that you spend more time in the lobby, sometimes even hours, than in game, the multiplayer mode is as if it wasn't there. It is difficult to say whether it is a server problem or a lack of players, the fact is that it is currently unplayable.
Ark Park VR is a fun game, but it relies too much on clunky gimmicks and controls that severely restrict gameplay. Instead of being presented as a virtual experience evoking Ark: Survival Evolved, an incomplete title is offered containing fragments of what could have been an adequately optimized game.
► ARK Park is an Adventure-Simulation game developed and published by Snail Games for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Network, the video game was released on 22/03/2018
