Jurassic World Evolution Series Review (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch & PC)

I have never had to deal with dilemmas like those in Jurassic World Evolution before. Heck, if this was Planet Zoo that we were talking about, then I’d be able to solve most, if not all of my issues with a bit of duct tape and a fresh lick of paint. But when it comes to dinosaurs, there isn’t a single thing that can solve your issues. The happiness of your guests is one thing, but figuring out how to keep a tyrannosaurus from piercing the heart of your well-oiled security fence and tearing the flesh from the bones of every woman and child is another matter altogether. But hey — welcome to Jurassic Park, folks. You might not need to be a palaeontologist to build a great park, but it might just save your skin one day. Probably.

If you can prepare yourself for the imminent threat of a dinosaur takeover, then you might just find yourself equipped to tackle most of Jurassic World Evolution and all of its carnivorous dilemmas. Remove the threat from the equation, however, and what you have here is a “straightforward” park management sim that harbors all of the familiar elements of a sandbox world-building series à la Rollercoaster Tycoon. The only striking aspect that sets this allotment apart from the others on the board, of course, is the USP. While you still have access to a lot of the same basic assets, structures, and terraforming tools as a traditional sandbox sim, Jurassic World Evolution casts its focus on incubation, analysis, and habitat management. It’s still a classic park management sim, but with a few extra teeth and fatalities. Not that obliterating your entire park and all of its paying customers is the aim of the game, mind you. Or is it?

Contrary to popular belief, Jurassic World Evolution isn’t about recreating the original universe and killing off the guests in a plethora of creative ways. It is an option, but if you did happen to follow such a grizzly objective, then honestly, you wouldn’t get all that far with the campaign. In other words, Jurassic World Evolution isn’t about death and destruction; it’s about growth and prosperity, as well as being able to craft the dinosaur park of your dreams and filling it with all of the herbivores and carnivores that you can possibly extract from your encyclopaedia on palaeontologic life. That’s the point, anyway. I can’t say that it always goes according to plan, but you get the idea.

To call Jurassic World Evolution an easy sandbox series just wouldn’t be true. No, because if it was as easy as erecting a few enclosures and adding a couple of functioning shops, then it wouldn’t be Jurassic Park; it would be the Racing With Ryan of park sims. As it’s a dinosaur-centric saga, however, all of the usual jobs can be exceedingly tough — to the point where you often need to consider defensive tactics or employ skilled park rangers to keep a lid on the teeth, so to speak. And if there’s one thing that Jurassic World Evolution does and does well, it’s making it so that every possible problem can lead to drastic consequences and the closure of your resort. In other words, it accommodates a learning curve that’s a tad higher than most city-building sandboxes. Granted, it isn’t Frostpunk — but it can certainly take the cake.

Anyway, beneath the frequent casualty and mindless massacre of innocent park goers, Jurassic World Evolution finds comfort in the conundrum of a textbook park-building experience—a journey that embraces the classic terraforming and enclosure blueprints and actively encourages fledgling tycoons to craft, expand, and transform small husks of foliage into bustling resorts that can accommodate hundreds of species, attractions, and crucial landmarks. And honestly, a series like Jurassic World Evolution has a ton of great set pieces and building opportunities to experiment with, too, with a spatial dimension that allows you to explore the vast quarters of the park from an aerial perspective and from the ground.

With its building aspect being at the heart of each scenario, Jurassic World Evolution grants you the chance to flesh out enormous plots of land and explore unique terraforming possibilities with various tools, recipes, and structural components. From paths to vantage points, hotels to restaurants, and just about everything else that you need for a booming dinosaur park, the series gracefully offers a treasure trove of ideas for you to explore and ultimately capitalize on. To add, each scenario features a fresh series of tasks, challenges, and dinosaurs to extract, analyze, and incubate. And that’s barely scratching the tip of the iceberg, believe it or not.

Again, while it can feel like you’re almost always walking on eggshells when it comes to Jurassic World Evolution, the fact that each chapter in the saga does make a commendable effort to counteract the lulls with a plethora of brilliantly creative facets does make it that much easier to enjoy. It can be messy, but it can also be a whole lot of fun to work through. Yet, it’s thanks to the custom scenarios and its wide variety of sandbox tools that the experience as a whole can be more than worth the legwork, despite being a little tougher than most IPs. It isn’t a teddy bear’s picnic; it’s a dinosaur’s fever dream, and it has no issue with putting you at the center of the massacre.

Suffice it to say that, with the addition of a great visual palette and a ton of meaty campaign chapters to work through, Jurassic World Evolution more than justifies the price tag. It might not be for everyone, but if you have a heart for both pre-historic DNA and full-fledged massacres, then I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll enjoy just about everything that fills this ravenous world. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, and above all, it’ll make you appreciate your local theme park more than you ever before. Blame the dinosaurs. It’s always the dinosaurs’ fault.

Verdict

Jurassic World Evolution boasts the teeth and the thick skin of a good old-fashioned park management series with a great variety of terraforming elements, incubation tools, and just enough loose canons to keep the whole experience as nerve-wracking as possible. It might not have the full set of pre-historic dentures in the eye of a lot of big-budget sandbox sims on the market, but for a series that gracefully fills a void and dares to enter a realm that no other series has yet to explore, it serves its purpose incredibly well.

Of course, Jurassic World Evolution is a niche series, and so, it’s best not to expect an inclusive experience that waxes the best of classic storytelling. It’s a little “out there” as far as world-building sagas go. But, if you are on the lookout for a series that’s as equally unnerving as it is thoroughly entertaining, then there’s a good chance that you’ll enjoy tranquilizing a few carnivores here. And, even if all else fails, at least you’ll still have plan B: to recreate the original script and just let the predators lean into their roots. Either way, you’re sure to have a good time with Jurassic World Evolution.