Life Finds A Way

JURASSIC WORLD EVOLUTION gives you the tools to build your own dinosaur theme park, but should you?

- Andy Kelly

As you play Jurassic World Evolution, Dr Ian Malcolm (played, of course, by Jeff Goldblum) will occasionally chip in to remind you that what you’re doing—creating thinking, feeling creatures in a laboratory to, essentially, sell theme park tickets to tourists—might not be totally cool. He’s your conscience, and a neat way for the game to acknowledge the dubious morality of what you’re doing, which the films have made a point of addressing. So while building your own Jurassic World facility is exciting, and a dream come true for many fans of the series, developer Frontier still wants you to think about the important philosophical questions it raises.

“Getting to write new dialogue for Dr Ian Malcolm is just the best,” says lead writer John Zuur Platten. “And getting to hear Jeff Goldblum perform it? It doesn’t get any better than that. And, yes, some other iconic characters from the series will be appearing in the game, too.” These haven’t been revealed yet, but the game is being co-developed with franchise owner Universal, so I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) or Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) turned up too.

Set on the Muertes Archipelago, a chain of five islands off Costa Rica, you’ve been hired by the Hammond Foundation as its new operations manager. It’s your job to keep the park’s guests happy and, more importantly, alive. But that’s easier said than done when there are tropical storms, saboteurs, and other disasters to contend with. The locals don’t call these islands the ‘Five Deaths’ for nothing.