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Jurassic World Evolution 2

Jurassic World Evolution 2

Frontier Developments latest simulation title enhances its dino-park building series, but fails to drop our jaws.

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Earlier this year, at the Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live show, Frontier Developments revealed that it has been working on a sequel to its 2018 simulation title Jurassic World Evolution. It was mentioned that the game would be coming later in the year, on November 9 to be exact, and that alike its predecessor, Jurassic World Evolution 2 would feature a park building, conservationist approach that tasked players with creating a dinosaur park in a world following the events of the 2018 movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Jump to the present and that very sequel has been released, and I've spent a bunch of time creating all manners of parks in a variety of locations around the globe, unravelling the all-new story and seeing how it stacks up to the original.

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Right off the bat, you can tell that while there are a variety of graphical and performance improvements that make Jurassic World Evolution 2 look better than ever and play as smoothly as possible, the actual content is very similar to the original game. The gameplay mechanics, the way that the simulation UI is designed, the dinosaurs and how they need to be cared for, it's all a reflection of what was already offered up in 2018.

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Sure, the entire experience is more refined and polished, and as I mentioned a moment ago, looks incredibly good - the visuals have clearly been a focal point. But, this feels more like a 2.0 update, or rather a big expansion for Jurassic World Evolution than it does a direct sequel, as aside from technical improvements and marine and airborne dinos to have to deal with, all that's really new are the campaign scenarios that serve up a new Jurassic-universe experience.

Based on the aftermath of the 2018 movie, the all-new campaign features the vocal likenesses of Jeff Goldblum and Bryce Dallas Howard, both of whom play their respective characters in the franchise, essentially acting as coaches teaching you the ways of dino-park building. The story takes us all over the globe, with the idea of creating various facilities that will house the loose dinos, and keep them enclosed in a secure and protected manner, where they won't pose a threat to humanity.

While the new campaign is fun, it's not all that long, and if anything serves as a lengthy tutorial that teaches the players about the fundamentals of the gameplay, before letting you loose in the Challenge and Sandbox modes (we'll get to these in a moment). Granted, there are other campaigns to experience as well, ones tied to the events of the original trilogy and the first rebooted movie Jurassic World, a mode known as Chaos Theory. But these often feel like areas that have already been explored in the original 2018 game, and give off an aura of being filler content if anything.

Jurassic World Evolution 2
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Which basically leads us into the remaining modes: Challenge and Sandbox. First of all, Sandbox is pretty much exactly what you think it is. You get a plot of land and you can create the park of your dreams without having to worry about financing it or time constraints, and alike pretty much every Frontier Developments title that features a Sandbox mode, this mode is an exceptional way to lose hours and hours of time to. It's relaxing, creatively freeing, and there really isn't a lot that one could complain about here.

The Challenge mode on the other hand is essentially the opposite of Sandbox. You have a designated time period, a limited amount of money, and it's your duty to create a park that fulfils a specific requirement, for example, reaching a certain star rating, before the challenge comes to an end. It's stressful, often difficult, and will require a decent amount of knowledge of the game to conquer, and will likely not be a massive draw to a lot of people. But if you can breach the learning curve, this is a great way to test your skills and does give Jurassic World Evolution 2 some much needed difficulty, which is lacking in the other modes.

All this brings me to exactly why Jurassic World Evolution 2 doesn't really feel like that much of an evolution of the series. It's better at pretty much every turn, but it's in such incremental ways that it feels more like an enhancement and not a fully blown sequel. Granted, over the years Frontier has really perfected the simulation game building technique, perfected to such a degree that making a massive improvement seems like quite the task. And with this in mind, you can also take solace in knowing that Jurassic World Evolution 2 is the pinnacle of what they have achieved so far. The UI is easy and simple to use, the gameplay is ingenious and fun, and the visuals and design are top notch. It's a very well thought out title.

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But it isn't perfect all the same. I've had issues with the lighting, which frequently flashed, and got worse as more and more buildings and creatures were added to a map, and I've found the AI to be a little dumb at times, with vehicles colliding in tight spaces, and struggling to figure out how to resolve the issue without my intervention.

Yet with these minor issues on the side, if Jurassic World Evolution 2 has done anything, it has consolidated Frontier as one of the best, if not the pinnacle of developers when it comes to the simulation genre. This game is fun, largely well-made, and is rarely disappointing, but at the same time, it doesn't do anything to make your jaw drop in awe, even if the dinos do look far more detailed and lively. It's a perfectly fine simulation title that will entertain, but it's also not the most impressive upgrade considering it is a true sequel. Nevertheless, you won't find a finer dino-park builder out there today.

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07 Gamereactor UK
7 / 10
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Well built simulation experience. Even more refined version of the sim game that was introduced in 2018. New dinosaur types and an all-new campaign gives players a new challenge to solve and experience.
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Doesn't really feel like that much of a sequel. Similar to the 2018 game in a lot of ways. Few bugs here and there.
overall score
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Jurassic World Evolution 2

REVIEW. Written by Ben Lyons

Frontier Developments latest simulation title enhances its dino-park building series, but fails to drop our jaws.



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