Jurassic World: The Game Review
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Jurassic World: The Game Review

Our Review by Rob Rich on April 30th, 2015
Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: THE PARK IS OPEN
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Jurassic World: The Game is a worthwhile follow-up to the popular Park Builder.

Developer: Ludia
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.1.10
App Reviewed on: iPad Air 2
Graphics / Sound Rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar
Gameplay Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar
Playtime Rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar
Replay Value Rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar

Overall Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar

[Need some help getting your dinosaurs into fighting shape? Check out our tips & tricks guide]

You’d be forgiven for mistaking Jurassic World: The Game for Jurassic Park Builder at first glance. Both games involve building or re-building a dinosaur theme park, and both are laden with extinct animals. Aside from general similarities though, this isn’t just a re-skinning meant to capitalize on an upcoming film release. I mean of course it’s supposed to capitalize on the film, but… I’ll just stop myself here.

Much has been streamlined this time around. You still have to hatch dinosaurs and clear away the overgrown portions of Isla Nublar, but you won’t also have to spend time and resources removing rocks and other debris after you’ve already cleared an area. You also don’t have to worry about juggling two separate types of food for your critters - this time there’s just one food source that covers both herbivores and carnivores (this is a lot more awesome than it sounds).

At this point I’d written a lot of stuff about how Jurassic World isn’t Park Builder, but that’s a waste of words. Both games are indeed similar, and they’re also fairly different. You’re going to be hatching dinosaurs, building guest structures, increasing the park’s footprint, and slowly earning more money to spend on more of everything in order to earn more money no matter which game you choose. The biggest difference that will end up dividing fans is going to be the Arena.

Jurassic World is all about dino-on-dino combat. Fights move along fairly quickly and use a simple system of action points that increase with each turn. The trick is to try and get inside your opponent’s head and plan your attacks (and defenses) accordingly. That and to make use of each animals’ Class Advantage (i.e. carnivores have an edge against herbivores who beat out pterosaurs and so on). They also look very pretty and are animated very, very well. The downside to this is that, as of this writing, it means that Jurassic World doesn’t support anything older than an iPhone 5s or iPad 3.

I’m not really a fan of the way Jurassic World: The Game handles card packs, and it seems like it needs to work on player matching in the Challenge Arena (PvP), but I have to admit it’s been a pleasant surprise. I went in expecting something familiar, but it turned out to be different in (mostly) all the right ways.

iPhone Screenshots

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iPad Screenshots

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