Theme-park building simulators have their own hefty following among players who still remember with fondness the earlier RollerCoaster Tycoon games, and it shows in the success of modern titles. While RollerCoaster Tycoon World suffered in being one of the worst-rated titles from the series, the similarly-themed Planet Coaster soared on a wave of enthusiastic nostalgia that would win over the affection of the previous franchise's fan base. Titles like Rimworld, Prison Architect, and Cities: Skylines, meanwhile, scratch that same itch for managing virtual settings while proving that the entertainment value in the genre stems from smart design decisions, rather than from exciting locations.
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RELATED: New park-building simulator Jurassic World Evolution announced
That said, there's definitely something to be said for managing your own dinosaur theme park, which is why the upcoming Jurassic Park Evolution is already turning heads. The game was originally announced during this year's Gamescom, when it generated quite the buzz with the release of a short announcement trailer. Recently, another trailer was released that offered a first look at what Evolution looks like in-game. Check it out:
All in all, there's really not that much to talk about from the trailer alone. The dinosaur animations look incredibly detailed, especially when you consider that most players will only ever see them from a birds' eye look. The shot of a sleeping tyrannosaur even managed to illicit an audible "aww" - a feat not accomplished since the appearance of Chomper in The Land Before Time.
Luckily for us, Frontier Developments held a separate panel this past weekend in which the developers behind the game offered additional details on Evolution, as well as information about upcoming updates for Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster. The recorded livestream is quite lengthy however at nearly five hours long, so we've gone ahead and summarized the more noteworthy details.
Players creating a park in Jurassic World Evolution will have three main development paths: Entertainment, Security, and Science. Entertainment will - exactly as it sounds - emphasize creating the most enjoyable experience to attract the maximum amount of visitors. Security, meanwhile, will follow a design philosophy similar to the park runners in Jurassic World in focusing on powerful, deadly dinosaurs genetically engineered to put on an impressive (and frightening) show. As for Science, "...it's more about understanding how they live and what they were," according to Game Director Michael Brookes.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Jurassic Park if there weren't the ever-present threat of disastrous malfunctions and rampaging dinosaurs. Emergency situations will occur that require the attention and management of the player in order to salvage as much as possible while protecting the guests and - more importantly to some - your precious dinosaurs.
"It very rarely goes well, it oftentimes go wrong, but uh, we do want to give players the opportunity to realize that original Jurassic Park dream that John Hammond declared doing and put that inherent peril of looking after giant dinosaurs into the hands of our community and see what they would do and see how they could manage to run one of those kinds of things."
Jurassic World Evolution will launch for the PC sometime in 2018, when it will coincide with the arrival of the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom film.
