JWE2 has many new and improved features over JWE1 but I think it also is missing some crucial content. The two main ones are the campaign and the feel of the first game.
The campaign was great in the first game. It kept you busy with engaging missions and managing the three factions' missions. While initially, the game had much less content like decorations, more terrain tools like rocks and painting tools, and smarter and more complex dinosaur AI. By the end of JWE1, it had many of these improvements. JWE2 would have been a much superior game if it had kept the same campaign but with all the new content, features, and enhancements. But it didn't and I think the current campaign is just a long tutorial and is a bit bland. Chaos theory was a great idea and was fun but didn't allow for as much freedom as the first game's campaign. Neither does challenge mode since it is limited to one island and in a set timeframe with no special missions. I also need to point out how in JWE1, unlocking new dinosaurs was more than just researching. You had to progress through the different islands which was much more fluid and fun.
The DLC campaigns are not much better when it comes to freedom and while I didn't enjoy them as much as I had hoped, they are DLC missions which means people need to pay extra for them and won't be considered here today where we are only talking about the base game.
My second point is the overall feel of the game which I know is going to be very subjective but I didn't feel like this game was as "Jurassic World" as the first game. Almost like it is missing the same magic that I felt playing JWE1 for the first time. In JWE2 the music, color of the UI, scientists and characters not being blue, and other small details are slightly or very different than JWE1. I did not like the UI's change from the strong bright blues and greens to the blander color we have now. Felt less like Jurassic World. I also really did not like that they took away the blueness from the character faces. This is very subjective, I know, but I wanted to add it.
Complaining or criticizing without offering a solution is not what I want to do today so I will offer a solution to these issues that I have with the game. Firstly there needs to be a much better and longer base game campaign than what we have now. If they want they could simply add the same one from JWE1 to save time and resources. They wouldn't even have to record much new voice audio.
Changing the color of the UI is something that I see as much more unlikely. It doesn't make sense to do that anymore. Adding some of the music they used in JWE1 however, wouldn't be hard to do at all.
That is my take on JWE2. While I can live with the different feel of the game, I can not approve of the lack of a proper, base game campaign. The game needs it.
The campaign was great in the first game. It kept you busy with engaging missions and managing the three factions' missions. While initially, the game had much less content like decorations, more terrain tools like rocks and painting tools, and smarter and more complex dinosaur AI. By the end of JWE1, it had many of these improvements. JWE2 would have been a much superior game if it had kept the same campaign but with all the new content, features, and enhancements. But it didn't and I think the current campaign is just a long tutorial and is a bit bland. Chaos theory was a great idea and was fun but didn't allow for as much freedom as the first game's campaign. Neither does challenge mode since it is limited to one island and in a set timeframe with no special missions. I also need to point out how in JWE1, unlocking new dinosaurs was more than just researching. You had to progress through the different islands which was much more fluid and fun.
The DLC campaigns are not much better when it comes to freedom and while I didn't enjoy them as much as I had hoped, they are DLC missions which means people need to pay extra for them and won't be considered here today where we are only talking about the base game.
My second point is the overall feel of the game which I know is going to be very subjective but I didn't feel like this game was as "Jurassic World" as the first game. Almost like it is missing the same magic that I felt playing JWE1 for the first time. In JWE2 the music, color of the UI, scientists and characters not being blue, and other small details are slightly or very different than JWE1. I did not like the UI's change from the strong bright blues and greens to the blander color we have now. Felt less like Jurassic World. I also really did not like that they took away the blueness from the character faces. This is very subjective, I know, but I wanted to add it.
Complaining or criticizing without offering a solution is not what I want to do today so I will offer a solution to these issues that I have with the game. Firstly there needs to be a much better and longer base game campaign than what we have now. If they want they could simply add the same one from JWE1 to save time and resources. They wouldn't even have to record much new voice audio.
Changing the color of the UI is something that I see as much more unlikely. It doesn't make sense to do that anymore. Adding some of the music they used in JWE1 however, wouldn't be hard to do at all.
That is my take on JWE2. While I can live with the different feel of the game, I can not approve of the lack of a proper, base game campaign. The game needs it.