Update June 8, 2018: Collect dino DNA and create your dream team of battling dinosaurs in Jurassic World Alive!
Jurassic World Alive
Two years ago, Pokemon Go was unleashed on the world and became a cultural phenomenon.
This year, in conjunction with the release of the latest Jurassic World movie, Universal Studios teamed up with Ludia Inc. to essentially produce dinosaur version of Pokemon Go. Jurassic World Alive creates an augmented reality where dinosaurs are There are a ton of creatures to collect, upgrade, and evolve, there are supply drops scattered around in public places where you'll be able to pick up supplies, and it's absolutely designed to suck as much money from you as possible.
Here are my quick thoughts on Jurassic Park Alive — the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good:
- If you were obsessed with dinosaurs as a kid like I was, the concept of hunting down and collecting dinosaurs is just too cool. Pokemon are cool, but come on — dinosaurs are way better.
- The drone mini-game for collecting dino DNA is way more interesting than the tired Pokeball mechanics from Pokemon Go. A surprisingly organic way to build in the creature collecting aspect of the game.
- There's PvP battling built right into the game upon release — something that still hasn't come to Pokemon Go. You need to collect four dinos before you unlock PvP mode.
- I like that there are special events connected to local parks — whereas the game lacks Niantic's network of crowdsourced public spots from Ingress and Pokemon Go, using public green space is a smart move.
- Games like this encourage you to go outside and walk around your neighborhood, so even if you only play with it for a couple weeks it'll do you some good versus other sedentary gaming activities.
The bad:
- Just like the new Jurassic World movies, this game is a bit too derivative of the great works that have come before it. It looks better in many ways than what has come before but also lacks some of the charm and heart.
- Following up on that, along with those special events linked to parks which I liked I've also seen special events linked to Walmart locations which is — not what I like to see from mobile games.
- If we're being completely honest, we'd be surprised
The ugly:
- This game goes beyond just having in-app purchase for buying more in-game currency. There's also a "VIP subscription" where, for $10 a month, you get better supply drop rewards, slightly better equipment for catching dinos, and other in-game offers exclusive to VIP. Is this game worth the same as a subscription to, say, a subscription to Netflix or Spotify? Probably not.
All that said, I think it's worth checking out Jurassic World Alive if you've had some fun with Pokemon Go in the past and are looking for a new take on this genre of AR games. If you didn't like Pokemon Go, well settle in because we're expected to get similar games for The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, and Ghostbusters in the near future.
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