Jurassic World Evolution: 6 Quick Facts You Should Know

It’s been a long, hard fifteen years since Blue Tongue Entertainment’s Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis graced our home entertainment systems with admittedly limited gameplay but a whole load of nostalgia and satisfaction to boot.

But your patience has been rewarded, friends. Frontier, the fine folks who brought us the likes of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Elite Dangerous, and Planet Coaster, are opening the gates to your very own dino theme parks/survival arenas with Jurassic World Evolution. It’s almost here, so we (me) want to fill you in on the must-know things before pledging your allegiance for the entire summer.

 

1. The release date

Your most important question ought to be, “So when the hell do I get to play this beautiful thing?” When I said almost here, I meant it – Frontier’s releasing Jurassic World Evolution digitally for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on June 12. If you’re itching for a physical version (and who wouldn’t want to flaunt their ownership to every uninterested relative/significant other), PS4 and XB1 copies will be available on July 3rd.

Head on back after marking your calendars.

 

2. The dinosaur count

Just how many prehistoric beasts are we able to wrangle, exactly? Recent gameplay, courtesy of IGN, has revealed the base game will boast 37 species at launch, a sizeable increase over Operation Genesis’ 25 dinosaurs (you were only able to get 9 at a time if you were unlucky enough to have it on PS2).

If you want some more, and you should, there’s a deluxe edition available that includes an additional five dinos – Archaeornithomimus, Chrichtonsaurus, Majungasaurus, Styracosaurus, and Suchomimus – for an additional $5 USD. Personally, I got it for that beautiful Sucho. If you’re looking for a full list of confirmed dinosaurs, feast your eyes.

 

3. The Fallen Kingdom DLC

And if you’re still not satisfied with the species roster, there’s more to come. Given Evolution’s release date ties in nicely with the upcoming movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, it only makes sense that the game would have something to do with it. Whereas the U.K. and a lot of the world gets Fallen Kingdom on June 7th (bastards), the U.S./Canada doesn’t get it until June 22nd.

With that, Frontier have announced a free update to coincide with Fallen Kingdom, with the movie’s Carnotaurus pictured above. Other than that, it’s speculated that the movie’s other new dinosaurs – Allosaurus, Baryonyx, Indoraptor (the movie’s elusive hybrid monster-thing), Sinoceratops, and Stygimoloch – will make the cut, but nothing’s known for certain quite yet.

 

4. THE VEHICLES

If you’re an individual longing for the power of manning a helicopter and dealing with your dinosaurs head-on ala Operation Genesis, 1) priorities, and 2) Evolution’s got you covered. The game’s aforementioned ACU serves as your park’s foremost protectors of both visitors and beasts. You’re able to assign them tasks, but sometimes you gotta get your hands dirty and ram a Jeep into a Tyrannosaurus. But yeah, you’re able to take the helicopter and tranquilize/move your dino denizens, or take the Jeep into the exhibits themselves to replenish feeders, repair fences, and immunize dinosaurs against the array of diseases they can catch.

Worth mentioning that Frontier has confirmed vehicles are indestructible, but dinosaurs can still shove them around as they please. No word yet on whether you can ride those hilarious “how did these get past legal?” hamster balls (also known more formally as gyrospheres) that travel your guests through paddocks, but I’m itching to push one off a cliff with those Jeeps. For science.

 

5. THE DIVISIONS

Not only do you have to manage the happiness of your visitors, but you gotta keep the divisions of the company you work for satisfied as well. All of which are commented on by Thy Lord Jeff Goldblum, reprising the role of Dr. Ian Malcolm as your sort of cynical guide throughout the game. Bryce Dallas Howard and B.D. Wong will also reprise their roles as Claire Dearing (Jurassic World movies) and Dr. Henry Wu (Jurassic Park, the Jurassic World movies), respectively, in roles with an unknown capacity. There are three divisions in Jurassic World Evolution – Science, which focuses on the genetic purity and welfare of your dinosaurs; Entertainment, which focuses on pleasing your guests and providing the ultimate theme park experience; and Security, which focuses on maintaining the biggest and dangerous dinosaurs while keeping the peace in your park. Each division has its own pros and cons, pros being research opportunities (certain research items require a certain reputation with a particular division), cons being the occasional moral quandary.

Keep these divisions satisfied by doing the contracts they offer you, otherwise you might be the victim of some good ol’ sabotage.

 

6. THE SANDBOX

Jurassic World Evolution offers a main story mode, progressing you through the film series’ “Five Deaths” archipelago as each of your parks earn popularity. The way you experience the story is dependent on play style and how you interact with your company’s divisions. But what if you, y’know, don’t want to deal with all that?

Isla Nublar is the island on which Jurassic Park and Jurassic World were built (and abandoned, but no pressure), and in Evolution it serves as the game’s sandbox mode. You’re able to toggle a few details, such as the time of day (for reference, each campaign island is set during a specific time of day), weather severity, and your dinosaurs’ behaviour. You unlock Nublar after reaching a 4-star rating on Isla Matanceros, the first campaign island in the game. It’s important to note that just because you unlocked Nublar doesn’t mean you’ll have everything the game has to offer. Instead, everything you unlock while going through the campaign will be available for use on Nublar. Spare no expense.

There’s a ton more we could cover (gene manipulation, dinosaur fighting, park building, etc. etc.), but why spoil every surprise? Find out when Jurassic World Evolution drops June 12th.

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