Jurassic World: Evolution

I love dinosaurs.  I mean, doesn't every little kid like dinosaurs?  I just never stopped loving dinosaurs and really animals in general, and I'm here still loving them.  I bet there's one franchise that really put dinosaurs into peoples minds...Jurassic Park.

Ah yeah!  Dinosaurs, here we go!

Do I even need to say anything?  I mean, it's -Jurassic- -park-.  THE ultimate science gone wrong, dinosaurs on big screens, lawyers getting eaten movie.  But I'm not here to review Jurassic park the film.

No, I'm here to talk about the Jurassic WORLD franchise and movies.  Which is....uh...well...okay, I've never seen them.  I stopped watching the Jurassic park films after Jurassic park three, which I liked but I was only a teenager at the time, so my opinion now might be quite different.

But as far as I can tell from what little I've seen and know about them, they're basically the original Jurassic Park film done over again, but worse.  I mean, the movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, ends with several hundred dinosaurs escaping into the world, and Malcolm from the original Jurassic Park just...showing up at the US senate saying it's a 'Neo-Jurassic' period now as dinosaurs now live with man kind.

Do I really need to point out the flaws in that?  I do?  Do I have to?  Damn it...fine.  One, all dinosaurs were female in the original film, right?  Sure, they got around that, but in the book at least, the 'disaster' of Jurassic Park was caused because everything that could go wrong, even if it was a less then one percent change of going wrong, went wrong at precisely the right time to make the disaster work.    In Jurassic World did they just...let all the dinosaurs breed whatever?  That seems like an incredibly dumb thing to do.  Two: The dinosaurs were made up of all separate species, so, the chances of a dinosaur even finding fellow dino of the same species are low.  three: They're all in a very small area, just, I don't know, bomb the area if your panicking about dinosaurs surviving in modern day.  And don't get me started on diseases affecting them, along with the whole lack of wilderness to survive on!

...Anyway!  I think that says a lot about my opinion about later Jurassic Park films.  Despite this, way back in or after 2003 I played the game Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, which is a park builder where you remake Jurassic park.  I loved it, and though I own the disc still, I am unsure if it will run on windows 10.  But in 2018, another game came out, Jurassic World: Evolution.  And you better believe I bought that up as soon as possible.

Not again!

Taking place after the Original Jurassic World, but before Fallen Kingdom, you are tasked with building dinosaur parks across the Five Deaths, a fictional island chain in Costa Rico, or, off the coast of the country, rather.  

There are three major DLCS that add new gameplay to the game, and more that just add new dinosaurs, but, I don't own any of the DLC, so I will just talk about the base game.  

The base campaign starts off with Ian Malcolm complaining about life, you, and dinosaurs.   I'm not sure why Jeff Goldblum is here, but the character of Malcolm seems to be here just to tell you this is an incredibly bad idea.  The campaign is divided into five or six island locations to build parks in.  The reason it's five or six is because one was originally the only sandbox island you could play without worrying about money, but a later update made it so once you reached 4 stars out of five with any island you unlocked sandbox mode for that island.

Frontier, the game developers behind this game, apparently had 100 or so developers working on this game.  That does not seem like much, but I fully admit to not knowing how many people normally work on video games.  They also released updates after the games release, adding the above mentioned sandbox modes, challenge modes to reach 5 stars in the shortest amount of time, and other features.

I won't hide the fact that I admire and like Frontier, they make good games that allow a lot of sandbox creativity and freedom.  Unfortunately this is not one of them.

let's talk about the dinosaurs first.  You start off with one viable genome of a dino, and can send expedition teams to fossil sites to get more fossils to get more DNA so that one that's at or above 50% genome can be made into a living creature.  Annoyingly, you don't know what the creatures habits are aside from meat or plant eating until you make the first dino, so it's entirely possible to put in a forest loving dino with one that hates forests.

The dinosaur stats are put into 2 categories, health and comfort.  Health is put into thirst and hunger, self explanatory.  Comfort is more complex, divided into wetlands, grasslands, forests, population, and social need.  Wetlands means how much water is in the exhibit, grasslands is how much space -total- is in the exhibit, forests is how many trees there are, and social is how many animals of the same kind there are, and population is how many animals there are total. 

