passes, I will never forget the first time I saw Jurassic Park. It was the
most spectacular movie of its time, both in story and technological
achievement. The action, intense, the story, ingenious. It blew all other
dinosaur representations out of the water. The action, intense, the story,
ingenious. No other movie could compare.
Along with the film came a
series of Jurassic Park merchandise. One of the biggest moneymakers was video
games. Multiple game companies acquired the rights to Jurassic Park,
including Sega, who developed a terrific 2D action game for the Genesis
(followed by a great arcade shooter).
After that, the Jurassic
Park franchise began to dwindle. The movies were good, but where were the
good games? There were some memorable games from developers that were
"inspired" by Michael Crichton’s masterpiece, but very few titles with the JP
label were comparable to the films.
Most of the games that
feature dinosaurs have the same goals: hunt dinosaurs, run from dinosaurs, and
make it out alive. It’s a great concept when done right (Dino Crisis 2), but
it’s usually not.
Jurassic Park: Operation
Genesis is a different kind of dinosaur game. There aren’t big explosions,
heavy artillery, or any of the usual hunt-and-kill aspects of a prehistoric
game. This is a park-building simulator. Similar in style to the Sim City
games, Operation Genesis crams a ton of mind-boggling options into one
persistent, evolving world. I spent more hours with Sim City 2000 than I care
to admit, and I’ve played a ton of other simulation games since then, but that
didn’t make Operation Genesis any easier.
Anxious to see some dino-making
action, I foolishly jumped right into the main game without looking at the
manual or playing through the game’s in-depth exercises. Having no clue as to
how I should get started, I created some buildings, attached some roads and
placed an electric fence around an area that looked perfect for a T-Rex to
live in. Thing is, my "perfect place" was completely ruined by the way the
park had been set up. The park entrance was too close to the water, my
buildings weren’t far enough apart from each other, and despite my best
intentions, no dinosaurs were being hatched! (This must have been why Allen
Grant was so against the creation of the park in the first movie.)
Further experimentation
lead nowhere. No matter what I did, I wasn’t going to succeed with my current
park. Too much money had been spent, and I couldn’t even figure out how to
open the park, let alone how to create some dinosaurs! Without them, the park
is just big, empty island.
It’s not that the game is
too complex, but there are menus on top of menus, and although everything is
very easy to do, the game itself is not, and it is nearly impossible to figure
out each and every game element on your own.
This led me to the
dreaded exercises. Why are they dreaded? Because I hate it when I have to be
"taught" to do something. I like to figure things out on my own and let the
game surprise me. But simulators aren’t as easy to get into as other games,
and generally take a lot more time and patience to enjoy.
My fears of the exercises
were alleviated once I experienced them. They don’t waste time with useless
babbling; they get right to the point and tell you exactly what needs to be
done. Exact button and menu actions are explained through a small window at
the bottom of the screen, which stays on the screen at all times until that
particular exercise has been completed. This made the game so much easier to
grasp, and prevented me from having to look at the manual.
Once that was taken care
of, I immediately fell in love with the game. It was somewhat of a dream game
come true for me. Me and my friends used to spend hours building our own
Jurassic Park with action figures and various play sets. Now I would finally
be able to build my own virtual Jurassic Park! One with more dinosaurs; with
more options; and one with hardly any limitations.
Operation Genesis is one
of the more complex simulation games developed specifically for a console.
DNA research must be conducted before dinosaurs can be created, which will
take one month or more to complete (actual game time is roughly a few
minutes). While the research is being conducted, the time spent waiting
should be put to good use by building fences around the area that you wish to
make the dinosaurs live in. Hatcheries must then be placed inside of an
enclosure (a fenced-in area), along with a feeder to keep the dinosaurs
well-fed. They also need water, so for the dinosaurs that don’t live near the
water, a small lake must be built inside of their enclosure (otherwise they’ll
die). In the case of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, it’s important to choose the right
kind of food for her to eat (all of the dinosaurs are supposed to be female,
remember?). The infamous goat makes a return, as well as some cows, followed
by more types of food later on.
Believe it or not, this
is smallest and easiest aspect of the game. Creating dinosaurs, and making
sure they’re eating properly is not that hard to do. But what happens if a
dinosaur becomes angry and tries to escape? Or what if the dinosaurs are
eating, but your customers are starving? What if your dinosaurs start feeding
off your customers? That would solve one problem, but you’d eventually have
to close down your park!
That sort of overwhelming
depth — the urgency that comes along with rushing to appease every customer’s
whim, and ensuring that the place is safe and continues to make money — is
the reason why Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is such a good game.
Technologically, it does
have one major flaw. The camera is really, really bad. You can zoom out, but
not very far, and no matter how much you reposition the camera, it almost
always feels a little awkward. It works great for targeting and panning
around the dinosaurs, but that’s a small part of the game. However, it would
be foolish for someone to overlook this game just because of its annoying
camera.
Gameplay: 8
I don’t play many
simulation games, but when a good one comes my way, weeks will go by before I
even think about stopping. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis plays as good as
the top PC sim games, and will have you engrossed in prehistoric
history-making for hours.
Graphics: 7
There are good
things and bad things about Operation Genesis’s visuals. Good things:
dinosaur textures, animation and dino-to-dino interaction (very realistic,
aside from the Stegosaurus’s water-drinking motions). Bad things: frequent
pop-up and slowdown.
Sound: 7
There aren’t a
whole lot of sound effects in this game that will take advantage of your
sub-woofer, but the music is pretty good. It sounds a little like the music
from the film, which is good, because the movie soundtrack was a masterpiece.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
It’s not easy
managing Jurassic Park. You’ll have your hands filled with objectives,
demands and things that must be done in order to keep your park up and
running.
Concept: 8
All I have to say
is: it’s about time. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis was long overdue. Why
it took so long for a developer to realize what a great idea this would be is
beyond me. Someone finally did it though, and the results are excellent.
Overall: 8
Operation Genesis
is a true Jurassic Park game. Playing this game was like going back to the
summer of 1993. Watching the dinosaurs exist in a natural environment was
amazing. I loved to just watch them eat, drink and interact with each other.
And of course, the park creation and operation aspect is great.
