Review for Jurassic World Evolution. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 12/06/2018
More than a year after the release, Jurassic World Evolution remains one of the most interesting games ever made under the Jurassic Park brand/ World. The Frontier Developments production had convinced us enough at the release (here the review), albeit presenting some limitations, resulting a bit simplistic in its management mechanics, when compared with the sacred monsters of the genre. This on the other hand makes it a title certainly more accessible to the general public than the average strategist, even for those who want to try it on consoles, where the commands are translated in a more than convincing way (by the way, it is also included in the Xbox Games with Gold this month).
Today, December 2019, we are here to review the second macro-DLC of Jurassic World Evolution, what the writer has been waiting for months to finally return to focus on the game: here it is Return to Jurassic Park.
Return to Jurassic Park is, as you can imagine, a new campaign dedicated to the trilogy - with a particular focus on the 1993 film - which obviously preceded the modern feature films with Chris Pratt and company. The idea of this DLC must have been mainly to hook all the nostalgics of the Spielberg blockbuster by giving them a new story, a direct follow-up to the events of the originals, complete with a vintage look for dinosaurs and buildings.
Attent a quei tre
The Return to Jurassic Park campaign represents the fulcrum of the time you will spend with this DLC and also the sine qua non to unlock all the elements added by the development team also in the other modes such as sandbox. Although it does not stand out for complexity or tension (also due to the absence of cutscenes or character models, as in the original Jurassic World Evolution on the other hand), the plot told by Frontier manages to entertain discreetly, thanks also to the aura of legitimacy given by dubbing of the original actors of the saga (Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill, given the impossibility of having Richard Attenborough in the cast for obvious and very sad reasons).
Basically, in the alternate story of Return to Jurassic Park, John Hammond manages - incredibly - to convince the trio of scientists from the first film to return to Isla Nublar to try a second time to erect a dinosaur park, learning from the mistakes of the time and repairing existing structures on the island. Aside from this delusional opening, the time spent between Nublar and Sorna (site B) in this rose water story of jokes about the events of the films is pleasant. Don't expect twists and turns or big revelations, but for fans there will be a couple of nice swaps as well see the visitor center or the damaged raptor cage as soon as we land on the island it is not a small blow to the heart for fans.
Nostalgia aside, we are always there
In Return to Jurassic Park the gameplay loop remains fairly unchanged from that of the base game, apart from a couple of tweaks / simplifications due to the story and resources that were available at the time in the lore of the film. Forget the Indominus Rex and welcome Pteranodon, Compsognathus or classic skins for T-Rex and Velociraptor, as well as a restyling - very welcome - of cars (JEEPs!) and buildings. You can also build as many doors with torches as you like. Spoiler: we have installed so many.
Regarding the gameplay, the main changes are two: in the management of animals now the rangers also manage the transport and sale (in fact, the ACU Center with its helicopters disappeared), while even the Hatchery was retired, and with good reason: now the reptiles are produced on Isla Sorna - like in the movies - and transported by air to the park. Nothing that changes the management too much, we simply appreciated how the team has also studied these details in setting the action in an era with different technologies.
Return to Jurassic Park proves to be a very important callback for those nostalgic for the 1993 film and a good excuse to get back to building the dinosaur park of our dreams. The visual additions are impeccable and welcome and, although the story is basically a bit of a missed opportunity to tell something more intricate, there is that in a management system of this type it only surrounds a playability that in the end remains more than dignified. Now, when will this IP really be exploited by someone? The potential remains infinite, awaiting the return of Professor Sattler, Professor Grant and Ian Malcolm also in Jurassic World 3 in 2021.
► Jurassic World Evolution is a Simulation-Strategy game developed and published by Frontier Developments for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 12/06/2018
