So when the game first came out a year ago I think its safe to say I was a massive critic of Evolution. My long post after some 50 hours of gameplay listed a huge range of what I felt were perceived issues with the game ranging from the poor dinosaur AI to the limited replayability and flawed campaign. I earned myself a lot of negative comments for how blunt and negative the post was but I stand by that original post. Nothing I said was ungrounded. Now a year on I felt it was time to re-evaluate my initial opinion. Just for background sake I have brought the Dr.Wu DLC and the Cretaceous Dinosaur Pack. I have not purchased the other DLC (For reasons I will go into). My views on the game 1 year later can be summarised like this ‘2 steps forward, 1 step back but cautiously optimistic’.
Two Steps Forward…
From the beginning it was clear that major patches and improvements would be needed. The improvements to dinosaur AI including more life like actions (like sleeping) made a big difference to how these dinosaurs felt. (see next section for a ‘But’). In addition the free Fallen Kingdom dinosaurs (that really could have been a DLC in itself) were given to everyone which I felt was a nice move. I’ll be honest, the challenge mode I could love and leave. I don’t really get that much enjoyment out of it (see the ‘1 step back’ section) but it was still a good step in the right direction.
The new Dinosaurs have been a range of good and bad, but it was always good to see new ones added. The Doctor Wu hybrids were a nice addition, with finally some herbivore hybrids added and I’ve become a fan of the Stegaceratops. The addition of the Charcarodontosaurus certainly appealed to me as JPOG fan, and the Iguandon as a Brit, given its one of our most common fossils. Troodon was a surprise to me since it was so small but it demonstrates that even tiny species can fit in the game and frees the way to perhaps other small dinosaurs like Dryosaurus.
The Doctor Wu DLC I brought around 3 Months after it came out and I had avoided any YouTube vids and the like about it so I could go in blind. I was surprised at the first new island location and how big it was, and it immediately became a favourite location to build of mine. The second, smaller secret facility I have also enjoyed as a small compact area that challenges you to be careful how you build. If I had any criticisms of the DLC it was based around it’s writing and campaign. In general though I was happy with the additional dinosaurs and the additional island space. The extra large feeders, combined with the ability to time when they deployed food radically fixed one of my early criticisms about the constant feeder resupply needs.
The newest free patch was a surprise. The new wetland mechanics and fish feeders were something I was very excited about (again see the next section for a ‘but’) since it was nice to see a dinosaur game matching the real life paleo evidence about fish eating species. The terrain tools were also a vital addition and its surprising just how much of a difference a few trees, rocks and terrain textures can make to the smallest exhibit and to the decoration of the park in general. I hope that this system will be added to. The gyrosphere gates have also been a good addition.
In general I think that the game is greatly improved and slowly starting to get closer to the standard of game that I think it needs to be. That being said…
‘…One step back’
While many of the additions and improvements are good for the game, there are still problems. Just in the implementation of the newest features we can see these in action. Firstly the new terrain brushes that while good, are limited to certain types on certain islands, and do not paint under structures so you end up with green borders round everything.
Then there are the trees and rocks themselves which are considered structures and as a result can be put close to each other or other structures.
The new wetland mechanics are good, but the only dinosaur that has a unique eating animation for the fish feeder is the Spinoraptor. The others are copy pasted and that is a big disappointment. It really would not have been difficult to come up with a unique eating animation. Spinosaurus could have leant its arms on the edge, the Baryonyx could have used the big claw that its named for. I don’t think that would have been much more work.
Looking at the other additions it is easy to see other problems with every addition. Yes the dinosaur mechanics are better, but we still don’t have actions like the Ceratopsians rutting or the Pachy’s using their domeheads in conflict with each other (Like they would in JPOG). Small dinosaur species still somehow manage to headbutt their way through fencing instead of maybe climbing it (Like they did in JPOG). Dinosaurs still ‘socialise’ in squares or triangles.
