Jurassic World Evolution 2 is an outstanding building simulation game that features our favorite ancient beasts. You’ll get to experience creating a park for dinosaurs, flying reptiles, and swimming reptiles. Of course, it depends on how well you can manage resources and keep the violent creatures at bay.
Based on the popular Jurassic World film franchise, you’ll also experience some story elements from the Jurassic Park movies. Join us as we take you on a while prehistoric ride with Jurassic World Evolution 2.
Jurassic World Evolution 2 Story Elements
The first part I’ll look at is the story aspect. Besides the main story of Jurassic World Evolution 2, there are surprisingly other modes that have more meat to the game. One of the latest DLCs adds content from the new movie, Jurassic World: Dominion.
The Main Campaign
The main campaign isn’t as lengthy as I remember the first game being. Most of the story involves learning how to plan and discovering some of the initial dinosaurs. You’ll need to keep the park’s visitors happy, but you won’t play too long before you complete the initial story.
Of course, Jurassic World: Dominion has spurred a new campaign that adds to the initial story, but you’ll need to buy the DLC separately to access the content.
Different Modes
If you want to spend more time in Jurassic World Evolution 2, you’ll need to head to the other modes. The core of the dinosaur library lies among them, especially in Chaos Theory. Here, you’ll get to play each of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies, but you get to decide what happens in each chapter.
Chaos Theory features some of the original actors and dinosaurs from each movie. You’ll even have the naughty Velociraptors losing their tempers and trying to escape. I spent more time trying each chapter of Chaos Theory than the campaign, and they’re certainly more challenging.
There are also Challenge and Sandbox Modes. For the former, you’ll open a dinosaur park in a specific country and try to attract as many visitors with the dinosaurs you discover and incubate. Sandbox mode gives you as much money as you want without any conflict or dino deaths, but you’ll only have the species you’ve unlocked in other modes available.
Learning about Dinosaurs
This aspect is the main reason dinosaur lovers will enjoy playing Jurassic World Evolution 2. There’s a vast library of species for you to uncover and incubate to place within your parks. It’s not just about owning and managing them for us. It’s about seeing them move around as if they’re really alive, while also learning more about them.
You see, the dinosaur game has details on each species you find. There are also fictional aspects, such as unlocking new skins for each type or messing with their DNA to make them calmer or more violent. None of that really matters when you see a ceratopsid appear for the first time in your park and you feel goosebumps on your arms.
How many Dinosaurs are in Jurassic World Evolution 2
The base pack of Jurassic World Evolution 2 has about 79 dinosaur species, which is more than double its predecessor. Also, the DLCs add more and we’re going over 90 at the moment. I’m hoping to see more appear in the future, but you’ll love the ones that are already available.
Here are some dinosaurs you may be familiar with:
- Tyrannosaurus
- Spinosaurus
- Giganotosaurus
- Velociraptor
- Dilophosaurus
- Parasaurolophus
- Triceratops
- Pachyrhinosaurus
- Allosaurus
- Ankylosaurus
Among the dinosaurs are swimming and flying reptiles, following the examples of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies. We’re sure any dinosaur fan will love the variety of ancient beasts available, and you can stop the camera and take a photo of them at any time.
Jurassic World Evolution 2 Visual and Audio Elements
While the story has many components, the visual and audio elements in Jurassic World Evolution 2 attract the most attention. After all, you’ll want to feel like you’re really there with the dinosaurs.
How the Dinosaurs and Facilities Look
The graphics in Jurassic World Evolution 2 really impresses, showcasing brilliant visuals, shadows, and lighting. The dinosaur colors and textures are also outstanding, bringing virtual life to these ancient beasts.
Even the animations look gorgeous. You can zoom in close to see the movement of each muscle, and it’s a jaw-breaking moment when the Giganotosaurus spreads its jaws to roar at an opponent or your vehicle.
The facilities and vehicles are also beautiful. You can ride around in a jeep or fly in a helicopter, taking in the view from different angles. However, it’s that moment when the incubation chamber gates open and you see that dinosaur majestically walk onto the field that you’ll hold your breath.
The Dinosaur Sound Effects
While we may not know what the dinosaurs really sounded like back then, Jurassic World Evolution 2 does its best to emulate the movies from the franchise it’s based on. The Tyrannosaurus has the same roar from the films, which is probably a trademark sound by now.
Of course, you have the sounds of the buildings and vehicles, too. You’ll feel the purr of the jeep’s engine or the hum of the substations. Even while you’re in the gyrosphere vehicle, the surrounding noises will impress you and make you feel like you’re driving among dinosaurs.
Outstanding Voice Acting
One element already mentioned concerns the voice acting. You’ll hear the same voices from the movies, which gives you that authentic Jurassic Park feeling. When you head to Chaos Theory, each chapter will have the actors from those specific films, giving you a chance to relive them in your own way.
