Well lets be honest… they have to do something to get people to buy it on that platform…
1 Like
Vermintide 2 Collectors edition is about R130 cheaper than the standard version on pc.
TLDR: Jurassic Park Evolution: 8/10 would make dinosaurs eat people again.
Managed to spend about 2 hours with it the night before last, and honestly can’t wait to go back to Isla Matanceros - hopefully tonight. In those 2 hours, I didn’t manage to do very much in terms of progressing through the Career mode. It’s just too damn pretty! I actually spent more time messing around with the built-in Nvidia Ansel tool than playing the game, to be honest 
There are 5 islands in Career mode (they make up the Las Cinco Muertes Archipelago - the Five Deaths!), each with progressively harder challenges for you to overcome. The basic aim in Career mode is to get the park on each island built up and profitable. Islands are rated out of 5 stars and you need a minimum of 3 stars before you can move onto the next island. Once you’ve unlocked an island, it remains available for you to go back to and improve on whenever you like.
Visually, it’s pretty as heck, and the dinos (at least the 3 or 4 I’ve unlocked so far) are the best-looking and most well animated I’ve ever seen in a game. Frontier got a lot of visual assets and assistance from Universal, and the dinosaurs are pretty accurate in terms of similarity to their big screen originals.
That’s nice and all Greg, but what about the game?!? The game is solid, even very good, as a business management sim. And if you enjoy management sims (and I do) then there’s a ton of stuff that you should really like in JWE. You can’t just drag and drop a bunch of Raptors and a T-Rex or two into your park and enjoy the spectacle of them smashing through your puny fences and helping themselves to an all-you-can-eat buffet of park visitors. You need to make sure you have the funds to spend, send out fossil hunting expeditions, spend time analysing and extracting dino DNA, build suitable enclosures, incubate your dinosaur - hopefully successfully, provide power supplies to keep the electric fences working, ensure the dinosaurs are properly feed and medicated, build visitor facilities, monitor and adjust selling prices in your stores and hotels, keep an eye on the frequent storms and tornadoes that damage your facilities and get repairs done as quickly as possible, all while juggling the demands and expectations of three different department managers - Science, Security and Entertainment - who each think their department should be your area of priority, and still make a profit and satisfy visitors.
If the management aspect of things phases you a little - yeah, I really just wanna watch Rexy munch on a bunch of tourists and then do some donuts in the Jurassic Park Jeep - then the Sandbox mode is for you. You need to at least have 4 starred the starter island in Career mode to unlock Isla Nublar (the island in the Jurassic movies) which is where you can sandbox to your hearts content with unlimited funds, and weather and time of day settings of your choice. The only shortcoming of the Sandbox mode is that only the basic facilities and dinos are available to you initially. You have to unlock the big daddy dinos and the fancy facilities and upgrades in Career mode at least once before they are made available in the sandbox. Other than that, you can go mad with the Dino vs. Man - Who Wins? scenarios
JWE may definitely not be a game everyone will enjoy. If you were hoping for a theme-park builder you’re probably going to be a little disappointed. There are at the moment very limited park specific features - decorations, side-attractions, variety of facilities, etc. Park visitors can’t be indivdually tracked and monitored - you just get given a broad park visitor satisfaction rating without being able to see what they liked and disliked, or what their current needs are.
Dino AI is also a little iffy on occassion. Some species that you may expect to herd together don’t, some that you’d assume would rip each other apart if they were in the same enclosure seem to tolerate each other a little too easily. That sort of thing.
To a degree I think the games shortcomings are somewhat understandable. Frontier were required by Universal to get a functioning game out to coincide with the Jurassic Park 25th anniversary events and the release of Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, the new movie. Also, consider that they only had around two years to put it together. They’ve already commited to a large performance and content quality patch to be put out with the release of the free Fallen Kingdom DLC in “the near future”, so hopefully that’ll address some of the issues.
And now that the game is out, the pressure is off the devs and they can slowly, as is Frontiers’ norm, add and improve on the solid base they have. A lot of the same people who created Planet Coaster worked on JWE, and that game has gone from strenght to strength with each of its patches and DLC packs. I see the same happening for this one.
Is it worth the price? To me it was. But I am a Frontier fan, was a pledge backer for both Elite: Dangerous and Planet Coaster, and would have been for Jurassic World Evolution too if given the option. I have faith that what is already, in my opinion, the best Jurassic Park and dinosaur related game ever, will only get better over time.
For others, that cost of fanboyism may be a little too pricey, and they would be making a fair decision to possibly hold off until at least that first content and performance patch gets released to revisit it then. Or to wait a few months for it to go on sale and pick it up later.
Alternatively, if you really just like dinosaurs, get it already! You won’t be disappointed.
[Okay, that was a heck of a lot longer than I planned. Sorry.]
2 Likes
Coming at some undisclosed point in “2021”.
Jurassic World Evolution 2 introduces a compelling, new narrative campaign set after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, incredible new features, and awe-inspiring new dinosaurs brought to life with captivating realism. Together with expanded construction and more customisation options, the result is an even bigger, better and authentic Jurassic World game.
1 Like
Main additions in the new game:
- A new narrative campaign
- Aquatic reptiles
- Some new species
- Some new biomes
- Full sandbox mode with new buildings and items
But this one is possibly the most interesting:
- Chaos Theory mode lets you play through key moments of your favourite films - with a twist. Experience “what-if” scenarios from iconic Jurassic World and Jurassic Park films.
Launching on Xbox, PlayStation, and both Steam and Epic for PC.