The Doctor Wu DLC brought many good features yet also brought issues. The Ankylodocus looks pretty rubbish. Its tail perpetually clips through the ground and there are a number of better designs out there that make it look far better. The new islands spaces are good, but the writing of the campaign is pretty naff and at no point did I feel invested in the story, only building the park. This brings me on to the problems about the challenge mode. Its pretty boring. Its just building a park with more annoying issues for a few skins.
Challenge mode could have been improved with each island having a UNIQUE challenge to the island, beyond the base game. Perhaps cleaning up a ruined park with zero budget or handling more persistent extreme weather. Obeying set conditions on dinosaur species. These are all examples that could make each challenge mode map more interesting to play beyond ‘build a 5 star park again’.
There are some new animations yes…but every dinosaur sleeps in the same way. Many copy pasted animations remain.
Dinosaurs still have some problems. Some dinosaurs still have terrible skins (I’m looking at you Velociraptor) . We have fair too many hadrosaur species (Did we really need Olorotitan?). Some dinosaurs look really strange (Dreadnoughtus especially head wise) and some dinosaurs have seemingly been ruined. The fact that Acrocanthosaurus is now a chubby T-rex with no unique frill or spines and the fact that Oranosaurus has a hump instead of a frill or sail are two reasons why I have not brought the new DLC’s. And before anyone uses the ‘but it’s the more realistic portayal’ arguments for those two may I point out that a number of other dinosaurs have non-realistic portrayals when it fits. Given that Acro was aimed at JPOG fans why not have the exact same look and skin especially as a fitting nod to that game. I’d certainly have loved to see the brown striped skin back in HD. And the Orono could have been a new distinctive dino species if it had kept its sail and been given some stand out colourful skins. Now I accept these are probably very personal comments and others will disagree. Its also not possible to make everyone happy. But it all comes under this idea that everything that is great is often softened by the negative aspects.
‘…but Cautiously Optimistic’.
All in all I am optimistic that by the 2 year mark the game will be better than it is now. I have no problem thinking that. So far the DLC packs have been reasonably priced and the free patches have always been of good quality. Do I think this game is currently up to the same level that JPOG was? I find that more difficult to answer now than I did a year ago. I think there are some aspects that JPOG still has better over JWE. Its dinosaur actions were still in my eyes better. But JWE is defiantly getting closer now to finally replacing JPOG.
It has been however somewhat sad to see just how great Planet Zoo is looking against this game. It makes me wonder if / when we get a JWE 2 if it will look far more like that.
Two Steps Forward…
From the beginning it was clear that major patches and improvements would be needed. The improvements to dinosaur AI including more life like actions (like sleeping) made a big difference to how these dinosaurs felt. (see next section for a ‘But’). In addition the free Fallen Kingdom dinosaurs (that really could have been a DLC in itself) were given to everyone which I felt was a nice move. I’ll be honest, the challenge mode I could love and leave. I don’t really get that much enjoyment out of it (see the ‘1 step back’ section) but it was still a good step in the right direction.
The new Dinosaurs have been a range of good and bad, but it was always good to see new ones added. The Doctor Wu hybrids were a nice addition, with finally some herbivore hybrids added and I’ve become a fan of the Stegaceratops. The addition of the Charcarodontosaurus certainly appealed to me as JPOG fan, and the Iguandon as a Brit, given its one of our most common fossils. Troodon was a surprise to me since it was so small but it demonstrates that even tiny species can fit in the game and frees the way to perhaps other small dinosaurs like Dryosaurus.
The Doctor Wu DLC I brought around 3 Months after it came out and I had avoided any YouTube vids and the like about it so I could go in blind. I was surprised at the first new island location and how big it was, and it immediately became a favourite location to build of mine. The second, smaller secret facility I have also enjoyed as a small compact area that challenges you to be careful how you build. If I had any criticisms of the DLC it was based around it’s writing and campaign. In general though I was happy with the additional dinosaurs and the additional island space. The extra large feeders, combined with the ability to time when they deployed food radically fixed one of my early criticisms about the constant feeder resupply needs.
