A few months ago, during the Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live, the English studio Frontier Developments announced that they were working on a sequel to their Jurassic World Evolution parking simulator 2018, which will be due for the end of the year (9 to be precise). ). Unlike its predecessor, Jurassic World Evolution 2 focused on creating parks from a conservation perspective, following the events of the 2018 film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Now settled in the present and with the game just released, I’ve spent many hours creating all kinds of parks in different areas around the world, unraveling the new story, and seeing how it fits into the original canon.
From the start, it can be seen that while there are a good range of graphics and performance improvements that make Jurassic World Evolution 2 look better than the original and play more smoothly, the actual content looks very similar to First Install. The game mechanics, the design of the administrative interface, the different types of dinosaurs and their behavior … all of this reflects what was already seen in 2018.
Yes, the experience has undoubtedly gone through a process of refinement and polishing as I mentioned earlier. It looks incredibly good (the graphics certainly took the spotlight in development), but it feels more like a 2.0 version of the same title or a major expansion for the original Jurassic World Evolution than a direct sequel. Now there are technical improvements and new types of marine and flying dinosaurs, and in between and the new campaign scenarios is all that this new installment of the Jurassic universe has to offer.
Based on the result of The Fallen Kingdom of 2018, the new campaign led by Jeff Goldblum and Bryce Dallas Howard (in Spanish they have the dubbing voices of the protagonists of the films, an extra point in their favor for the place) and interpret their characters, they guide us through learning in the Construction and management of dinosaur parks. The story takes us all over the world with the aim of creating various facilities to house the lost dinosaurs and keeping them safe so that they do not pose a threat.
While the campaign is very fun and interesting, it is not very long and serves more as a tutorial to teach players the basics of the game before fully delving into the creation and challenge modes that we will cover shortly. Besides these modes there is another special mode called Chaos theorywhich allows players to relive the experience of the original films and the first installment of the new Jurassic World trilogy, but this was already seen in the first game and feels like more stuffing content.
But let’s go back to the modes creation and challenge. The first is exactly what it sounds like: you have a good piece of land at your disposal on which you can design your dream park without constantly having to worry about costs or time limits. And like other Frontier Developments titles that have a Build mode, this is an exceptional way to spend hours and hours. It’s relaxing, creatively liberating, and there really isn’t much to complain about.
the Challenge mode on the contrary, it’s the exact opposite of being creative. You have a fixed amount of time, limited funding, and it is your responsibility to create a park that meets certain requirements. For example, achieving a certain rating (1 to 5 stars) before the deadline. It’s quite stressful and complex, sometimes high in difficulty, and requires a complete mastery of the game mechanics to achieve the objectives. It probably won’t be a lot of people’s favorite mode, but if you can master the difficulty curve it’s a great way to test your skills and gives Jurassic World Evolution 2 a challenging game format that you won’t have anywhere else in modes.
And all of this leads me to wonder why Jurassic World Evolution 2 doesn’t really feel like an “evolution” of the show
And I say almost because it’s not quite perfect. During my game, I had lighting issues with frequent flashes that got worse as I added buildings and creatures to the map. I also noticed that the AI was very simple at times as vehicles got stuck trying to drive through narrow areas and completely couldn’t resolve the situation without my direct intervention.
Even with those issues in mind, if Jurassic World Evolution 2 has done anything, it is about consolidating Frontier as one of the best (if not the best) development studio in the simulation genre. It’s a fun experience, very well built and usually doesn’t disappoint in any way. At the same time, it doesn’t do anything that leaves you with your mouth open, as if you are seeing a Brachiosaurus for the first time, even if the dinosaurs are modeled in much more detail and better animated. A good simulation title that does the job, but not the revolution I expected in a sequel. Of course, you won’t find a better park builder than this one. You spared no expense.
