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What If All Those Dinosaurs in Jurassic World Were Your Buddies? - Jurassic World Primal Ops Review

73K View2022-08-16

When I was young, I’d go ballistic over dinosaurs, especially when it came to movies. I can’t recall the number of times my mom replayed The Land Before Time or Dinosaur on the television, but I do remember that it made her happy knowing she had a few hours of peace while I was busy watching the screen in awe. I’m not as overly enthusiastic about dinosaurs these days, but it’s still always a treat when an opportunity to relive my past comes along. Jurassic World Primals Ops provides just such an opportunity.

Jurassic World Primals Ops is a free-to-play, top-down action-adventure game where you play as a handler whose mission is to save dinosaurs from poachers, mercenaries, and scientists. The game focuses on collecting dinosaurs, upgrading them, and assembling your utopia of prehistoric animals.

Image Credited to Jurassic World Primal Ops | Behaviour Interactive

Primal Ops is influenced by the Jurassic Park universe, albeit not as nearly as narrative-driven as the movies. Unlike the older films, the dinosaurs aren’t kept caged on an island. Instead, they roam freely across the world. The entire plot is simply to save dinosaurs from getting killed, harvested, or used in any way deemed harmful.

That storyline is a lousy attempt at crafting a memorable experience. It’s nothing but filler providing no actual hook to get players interested. Of course, the difference in narratives between games and movies is pretty major, but you’d at least think there’d be some extensive surprise in Jurassic World Primal Ops. There isn’t. It’s almost as if, with the resurrection of the dinosaurs, the entire storyline went extinct in the process.

Image Credited to Jurassic World Primal Ops | Behaviour Interactive

Beyond the game’s narrative, though, things start to look much more interesting. Each mission lasts no more than five to ten minutes, and requires completing a variety of goals, like collecting DNA samples, rescuing dinosaurs, or finding eggs. As a dinosaur handler, you’re equipped with Jurassic Park’s signature tranquilizer gun filled with endless darts. To complete missions, you must defeat opposing forces, whether it be humans or dinosaurs, using the weapon.

One of the game’s redeeming features is the spontaneousness of its missions; they’re always somewhat of a new experience. The game doesn’t recycle the same formula over and over with its missions, which meant I rarely encountered a dull moment while playing.

The key twist that’s missing in Primal Ops’s story exists in the gameplay mechanics; see, in this game, the dinosaurs actually become your allies. You can call in dinosaurs to help you take down enemies during missions with a tap of a button. The game heavily emphasizes this mechanic, as different dinosaurs possess different abilities which can be helpful across various missions. Some, like the agujaceratops, bulldoze objects in their path, getting rid of obstacles, and others, like the troodon, leap and attack enemies.

Whatever the purpose for summoning them, each dinosaur called in consumes stamina, a limited resource which replenishes as stages progress. This was the mechanic that I enjoyed most in the game. As a child, befriending dinosaurs was only a dream, but Primal Ops made it possible. These scaly friends weren’t just for theatrics either; they all possessed unique traits that made the gameplay more exciting and fulfilling.

Dinosaurs also make up the microtransactions in Jurassic World Primal Ops. Many of the stronger dinosaurs require cash to unlock, which can be quite unfair when progressing through the game. It’s never impossible to make it past the more challenging missions with dinos gained from regular gameplay, though. The dinosaurs the game hands you are more than competent. And many of the missions focus more on tactically completing objectives rather than just running in claws extended.

Image Credited to Jurassic World Primal Ops | Behaviour Interactive

The more pressing free-to-play sin in Primal Ops is its inclusion of heavy ads throughout play. These ads pop up every so often, but it doesn’t fully take away from the game’s experience. Some players have also reported trouble with the game crashing or lagging, but things have run smoothly on my end using a Samsung S22 Ultra. I don’t recall ever running into any technical issues, even playing at maximum settings to test if these rumors were true.

As someone who grew up with dinosaurs plastered on everything due to how much I loved them, I can’t say I’m over the moon for Jurassic World Primal Ops. But I do think the game’s pretty great for casual gameplay. I could see myself collecting a plethora of dinosaurs in my breaks, and I think that’s what Jurassic World Primal Ops excels at. It obviously has some curves it needs to straighten, but it’s not hiding anything. It’s a simple game about saving dinosaurs. It’s in this simplicity that Jurassic World Primal Ops serves as a game about dinosaurs I’d gladly play during my free time to relive those childhood memories.

SCORE: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• Jurassic Park franchise. If you love the Jurassic Park franchise, including the newer Jurassic World movies, you may enjoy how Jurassic World Primal Ops explores that same universe.

• Ark: Survival Evolved. If you enjoy playing Ark: Survival Evolved, or any other Ark games on PC for all the dinosaurs you can collect, you’ll love Jurassic World Primal Ops.

💬 Have you played Jurassic World Primal Ops? Do you like dinosaurs? If yes, what’s your favorite?

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