While it sounds confusing, it's actually too simple.  There's no difference in most dinosaurs aside form some like forests, some like open fields, some need to have one or two others of its kind, and some need to be alone.  There's no enrichment options, and when the game was released, no option to manually place trees and rocks, though there is now.  I fully admit that calling the need for total space, 'grassland'  is annoying.  And none of this is explained in the games very meager, and split up, tutorial.

Now onto the second most important thing in the game, the guests which...don't technically exist.  See, instead of making each guest a entity in the game, with needs and desires and money to spend, instead they focus on each gust building, hotels or viewing stations, needing certain buildings near it, food places, gift shops, restrooms, stuff like that.  While I fully admit this is a novel and new way to model guests in park games, I don't like it.  So I'm old fashioned.

 Another important aspect of the game is the Divisions. They are Entertainment, Science, and Security, and all three want your attention and to be number one in your inbox.  For some reason, doing a quest for one Division, means the other two now hate you, and will actually sabotage your park because they're having a temper tantrum.  But, leveling up one divisions meter will unlock cool stuff for you, and a special mission that unlocks more cool stuff.  There is nothing stopping you from leveling up one Divisions respect in you, then ditching them to get the cool unlocks in another division. 

It doesn't make sense that, the Divisions who you write the paychecks for, will sabotage THERE OWN EMPLOYER because...I really have no idea.  because they don't feel special, I guess.  And this would be a really easy thing to fix, call the divisions investors instead.  Everything could work the same way gameplay wise, just change some dialogue.  I feel like this was a decision made by Universal rather then Frontier, but I could be very wrong too.

So that's the game.  Take care of all way too similar dinosaurs, take care of guests that technically don't exist as individuals, and try to tell the employees that you love them all.  Once you finish one island, you move onto the next, unlock more dinos to research and make, and...that's it.  One island is very much like the next, and I got bored enough that I stopped played after island number three in the base campaign.

I have to say this was my first Frontier game, and they really dropped the ball on it.  I'm not sure why exactly, but I think it was a combination of small team or time frame to make a game, and also Universal making demands on what the game should be like.  I hate to say it, but this gets a 1.5 out of 5 stars.  I hoped that the free updates would liven the game up for me, but I did not get past even island one when I replayed it recently.

Anyway, that's all for now.  See you all, next whenever.  

I seriously need to set this to a schedule some time.  Oh well, later.

Reassembly

I love Legos.  I love spaceships.  I love Lego spaceships a lot.  

Surprisingly, despite my love of blocks that click into other blocks that then make buildings or vehicles, I never really got into games that are literally all about that, like Terraria or Minecraft, where you can build huge fortress and craft almost everything you can imagine.  I'm just not really a creative building designer, and most games crafting is rather dull to me.

But then I found Reassembly.  and I love it so much.

Avengers Assemble!  Wait, wrong franchise.

Reassembly has no plot, no lore, no story, or even any voice acting. But none of that matters because you have blocks that attach to other blocks that can become a spaceship and then can blow up other space ships.  There's weapon blocks, power generator blocks to power said weapons, thruster blocks that make you move, shield blocks and other stranger blocks that do other useful things.

You collect resources that are mostly found by killing enemy faction ships, exchange them for Credits at ships or stations with a factory and use the Credits to upgrade the power limit of your ship and unlock new blocks.  There's seven playable factions each with different blocks and aesthetics and weapons and the like.  There's also 'Agents' which are NPC's using other players ships that go around causing chaos.  There's wormholes, self replicating Fly-bots, and for some reason the Borg show up here as well.

And, uh, that's the game.  just going around building your ship and blowing things up.  It's not exactly a deep game, but it allows tons of creativity for making space ships.  you can take ship desgins and add them to your inventory, so they will be made by NPC factory ships, as well as yourself when you get a factory module.

I enjoyed this game far more then I feel like I should have.  I have 15ish hours on it, and might add even more.  The only problems I've encountered are that in my games Agents don't appear.  and I can't upload my ship as an Agent in other peoples games.  The third problem is most damning, all the factions play similarly.  This could be my fault, however, as I tend to go slow moving but powerful sheilds and long ranged weapons, no matter what faction.  Along with tons of fighters/drones.  

