Lego Jurassic World
Released: June 11, 2015
Game Length: 30 Hours
Grade: A-
Setting
Introduction: When booting up the game, you'll immediately notice TT Fusion's flat overlay that was utilized in The Lego Movie - Videogame. Those statistics you see in the background cycle randomly and shows the currently time. Anything that happens in the background foreshadows events in the game. You'll see Ian Malcolm on a stretcher, Amanda Kirby yelling out her son's name, and Gray inside a gyrosphere. The menu interface is structured a bit differently as each sub-menu pulls up underneath the others. Another thing you'll notice from the company's other games is how the characters found all throughout the game will converse and dynamically respond to your presence. One of the more immediate encounters are the two guys on the helipad from the very beginning of the game fighting over you when you move between them a couple times. You'll find a bunch of amusing additional lines like how Peter Ludlow will talk about how the dinosaurs will be used for rides to the board of directors and the number of people who come up with alternate names to dinosaurs, similar to how Roland Tembo came up with "Friar Tuck" for the pachycephalosaurus. One of my favorite lines come from a kid who asks "Why does a pteranodon have a 'P'?" and the other responds, "Same reason we do - they'd explode if they don't." While several actors from Jurassic World reprised their roles for this game, Peter Stormare (who played Dieter Stark) is the only actor from The Lost World to record new dialogue for his character.
No One Dies: It is pretty hard to believe, but the one cool trick the Lego game does when covering the films is elude each and every death. Let's start with the first Jurassic Park. Ray Arnold's detached hand might be found by Ellie Sattler, but his whole body is entirely frozen in fear in the game. Dennis Nedry can be found still running away from the Dilophosaurus in a few spots. In the second film, people that are pinned down by the velociraptors are "tickled" instead of eaten. Dinosaurs that are ravaged by carnivores are able to escape. The animals that are generally fed to the dinosaurs tend to find a way to get away. There is a brief moment at the end of Jurassic World where you see all the ones swallowed by the Mosasaurus playing cards. Check out the differences on the wiki for a full list. These and a few other things are changed to be more child-friendly, like how Hammond pours out a couple cups of tea instead of popping the cork off some wine in the film.
Details: One thing the game loves to do is sneak the Jurassic Park theme song in almost everything. It plays in a small Jack-in-the-Box, music box, a miniature ice cream truck, xylophone, van horn, computer beeps, boom box, radio, and jukebox. I loved how the raptors would constantly jump up to snap at you while crossing the platforms in the final level of Jurassic Park 2. I personally liked the number of times they connected events by showing what happens like in the case of John Hammond stepping out of the helicopter and walking to the trailer at the beginning of Jurassic Park. I might have encountered a lot of bugs, but nothing proved to be that big of a deal. The only minor problems I had with the game was how tricky it was to find a spot to switch to a dinosaur sometimes and there occasionally was a delay when trying to transition to things. I'm also sure some of the beginning cutscenes for levels didn't play in Free Play. The one time I couldn't progress was when Ian froze after solving a riddle on the San Diego docks. I liked how they replicated the character that gets stuck underneath the Tyrannosaurus Rex foot during Lost World. I very much appreciated how they dedicated a full level to the tall grass sequence in Lost World that only lasts a total of two minutes in the film.
Media
TV Show: What's fascinating to note is the number of television shows that appeared after the game released. You have The Indominus Escape that covers a quick Youtube mini-series (and a quick teaser for the next film) that was later packaged with the film. The Secret Exhibit was two episodes that aired showing what happened when the raptors were first born. These episodes spurred on a whole season of Legend of Isla Nublar where the character's personalities are greatly exaggerated for comedy as Dennis Nedry's nephew tries to ruin the park. Other things are shown like an excited kid named Hudson, a dog named Red, how Owen got his motorcycle, and the spark of romance between the two main protagonists. A year later, two more episodes filled with shenanigans in Double Trouble show off Simon Masrani's twin brother bringing in an out-of-control AI called OOPSI (I'm not making that up) while the two Indominus Rex dinosaurs hatch and bring forth mayhem for the characters. These episodes can be very entertaining with some few weak points in between depending on your sense of humor. One good joke that stood out to me was when the protagonist is trying to name the dinosaurs and says, "Charlie, Delta, Echo... what comes after Echo?" There are also several nice call-outs to Ian Malcolm in Episode 5, Colin Trevorrow (director of Jurassic World) in Episode 6, and Alan Grant in Episode 8. There is a very weird tea joke that plays out in Episode 10.
Films: The main portion of the game covers all three of the original Jurassic Park films and includes, to which they also released at the same time as, Jurassic World (despite how the producers might have felt about the films). Following the release, we've had two more films and five seasons of the cartoon Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. It is quite amazing the brand recognition when you try to search information on these films as you'll quickly find tons of mock-ups like Jurassic Galaxy, Jurassic Thunder, The Jurassic Games, Jurassic City, Jurassic Prey, Jurassic Island, Jurassic Hunt, Jurassic Predator, and Jurassic Domination (not to be confused with Jurassic Dominion). Since Steven Spielberg created the original film, there are a bunch of references to his other films - like ET, Jaws, and Back to the Future. All of the filmmakers except for Joe Johnston (from Jurassic Park 3) were made as playable characters. Since Jimmy Fallon appears briefly during a safety video inside the gyrosphere, you'll notice that they also found ways to support his character. Not only was he added as a mini-figure, but they created a scene where a holographic version of himself appears in the Visiting Center and included new dialogue telling various dinosaur tips from pressing the various buttons inside the Visiting Center.
