DLC Impressions: Jurassic World Evolution – Return to Jurassic Park

 

This is an impressions article for the Jurassic World: Evolution DLC, Return to Jurassic Park.  If you want to read our full review of the main game, a link can be found at the bottom of this article.

Return to Jurassic Park is the latest DLC for Jurassic World: Evolution from Frontier Developments and is themed upon the Steven Spielberg classic from 1993 to a level of detail that will surely appease the most loyal of fans.  Everything from your favourite characters, buildings, dinosaurs, theme music and much more are all present.  Jurassic World: Evolution is a fantastic game in its own right, but Return to Jurassic Park adds an extra dose of life into a game that you could already lose many hours too, as you build your perfect dinosaur theme park attraction.

The moment your start the DLC campaign, fans of the original movies will feel a nice sense of nostalgia, not only as you hear the music hit, but also when hearing the voice actors as you fly into Jurassic Park once more.  While a different voice has been brought in to voice John Hammond, as Richard Attenborough is no longer with us, he does a very decent job at voicing the beloved actor.  However, Sam Neill and Laura Dern have been brought back to reprise the roles of Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler, likewise Jeff Goldblum returns from the base game to be the voice of Dr. Ian Malcolm.

Rather than being set during the movies, Return to Jurassic Park see’s you return to the original park following the incident, so it’s a nice touch especially for fans of the movies to get a taste of some untold stories, as well as being able to playout the events that transpire and you will once more visit Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna in an attempt to bring the park back to life in the hope of rebuilding the vision of John Hammond.  In total there are seven new story missions that are directly influenced from the events of the 1993 movie, including the infamous Raptor pen breakout (without giving to many plot details away).  However, before you re-open the park to the public, you must ensure that everything is as functional, safe and secure as can be, so what could go wrong?

What I particularly like about the Return to Jurassic Park DLC is that it’s quite the break from the more business elements of the main campaign.  Yes of course the main campaign is built around its missions and side-contract objectives as you attempt to run a successful business, but Return to Jurassic Park seems to have more of an emphasis on its story, which plays fantastically into its movie counterpart.  This DLC is at times more hectic then the main campaign and during the short several hours that you’ll be playing this content, you’ll certainly be kept busy from start to finish.  There are also some differences from the main campaign, as you’ll be able to take tours of your park in iconic monorail jeeps from the 1993 movie, just keep a lookout for any T-Rex’s that may be on the loose and it’s also an awesome feeling as you pass through the Jurassic Park gates.

Other new content that comes with this DLC is the Visitors Centre, an Aviary and legacy skin variants for the T-Rex, the Velociraptor, as well as two new dinosaurs, the Compsognathus and the Pteranodon.  In addition to the Return to Jurassic Park campaign, you’ll be able to use all the overlay’s and inventory in the Jurassic World Evolution Challenge and Sandbox modes, so it’s nice to be able to use much of this content in other available modes from the main game.  Seeing as it’s been a while since I’ve ventured back into Jurassic World Evolution, you’ll also have access to some of the improvements that have come with previous free content updates, including dinosaurs now having an alpha leader, who will follow and respond to their alpha, Rangers will have more abilities such as throwing flairs to distract dinosaurs, who can now act more aggressively to any unfortunate Ranger.  You can also take advantage of the new photo mode to take some gorgeous shots and share them with the community. So even without the Return to Jurassic Park DLC, loads of new features and quality of life improvements have been made over the previous months.

All in all, at its full £15.99/$19.99/€19.99 RRP, Return to Jurassic Park may feel a little steep at its price, but that’s not to say that fans of the game and the original movies won’ t enjoy this, because they most certainly will.  Though you do have the option of buying the Expansion Collection at £32.99, which not only includes this content, but also Secrets of Dr. Wu and Claire’s Sanctuary at a combined discount, but even so, I’d recommend holding out for sales on either the Expansion Collection or the individual DLC, because even though Return to Jurassic Park brings the fun and nostalgia to Jurassic World Evolution, the price of entry does feel a little steep in my humble opinion.  But should you take the plunge regardless, I doubt you’ll have any regrets returning to Jurassic Park, assuming a T-Rex doesn’t eat you, while you’re hiding out in the toilet.

You can read our full review of Jurassic World Evolution here.