Either way, Reassembly is well worth the 15 bucks if you like space games, or building spaceships.  I would give it 4/5 stars, if not 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

The Karate Kid (2010)

Look, the only reason I watched this is because Jackie Chan is in it and I like Jackie Chan.  I'm...not sure why I opened this review with a defending statement.  But I feel ever so slightly ashamed I watched this film.  I'm not sure why, but as usual here's the movie poster.

Wait, is that Will Smiths son?

...Ah, now I know why I feel slight shame.  Jaden Smith, we meet at last...sort of.  I don't hate Jaden Smith, but I feel....slightly annoyed that he pretty much got gifted an acting career as a birthday present.  I never got that pony I wanted on my birthday.

Anyway, I've never seen the original Karate Kid, so I can't say how well or badly it is in comparison with the original.  But I have browsed the Wikipedia and know of the major plot points, so I can compare those.  Hopefully.

The premise of both films is that a kid moves to another area, having a single mom, and learns a martial art from a wise old teacher who appears to just be a old man at first.  there's several differences, but we'll talk about two right now; the move is from the USA to china, and the kids instead of being teenagers, are all under 14.  

Most of the film takes place in china, and I like it.  It's pretty cool to see the real places they set the film in, and it gives the main character kid real reasons to be unhappy what with now living in an entirely different culture.

The fact all the kids are under 14...is not to my liking however.  I found zero enjoyment watching the kids interact, mainly because the main character was written like an selfish idiot, even for his age.  

The acting...well, Jaden smith isn't actually a bad actor, nor anyone else.  the problem seemed to me not the actors themselves, but the direction they either took or didn't take their acting prowess.   

The shots and cinematography, are good.  I really liked it.  Jackie Chan was a joy to watch, both in acting and in the fight scenes.

Honestly, the films reverence of the Karate Kid original movie, harms it more then helps.  It follows some beats too closely, that if let go would make the film better.  the girlfriend parts, was excruciating to watch, to the point that I fast forwarded through those parts.  Keeping the bullies and the bullies martial art teacher as psychopathic jerks hurt the film rather then helped. The more the film strayed from the original movie the more I enjoyed it.

Despite this, I find myself giving it 3 out of 5 stars.  Why?  Well, Jackie chan saved this film from its writing.   One thing I have yet to talk about is that in this one, while both mentors have a troubled and tragic past, Jackie Chans character is still troubled and tragic in the present, and not only does the mentorship help the young main character grow as a person, it helps Jackie Chans character grow as well.  

Unfortunately I also fully admit I fast forwarded through at least one third of the film.  So I have to downgrade it to at least 2.5 stars, if not simply 2 stars.  I enjoyed it, but I also skipped a lot of the content of the film. 

Anyway, if the film had taken more risks from the original, and instead of a remake was instead a inspired by, I would've liked this film a lot more.  

Today is a two review day!  Above is another review, but both are kinda short, so I made them both today.

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth.

I have always been in a weird place where I like 4X games...but don't like Civilization, the Sid Meier's Video game.  For those who don't know what 4X Means, it's a video game where you basically are contrlling a nation or empire, where you have to eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate.  ...could also be called 4E, but X sounds cooler.  Anyway, diplomacy, research, battle, and economy are all part of 4X games, along with several other features.

Anyway, nowaday disliking Civilization but liking 4X is easy. There's tons of different 4X games with different factions, stories, and most importantly, different gameplay mechanics.  

This was not the case before Endless Legend from Amplitude came out.  Before Amplitude, Civilization wasn't just considered the 'most popular' 4X game.  It was considered the be all and end all of 4X games.  Nothing could be better then Civilization, so everything was the same as Civilization, with just slight variations in gameplay, even if setting and factions were radically different.   I said this before in my Mandalorian TV show review, and I'll say it again: Don't think the current 'best' of something is the be all and end all, think of it as a starting point for something better. 

So I was an odd one.  I didn't like civilization but wanted to try 4X games and bought quite a few of them.  To be fair, it wasn't the gameplay that I hated about civilization, it was the setting and factions.  So I was easily pleased by just a change of scenery if not actual gameplay.

