Jurassic
Park Operation Genesis is an enjoyable game
that should appeal to dinosaur buffs and park simulation fans alike, thanks to
its attractive graphics engine, unique features, and surprising gameplay depth.
Amusement park simulations are among the best-selling games on the PC market today. Their popularity should come as no surprise, because these simulations can appeal to such a broad audience–men, women, and children alike. What is surprising is that almost all games based on the Jurassic Park license to date have been action games, while the premise of the original movie was the creation of the world’s greatest zoological park. Universal Interactive has finally taken the logical step with Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, a strategy game that lets players create and manage a dinosaur zoo. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is an enjoyable game that should appeal to dinosaur buffs and park simulation fans alike, thanks to its attractive graphics engine, unique features, and surprising gameplay depth.
The game allows a very wide field of view.
Operation Genesis’ 3D graphics engine does an excellent job of rendering the lush terrain of a tropical island. The dinosaur models are very detailed, allowing players who have even a passing knowledge of paleontology to immediately spot the differences between similar looking dinosaurs such as the brachiosaurus and the camarasaurus (also known as the brontosaurus). The models are also scaled accurately small velociraptors are dwarfed by the much larger tyrannosaurs, for instance. Weather effects like rain, wind, lightning, and tornadoes add to the overall effect. The engine lets you rotate your view in any direction and also has a wide range of zoom, so you can get in close to examine individual dinosaurs, or get a much wider view to manage your park comfortably. Though Operation Genesis also has special effects like reflective water, we found that the game had a tendency to lock up with the more advanced graphics settings turned on. Fortunately, the game still looks good even at a medium level of detail, though the game’s dinosaur animations still aren’t particularly smooth.
Operation Genesis sounds almost as good as it looks. Each of the game’s dinosaurs lets out different types of noises, depending on whether it’s playing, hunting, sick, or frightened. Your park advisors provide some audio cues, and they even visually resemble the actors from the original movie (though their voices are provided by stand ins). The in-game music is the very same score written by John Williams for the original Jurassic Park film. Williams’ songs do contribute to the game’s atmosphere, but die-hard fans of Mr. Williams’ music may be disappointed to find that the game doesn’t use CD-quality recordings of the tracks.
Amusement park simulations are among the best-selling games on the PC market today. Their popularity should come as no surprise, because these simulations can appeal to such a broad audience–men, women, and children alike. What is surprising is that almost all games based on the Jurassic Park license to date have been action games, while the premise of the original movie was the creation of the world’s greatest zoological park. Universal Interactive has finally taken the logical step with Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, a strategy game that lets players create and manage a dinosaur zoo. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is an enjoyable game that should appeal to dinosaur buffs and park simulation fans alike, thanks to its attractive graphics engine, unique features, and surprising gameplay depth.
The game allows a very wide field of view.
Operation Genesis’ 3D graphics engine does an excellent job of rendering the lush terrain of a tropical island. The dinosaur models are very detailed, allowing players who have even a passing knowledge of paleontology to immediately spot the differences between similar looking dinosaurs such as the brachiosaurus and the camarasaurus (also known as the brontosaurus). The models are also scaled accurately small velociraptors are dwarfed by the much larger tyrannosaurs, for instance. Weather effects like rain, wind, lightning, and tornadoes add to the overall effect. The engine lets you rotate your view in any direction and also has a wide range of zoom, so you can get in close to examine individual dinosaurs, or get a much wider view to manage your park comfortably. Though Operation Genesis also has special effects like reflective water, we found that the game had a tendency to lock up with the more advanced graphics settings turned on. Fortunately, the game still looks good even at a medium level of detail, though the game’s dinosaur animations still aren’t particularly smooth.
Operation Genesis sounds almost as good as it looks. Each of the game’s dinosaurs lets out different types of noises, depending on whether it’s playing, hunting, sick, or frightened. Your park advisors provide some audio cues, and they even visually resemble the actors from the original movie (though their voices are provided by stand ins). The in-game music is the very same score written by John Williams for the original Jurassic Park film. Williams’ songs do contribute to the game’s atmosphere, but die-hard fans of Mr. Williams’ music may be disappointed to find that the game doesn’t use CD-quality recordings of the tracks.
System Pentium III CPU 1.0 GHz
RAM= 256 MB
Video Memory= 32 MB
OS= Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Windows 8
RAM= 256 MB
Video Memory= 32 MB
OS= Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Windows 8