Can be Wishlisted on Steam and Epic already, but no pricing or release date indicated yet. (And it’s Frontier Dev, so regional pricing on PC may only apply to the base game again, or may not happen at all…)
PlayStation and Xbox links when they go live.
2 Likes
2 great things about the first game:
-
A really friendly chap on MEW gifted me the original! Much love!
-
I played this game soo many hours with my girls! I would spend the late nights setting up a resort and then my girls will manage the animals in the day while I supervise. Most of their time is spent naming each dino and ensuring there is enough food. Much like the real parks all hell breaks loose when they try to give Rexie a friend, right next to the raptors…
2 Likes
With the release date announcement in last night’s gamescom trailer (09 November), we also got pre-order links going live and regional pricing on Steam and Epic, but not on consoles sadly.
Thank Frontier we still get Regional Pricing on PC for the base games - Standard is R399, Deluxe (with 5 additional beasties and some extra cosmetics) is R459. Very reasonably priced indeed.
Sadly, the console buddies are still getting bullied on the pricing front. Standard @ R1069, Deluxe @ R1239/R1249
https://store.playstation.com/en-za/product/EP2377-PPSA03286_00-7656201194715564/
3 Likes
Very sadly indeed. I played a little of the the first a little while ago and I love it, just need to get involved in it. I really hope this comes to console as Planet Coaster is testament enough that these sort of games are viable with a controller.
1 Like
Oh, sorry. Worded that poorly. The game is coming to consoles and can already be pre-ordered on both Xbox and PlayStation. What isn’t coming to consoles is Regional Pricing.
Oh awesome. Sorry for my confusion. I am glad then. Though I still hope for Planet Zoo to comee to console.
1 Like
Looking forward to this! Had a blast playing this with my kids. Also, yay for the excellent local pricing!
2 Likes
An hour plus of gameplay in the new game with Jesse Cox, but with the great, awesome, phenomenal Jeff Goldblum sitting right next to him. Watch the first few minutes, it’s a thing of wonder! 
They play the start of the new Chaos Theory mode:
Chaos Theory is a new mode being introduced in Jurassic World Evolution 2, giving players the chance to play ‘what if’ with key events from each Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movie. For example, you’ll have the chance to create a much happier ending to the 1996 movie The Lost World: Jurassic Park, in which a T-Rex escapes the San Diego park, wreaks havoc on the city, and eats a little boy’s dog. That’s right, if you’re successful in building a secure facility for the dinos, you can prevent objectively the most tragic event from that movie’s timeline from ever occurring.
JWE2 releases 9 November.
1 Like
Damn, Jesse has gotten big. Busy watching now, thanks for sharing.
EDIT: Oh man, that was a hoot 
1 Like
Global release at 14:00 GMT / 16:00 SAST today. Early access for reviewers means scores and reviews are already up from a number of outlets:
Metacritic (PC) - 85
OpenCritic - 88%
GameRant
https://gamerant.com/jurassic-world-evolution-2-preview-gameplay/
Polygon
Game Informer 8/10
1 Like
I am glad to see this coming to consoles too. I was so worried that it would be PC only.
2 Likes
All you guys getting ready for JWE 2, and I finally started with JWE 1 last week
3 Likes
New Complete Bundle for Jurassic World Evolution 1 on Humble at the moment. Contains the base game, all the dinosaur pack DLCs and the three game expansion missions for just $12 (~R191). Nice opportunity for new players to grab it and for those wanting the DLC to complete their collections.
Check the details here: Game Bundle Deals - #255 by GregRedd
And find the bundle on Humble here: Humble Jurassic Bundle
1 Like
Woot, dats cool.
2 Likes
Jurassic World Evolution 2 - 30th Anniversary Free Update Announcement
Hello Park Managers, and welcome…to Jurassic Park! It’s time to celebrate the iconic Jurassic Park’s 30th anniversary, and we’re doing that with an incredible free decorative update, alongside some exciting competitions and a community event!
Shall we take a closer look?
Free Decorative Update
We’re pleased to be able to share some of the exciting new decorations that you’ll be able to incorporate into your parks with this update, which will be free to all Jurassic World Evolution 2 players, and available from June 8. From the iconic Les Gigantes Mural which is bound to fill your guests with nostalgic awe, to the original Jurassic Park fence which you can now use to build your enclosures, there’s something for every kind of Jurassic World Evolution 2 player! And yes, that is the Jurassic Park Bunker you’re seeing!
There’s a selection of over 20 new decorations heading your way - you’ll have to keep your eyes on our forums on June 8 for the full list, but we’re sure you’ll be able to spot a couple of favourites in the images above…
Added Jurassic Park Decorations
● Les Gigantes Mural
● Jurassic Park Banner - Classic
● Fallen Tree
● Jurassic Park Sign
● Mr. DNA Sculpture
● Classic Bunker
● Classic Table and Chairs
● T. rex Skeleton
● Alamosaurus Skeleton
● Jurassic Park Banner Arch
● Classic Maintenance Shed
● Classic Wall - Straight
● Classic Wall - Arch
● Classic Wall - Curved
● Umbrella - Open
● Umbrella - Closed
● Jurassic Park Gate Arch
● Big Pile of Dung
Added Jurassic Park Pylons/Fences/Gates
● Classic Pylon
● Classic Airlock Gate
● Small Electrified Fence
● Added Jurassic Park Paths
● Classic Facility Path
● Classic Standard Path
● Classic Wide Path
● Classic Main Thoroughfare
● Classic Luxury Standard Path
● Classic Luxury Wide Path
● Classic Luxury Main Thoroughfare
2 Likes