The General Atmosphere of Jurassic World Evolution 2
Sometimes, Jurassic World Evolution 2 can be as frustrating as its predecessor. While you’re trying to enjoy your dinosaur park and attend to the ancient beasts, things will suddenly go wrong all at once. Storms will appear, dinosaurs will escape, or your favorite species will fall ill.
Just as you think you have a handle on things, something else will go wrong, and you may run out of funds trying to sort it all out. Then there’s the economy are where you need to focus on pushing a profit to keep the park running.
All of these elements can pull your attention away from adoring the dinosaurs you incubated. Still, it’s a surreal feeling when everything’s at peace, and you can drive among them without a worry in the world. It makes me wish I had a VR version of the game so I can feel like I’m really among them. Looking at the lands even without the dinos feels majestic.
Jurassic World Evolution 2 Gameplay Elements
In this section, I want to discuss what it’s like actually playing the game. You’ve had a taste of the story and its visual properties. I’ll end my Jurassic World Evolution 2 review by showing you what the building simulation part is like.
Discovering Fossils and New Dinosaurs
The core part of Jurassic World Evolution 2 is discovering fossils so you can uncover new dinosaur species and incubate them in your park. Your expedition team will travel to various parts of the world, dig for fossils and other gems, and then extract DNA.
The important part is seeing how successful the DNA is in creating a new dinosaur. You can also sell DNA and other items to make some money, which you’ll focus on when you don’t need that specific species at that moment. However, dig sites can run out of resources, so try not to waste them.
Incubating the new Dinosaurs
Once you have a viable genome, you can incubate a dinosaur. You’ll need to reach a specific percentage for it to be viable, and then it may not even be successful. Keep finding more fossils and extracting DNA if you want to improve your chances of success.
When you succeed, you can finally incubate and release the species. You’ll see its majestic form appear as an adult already, unlike ARK: Survival Evolved where you need to raise them as younglings to mature dinosaurs. At a later stage, you can play around with different skins and behavior traits, which is where things become tricky. It’s not easy to find that perfect balance that prevents your carnivore from wreaking havoc.
Watching Conflict, Health, and Other Elements
Speaking of which, you’ll need to watch the conflict between species. Some missions require you to put them together and see how they attack each other, which can be quite brutal. If you’ve grown attached to a specific dinosaur in Jurassic World Evolution 2, you may want to incubate a new one for those quests.
You’ll also need to check that your dinosaurs are happy with their environments. Some don’t like being over-crowded, while others want lush forests or swamp areas. If the dino isn’t happy and one of the levels drops too low, it will attack the fences until it finally breaks out.
As long as all the conditions are met, you shouldn’t have any issues. However, the storms unsettle most of them, which is when you need to make sure all your fences are in prime condition. Substations can also fail, which is when the carnivores take their chances to escape.
Taking Care of Danger
If the dinosaurs do escape, you’ll need to send the visitors to the shelters. The vehicles and helicopter are fitted with teams to tranquilize the dinos, or you can drive around and do so yourself. You can then airlift them back into their enclosures once you have the fences repaired.
Once everything is sorted and safe, you can open the doors for the visitors to return. The issue is that the park ratings and income generally drop during that time, which means you’ll lose funds. It’s better to always have a buffer of enough funds for when this happens so you don’t need to start over.
Repairing Facilities
Your vehicles and facilities will take a knock when there’s damage, not only from storms but also from the dinosaurs. Fortunately, you have buildings that can repair vehicles and vehicles that can repair buildings. It helps you create as many as you need for the size of your park.
The more buildings you have, the more repair jeeps you’ll need for those disaster moments. Fences will need instantly repairs so that the dinosaurs don’t escape. You also need to check that your substations have enough fuel where applicable, but that will cost you whenever they run empty.
Entertaining the Crowd
While we play Jurassic World Evolution 2 for the dinosaurs, another main aspect is the visitor to your park. The happier they are, the more money you’ll make. There are buildings you’ll need that will need to cater to their requirements, such as hunger, thirst, and needing a toilet.
You’ll notice that some facilities make more money than others, which is where the building management element comes in. You’ll spend a lot of time inspecting each one to see where you need to cut your losses or improve on them. Sadly, it takes away from the dinosaur experience, but it is about running the park, after all.
Final Review Thoughts
Jurassic World Evolution 2 is an excellent game for those that love dinosaurs and the Jurassic Park movies. It blends entertainment with historical value, even if it does skew some of the facts for the sake of the franchise.
I don’t regret purchasing the sequel to the first game, but it’s getting costly with all the new DLCs arriving. I suggest you try the base game first and see how much you enjoy it before adding any of the other packs.
