Jurassic World Evolution 3 review: Essential for dinosaur fans, lacking for tycoon players

“Life will not be contained (…) Life finds a way.” The famous words of Dr. Ian Malcolm referred to nature itself, but where nature has no influence, the developers from Frontier Developments have stepped in. In the latest, third part of their Jurassic World Evolution series about building a dinosaur park, the main and perhaps most attractive novelty is the natural breeding of prehistoric reptiles. Under the right conditions, you will eventually see sweet baby dinos in special nests.

It's hard not to note how increasingly fitting the game's title becomes, as the third part is nothing more than the titular "evolution" of ideas from the previous installment, without drastic changes. It remains a game primarily for fans of dinosaurs and the movies from this series, and somewhat less for those seeking a challenging tycoon experience, but perhaps this is the recipe for success and the right approach to the dino-park theme. In any case, the gameplay is definitely enjoyable considering the number of "quality of life" improvements. The main points of contention might be the launch content and the game's performance on the base PlayStation 5.

Campaign is an overly long tutorial

Veterans of the Jurassic World Evolution series will feel right at home. The main gameplay mechanics, park development, buildings and attractions, the layout of the interface, and even the appearance of icons – all of this has essentially remained unchanged, following the principle: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." For new players and those who like to have a predetermined goal, there is a fairly long campaign mode, which somewhat straddles the line between an extensive tutorial and adding a narrative layer to the gameplay.

The action takes place after the events of the movie Jurassic World: Dominion, so we have to manage dinosaurs roaming free and develop parks in various parts of the world, in diverse settings across the USA, Europe, and Asia. The narrative part turned out to be quite mediocre. I'm not a fan of presenting it in the form of micro photos of faces from an ID document and the occasional ramblings of the always annoying Cabot Finch and the rest of the staff, or the threats from dino-terrorists sabotaging our park. Not even Jeff Goldblum returning as Dr. Ian Malcolm can save it. This formula could have undergone some revolution, but it lacks even evolution.

The campaign, on the other hand, works quite well as a long (perhaps even a bit too long) and detailed tutorial, introducing us to the intricacies of building and managing a dinosaur park. It continuously sets goals for us to achieve – from the simplest ones like constructing a building, to increasing various indicators, which can be accomplished in different ways. It gradually introduces new attractions and dinosaur species that we can place in the park, and eventually even allows us to freely jump between discovered maps, which increases the freedom in achieving the set goal and even gives a certain sense of non-linearity. However, I was a bit annoyed by the layout of the ready-made parks in the campaign, as everything in them is often very tightly built, almost cluttered, making it difficult to improve anything without demolishing half of the infrastructure – but perhaps this was a deliberate move by the developers to increase the challenge.

Dino puppies are the best

The mentioned possibility of natural dinosaur reproduction is one of the most highlighted new features of the game. And indeed, it can evoke quite a bit of excitement when little dinosaur hatchlings are about to emerge from the nest. On one hand, this feels like a success after providing the parents with suitably comfortable conditions in the pen, but it's also pure visual delight watching the little ones. Maybe not in every case, as with some species the hatchlings are just smaller versions of the parents, but young Lokiceratops, for instance, not only look adorable but also behave like little puppies. The animations are spot on – pure cuteness!

Additionally, there are entirely new challenges, as the young dinos may have completely different dietary requirements, and you also have to be careful that the population doesn't get out of control and the pen doesn't become overcrowded. Overall, it's not just an interesting addition to the existing dinosaur care mechanics, but also an attraction that can become a gameplay goal, especially if you have favorite species and want to see their offspring, and check how the developers have depicted their appearance and behavior.

Less clicking, less tedious micromanagement

In addition to surprise eggs with small dinosaurs, the Quality of Life improvements and other additions that simply make the gameplay more enjoyable or provide more options are equally important. These primarily include expanded terrain sculpting options, allowing you to create natural-looking fences and bodies of water, automated maintenance of facilities and fences, or CCTV cameras that detect escaping reptile and immediately call a helicopter to neutralize the escapee.

Sometimes an AI script might not work properly, requiring intervention, but overall there's slightly less clicking, less micromanagement, and more time for more interesting things. We also have access to new attractions, such as park tours by balloon or kayak, more decorative elements, and integration of community-created mods from the Workshop into the game menu - even on consoles! In the free play mode, you can use a random island generator that creates terrain based on several variables that we set ourselves.

Challenges could be random...

Since we're discussing the Sandbox free play mode, it's worth mentioning that in addition to the island generator, the already known flat square maps that are like a blank canvas to paint on, and the locations unlocked during the campaign, we can also set almost every element affecting gameplay and difficulty level to build our dream park. The freedom is immense, although in such cases, there is usually a tendency to make the game easier rather than more challenging.

For those wanting more, there is a third game mode – Challenge. Here, we have a selection of missions with very specific goals, which are additionally time-limited. The tasks vary greatly: from driving a jeep and taking photos of dinosaurs, to pulling the park out of a debt, to dealing with low security levels, a capricious crew, and many pre-determined restrictions. Some of these missions seem interesting, others a bit less so – it's a pity that there is no random challenge system here, especially since they largely rely on restrictions that can be set in the Sandbox mode anyway.

In general, I missed some more significant references to the movies, especially the very first one, which in my opinion is unmatched. Although we have all the elements in the game to create an original Jurassic Park, it's like being given a bag of blocks without instructions – we can build something, but what comes out of it is up to us. In the previous installment, the Chaos Theory mode filled this cinematic gap well, and it's a shame it wasn't replaced with something similar here.

Evolution – so little and yet so much

The biggest complaint I have about the game is its performance on the base PlayStation 5. I played JWE 2 for a moment to remind myself and... oh my, how smoothly that game runs compared to the sequel. The animation in the third game can annoyingly stutter, lacking the pleasant 60 frames per second smoothness seen in the second, and the graphical improvements don't really justify such a drop in performance. There were also instances of the game shutting down and being kicked back to the console menu or various minor bugs like crowds of clones of a particular character in the park.

Fortunately, all the other flaws of Jurassic World Evolution 3 are related to the desire for something that is missing, the fact that it swaps content from previous installments instead of adding more, and that it is merely an evolution of known ideas without a breath of fresh air. For this reason, the third game might be a slightly more interesting option for new players rather than for long-time fans - unless someone is totally crazy about dinosaurs and is satisfied with the sandbox mode to keep them playing until the fourth installment is released. Knowing the the Frontier studio, there will likely be plenty of DLCs along the way. In any case, for now, despite a few shortcomings, there is plenty to do, plenty to breed, and I'm starting to build John Hammond's park from virtual blocks.