Jurassic World Evolution Complete Edition - Review

Life finds a way, and Frontier Developments has worked their own technological miracle to bring us some Dinosaurs on the small screen. I never thought it would happen (I also said The Witcher on Switch wouldn’t happen either), but found myself pleasantly surprised when Jurassic World Evolution Complete Edition was announced for the Nintendo Switch. Of course this brings up a very important question - how does it run on there? Hold onto your butts, it’s time to see if we can make Dinosaur theme park actually work, or if it’s yet another disaster.

Jurassic Park and Jurassic World have proven to be death traps, you just can’t keep those Dinosaurs in their cages. You’d think there’s only so many times these animals can break out and kill people before InGen are not only bankrupt but with many people behind bars. But no, they haven’t learnt any lessons from the past, so now you are responsible for helping establish several Dinosaur parks. It’s not only about showing off your prehistoric recreations, you have to make sure the paying customer enjoys them too. Whether it’s having viewing platforms, Gyrospheres or with a park tour. You also want to make sure you have merch to buy, junk food to wolf down and a hotel to allow guests to prolong their stay. As with Isla Nublar (and including Nublar) the islands are at the mercy of tropical storms and hurricanes, so you’ll have to make sure you can protect the guests and keep the Dinosaurs within their enclosures. 

You don’t just order in some DInosaurs. You need to send off expeditions to find fossils that can be used for filling in a Dino’s genome, so you can create and hatch one in your labs. Like the movies, other animals' DNA can be used to help boost the Dino’s stats for the best survival. Once you have a viable Dino it’s time to send them off into the world, keeping them fed, watered and safe from sickness. Once you start gathering more Dinos it’s then about ensuring they can co-exist, keeping the herbivores and carnivores separate at the very least. While it’s great having some Dinos and showing them off to visitors, you also need to make sure you have the facilities to keep your Park making money. Researching new facilities and upgrades are vital to growing your capabilities, whether it's providing more ways for visitors to see the Dinos or to improve your ability to incubate better and stronger Dinos. You’ll want to have the best facilities when nature strikes and storms unleash havoc, and a shelter to keep the people safe. You can also build gift shops, fast food res and hotels. Where would your Park be if you aren’t bringing in all that money?! 

When something needs repairs, there’s a sick Dino or worse, Dinosaurs on the loose, you can send either the ACU or rangers to do tasks. If a Dino is on the loose then you’ll need to tranq it, if a virus has broken out you need to medicate them. Performing repairs and maintenance involves getting them to the destination and they work their magic. The AI can handle it for you if you’re busy managing a crisis, or you can get behind the wheel and do it yourself. I juggled between the two, especially when there’s multiple problems at once. Controlling the ACU/rangers is fairly straightforward, but don’t go into this expecting super realistic and complex driving or shooting mechanics. It is a cool addition that didn’t need to be there, just an extra bit of immersion as a very involved Park manager.  

Narrated by Ian Malcolm aka Jeff Goldblum, who is essentially just being Jeff Goldblum now. Ian introduces you to the island chain that you’ll be managing, and you’ll also hear from the different divisions of the park. Science, Entertainment and Security will regularly chuck contracts your way if you choose to accept them. Tasks such as making a certain amount of profit, enhancing a Dino species stats, or having the rangers take Dino photos. You’ll get rewarded with money for the park as well as a boost in the division you helped, at the expense of your standing with the others. The objectives within the contracts can get a bit repetitive, especially when you’re doing simple ones such as taking photos. They’re easy money and reputation to gain quickly, they at least help give you something to do while you deal with slower burn objectives. One thing I never quite understood was why the more generic contracts offered were division specific? I can understand why your reputation would get a boost, but it’s nothing detrimental enough that it should negatively impact your standing with the others.

I was very impressed with how they managed to get the game running this well. Look, I know there had to be concessions visually and with the Dino limit, but neither impact your enjoyment. Just as with games like The Witcher 3, everything looks a little unfocused, like a thin layer of Vaseline is on the lens. You can still get right up to the dinos, and the amount of detail is admirable as they roam around. It’s of course a shame you can only have 100 Dinos per Park, but it’s still a high number and the Park will never feel too bare at its capacity.

As the title implies, this version is the Complete Edition, bringing on board the DLC expansions and extra Dinosaurs as well as all the updates to improve the game since launch. Return to Jurassic Park goes all out with the feel of the original movie. Not only does it all look familiar, but there’s the return of Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neil) and Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). Jeff Goldblum of course returns as Dr Ian Malcolm, although in more of a story capacity. John Hammond has somehow convinced the group back to Isla Nublar in an effort to rebuild the ravaged Jurassic Park. Claire’s Sanctuary focuses on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom events, where Claire Dearing is trying to relocate the Dinosaurs from Isla Nublar before the impending volcano erupts. This is made even more difficult when all of the Dinosaurs have caught a virus which must be dealt with before they can be transported to safety. 

I loved the Return to Jurassic Park DLC. I was a kid when the first movie came out, devoured the book not long after and have always been a fan of the style of the park. With the rest of the game being more of the Jurassic World aesthetic, this blast from the past is a welcome addition. There’s also the neat little touches like reverting back to the older Universal studios logo, Sam Neil and Laura Dern coming back and there’s even a colour filter to take you back to the 90s. The Claire’s Sanctuary DLC is good too, both DLC start with a sense of urgency that can make it a little hectic starting off. With Return to JP the Dinos are still on the loose and need to be recaptured and in Claire’s Sanctuary the disease will kill the DInosaurs before the volcano does. I would recommend hopping into these stories after spending some time with the main campaign, they all have separate save slots so you won’t mess anything up.

Getting Jurassic World Evolution Complete Edition working on the Switch as well as it does is another feat for this little console that could. It also happens that Jurassic World is a good Dinosaur Theme Park simulator. We are now fortunate enough to benefit from two years of updates and content. If you were concerned that a game like this wouldn’t run well on the Switch then be heartened that it runs pretty well, all things considered. Besides, it’s the perfect way to play Jurassic World on the toilet without fear of a T-Rex crashing through the ceiling.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Frontier

The Pros

+Runs well on the Switch

+All of the DLC and updates packed in

+Return to Jurassic Park

The Cons

-Contracts get repetitive

-Reputation between the different divisions seems arbitrary

-Visuals are a bit (understandably) blurry