But then Endless Legend came out, and I realized how shamefully unfun Civilization had been.  I could go on all day and night about how much I love Endless Legend, but that's not what this review is about.

This is about Civilization.  IN SPACE.

Sid does seem to love his hex tiles...even the windows are shaped like one!

But any talk about civilization in space will have to start with Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the original civilization in space, made way back after Civilization 2.  For reference, Civilization 6 is its latest installement.  But I know very little about it, aside from the fact that it has some very die hard fans and was apparently very good.  So Beyond Earth was said to be a spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri before Beyond Earth was released. 

Anyway, the premise of Beyond Earth is it's 2210, and earth is in bad shape.  So the current nations and corporations of the future-earth start building space ships to colonize different planets across the universe.  

You start the game by picking a sponsor, which include futuristic but familiar-ish names such as Polystralia, Peoples African Union, American Reclamation Corporation, and Brasilia.  That's only 4 out of 8 Sponsors in the base game, 12 total with the only expansion, Rising Tide.  

You might think picking a sponsor would completely change how you play the game, like Endless Legends did with its factions.  Nope.  instead you get a small  bonus to certain things, and that's it.  Really, the other options you pick before you start a game have just as much if not more impact, and none of them really change the game, only slightly change choices at the start.  As an aside, Sponsors also decide what leader you play as.  

Instead of  what you decide to be mattering, the idea is that what you do on the new planet matters more then what you were on earth.  While an idea I can get behind, they didn't go far enough with it.  While each building you build in a city get a permanent buff via a decision you make, the buff is small and only one option out of two.  What if it was three options?  What is, for example, you had the building the Rocket Battery be A: A orbital satellite slayer but weak against ground troops, B: An artillery platform that can decimate ground troops, or C: Somewhere in-between but not great at either.  

 Behold!  Beags Ville!

But I'm getting off track.  To bring home the idea of what you do ingame is more important then what sponsor you pick, there are quests that give you affinity levels in one of three groupings, Purity, Harmony, and Supremacy.   Purity ideology believes humanity was and is perfect, and anything alien should be rooted out.  Harmony believes to survive humanity must evolve with nature and become more alien like.  Supremacy is somewhat in between but believes that humanity can be perfected via machinery and that the new world must be dominated.  Different buildings require different levels of different Affinitys, and raising affinity levels are required to upgrade military units.  I will admit being able to pick different bonuses for military units is neat.

But this still isn't enough, it's not until late game that really differences in play happen, and even if Harmony, Purity, and Supremacy factions played completely differently,  that's still only 3 factions, a pitiful amount honestly.  

I do however, praise the tech tree, or rather, web, as it is a branching web instead of a linear tech tree.  The fact that two players can have completely different techs but still be the same 'power level' as it were is a nice addition, one I wish Civilization games had more like it.  

The base game of Beyond Earth is unfortunately, fairly bland and safe, even with the sci fi twist.  So I give it a 3/5 stars, at best.  Honestly 2.5/5 is more accurate.  But we haven't delved into Beyond Earth: Rising Tide.

Lady put your helmet back on!

Rising Tide is the only expansion to Beyond Earth, and as you might guess it revamped the games navy combat and water features, including the heavily touted floating aquatic cities.  But it also revamped diplomacy, added new sponsors, and added new 'artifact' system of gameplay.

Honestly Rising Tide's feature of upgrade water gameplay features was the least interesting and exciting upgrades to the game.  The diplomacy updates and introduction of a new currency used exclusivity in diplomatic international exchanges, were far more welcome, and in single player actually gives each NPC colony leader new life and lines and ways to react to what the player is doing.  

With Rising Tide, I give Beyond Earth either a 3 or 3.5 out of 5 stars.  It's a much better game, and a good intro to 4X games.  unfortunately, for a veteran at 4X games it's not that good.  I've heard it is a poor spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, but having never played it, all I have is hearsay.

That's all for now, hopefully I'll put out some drafts soon that I've been (slowly) working on.  I'd say them here, but from those that remember my Evil Genius 2 review, I don't keep my word if I do.