The newest free patch was a surprise. The new wetland mechanics and fish feeders were something I was very excited about (again see the next section for a ‘but’) since it was nice to see a dinosaur game matching the real life paleo evidence about fish eating species. The terrain tools were also a vital addition and its surprising just how much of a difference a few trees, rocks and terrain textures can make to the smallest exhibit and to the decoration of the park in general. I hope that this system will be added to. The gyrosphere gates have also been a good addition.
In general I think that the game is greatly improved and slowly starting to get closer to the standard of game that I think it needs to be. That being said…
‘…One step back’
While many of the additions and improvements are good for the game, there are still problems. Just in the implementation of the newest features we can see these in action. Firstly the new terrain brushes that while good, are limited to certain types on certain islands, and do not paint under structures so you end up with green borders round everything.
Then there are the trees and rocks themselves which are considered structures and as a result can be put close to each other or other structures.
The new wetland mechanics are good, but the only dinosaur that has a unique eating animation for the fish feeder is the Spinoraptor. The others are copy pasted and that is a big disappointment. It really would not have been difficult to come up with a unique eating animation. Spinosaurus could have leant its arms on the edge, the Baryonyx could have used the big claw that its named for. I don’t think that would have been much more work.
Looking at the other additions it is easy to see other problems with every addition. Yes the dinosaur mechanics are better, but we still don’t have actions like the Ceratopsians rutting or the Pachy’s using their domeheads in conflict with each other (Like they would in JPOG). Small dinosaur species still somehow manage to headbutt their way through fencing instead of maybe climbing it (Like they did in JPOG). Dinosaurs still ‘socialise’ in squares or triangles.
The Doctor Wu DLC brought many good features yet also brought issues. The Ankylodocus looks pretty rubbish. Its tail perpetually clips through the ground and there are a number of better designs out there that make it look far better. The new islands spaces are good, but the writing of the campaign is pretty naff and at no point did I feel invested in the story, only building the park. This brings me on to the problems about the challenge mode. Its pretty boring. Its just building a park with more annoying issues for a few skins.
Challenge mode could have been improved with each island having a UNIQUE challenge to the island, beyond the base game. Perhaps cleaning up a ruined park with zero budget or handling more persistent extreme weather. Obeying set conditions on dinosaur species. These are all examples that could make each challenge mode map more interesting to play beyond ‘build a 5 star park again’.
There are some new animations yes…but every dinosaur sleeps in the same way. Many copy pasted animations remain.
Dinosaurs still have some problems. Some dinosaurs still have terrible skins (I’m looking at you Velociraptor) . We have fair too many hadrosaur species (Did we really need Olorotitan?). Some dinosaurs look really strange (Dreadnoughtus especially head wise) and some dinosaurs have seemingly been ruined. The fact that Acrocanthosaurus is now a chubby T-rex with no unique frill or spines and the fact that Oranosaurus has a hump instead of a frill or sail are two reasons why I have not brought the new DLC’s. And before anyone uses the ‘but it’s the more realistic portayal’ arguments for those two may I point out that a number of other dinosaurs have non-realistic portrayals when it fits. Given that Acro was aimed at JPOG fans why not have the exact same look and skin especially as a fitting nod to that game. I’d certainly have loved to see the brown striped skin back in HD. And the Orono could have been a new distinctive dino species if it had kept its sail and been given some stand out colourful skins. Now I accept these are probably very personal comments and others will disagree. Its also not possible to make everyone happy. But it all comes under this idea that everything that is great is often softened by the negative aspects.
‘…but Cautiously Optimistic’.
All in all I am optimistic that by the 2 year mark the game will be better than it is now. I have no problem thinking that. So far the DLC packs have been reasonably priced and the free patches have always been of good quality. Do I think this game is currently up to the same level that JPOG was? I find that more difficult to answer now than I did a year ago. I think there are some aspects that JPOG still has better over JWE. Its dinosaur actions were still in my eyes better. But JWE is defiantly getting closer now to finally replacing JPOG.
It has been however somewhat sad to see just how great Planet Zoo is looking against this game. It makes me wonder if / when we get a JWE 2 if it will look far more like that.