DLC: Considering how the previous Lego games had a long-list of characters, levels, and other downloadable content, it is pretty hard to justify any of the three DLC bundles. The characters are barely different than their counterparts and using vehicles within the game is already hard enough. I just don't think any of these would be good additions to the game.
Gameplay
Environment: Much of the game continues the Tt Games style with a bunch of little adjustments. When it comes to the tutorial bricks, you'll have Mr. DNA helping you out. He spouts out random dinosaur facts, nothing associated with actual gameplay, as a mini-kit landscape sculpture spins around during the loading screens. Pressing the Left & Right bumpers on your controller will rotate through the available characters, in addition to the Y-button initiating the character wheel, while playing a level. The buttons will reset the camera in the world hub. The game will provide you with hollow blue studs during the story and green studs to follow when selecting destinations. For the first time, you are able to play during the credits by swapping between the large and small dinosaurs as they run through the forest. Since the credits are rather lengthy, you can collect up to 200,000 studs this way. Though, the Indominus Rex Bonus level will allow you to accumulate much more in a quicker time when you ram the gyrosphere. Besides, nothing is earned beyond those studs if you play all the way to the end of the credits. You might be surprised to see a whopping 275 gold bricks when first starting the game, but they are much easier to find and collect than ever before. There are no quests and very little requests for items. Races have about twice the usual number of gates to pass through. The completion percentage shows every time you collect a gold brick. You are not frozen in place when collecting items. All 20 red bricks can be obtained outside the levels. I managed to get 154/200 mini-kits, 253/275 gold bricks, and 93.7% completion. Though, calling a cab to drive around with can be a hassle with so few spawn points, the chance of your ride disappearing, and without Lego: Marvel Super Heroes perk of summoning vehicles wherever you are. At least you don't have to sit through a theatrical camera pan of your vehicle.
Map: The biggest change up-to-date is how the map replicates both islands of the film in a 3D-interface. It does not show all the islands that make up "The Five Deaths" that are shown after the first 20 minutes in Lost World, but it does include geometric shapes that identify important structures and fencing. Map points will always be shown, but you will need to activate them in order to unlock travel, day and night options, and reveal collectibles. As cool as the map is, there are a lot of new limits and restrictions. Part of this is due to how they structured the regions according to the films they cover. In order to access another portion of the map, you need to zoom all the way out and select another section. The moment you finish the story levels for their associated film, you gain access to all your characters for that region. In fact, your character wheel that gets populated with recently used mini-figures will refresh when switching between regions. I also noticed a couple of other weird choices. There are no clear indicators to show you which levels come first within the story and you cannot cycle through all the story levels when selecting any of the levels. Thankfully, you are still able to select where in the level you want to begin and what collectables each section has. Items found in the world hub aren't so generous. Despite there not being a single item that requires the change of day, you will now need to find the items inside structures that are not shown on the map. The good news is that the map points will tell you what you can collect in each part of the region, even tell you if there are no items of a specific collectable to find.
Mechanics: The game offers plenty of action when it comes to dinosaurs. These include dinosaur chases, dinosaur fights, and dinosaur scares. When playing through the story, there is just enough of these moments to appreciate the ambience of the game. Just like in Lego Movie - Videogame chase sequences, you have the option of controlling the driver or swapping to someone who can throw flares into the dinosaur's mouth. The problem with replaying so many of these is that they tend to get monotonous when trying to gather all the collectables. You practically need all the detector options turned on to know where to move during the chase. Also, all bonus levels replay the same chase scene shown in the story level from a dinosaur's perspective. While one or two might allow you to be the giant one, most will have you replay the same role of the one being chased. I noticed the game will initiate an A-Button prompt, much earlier than any other game, that snaps you to the various platforms scattered about the map. Attaching the hooks from the cars is also pretty cool. They also added a semi-buddy system like in Lego: The Hobbit where you hoist up other members of your party or launch them into the air with a see-saw. I'm surprised one level had the pig cannon from Lego City: Undercover.
Red Bricks: Although there are a few missing options, like summoning vehicles on the spot, there are all the typical multipliers and detectors still available. "Compy Mode" is simply miniature mode that was available in every other game. Helium voices raises the pitch of all the dialogue. Hybrid disguises puts on the head and tail portion of the dinosaur costume on all the characters. Nedry disguises equips everyone with Hawaiian shirts and shorts. Destroy on Contact is perhaps the most useful one where it activates both on you and your friends. There's also that sweet 8-bit music to listen to when you need something more edgy playing in the background.
Characters
Unlocks: Compared to other games, unlocking things becomes much easier. The 20 characters that need to be rescued in the world hub now provide you with an unlockable characters that can either be purchased on the spot or later through the roster. Every other character is unlocked as you play through the levels. Just know that the children are added to the very end of the roster. All vehicles are unlocked through the story as well (there are no vehicle tokens to collect). It is more noticeable while exploring Jurassic Park in Story Mode but characters will hop into the vehicle with you. I also very much appreciate that they added tooltips directly onto the characters in the roster like in Lego: The Hobbit. Although the feature still highlights key words, there is spectrum of colors that distinguish the text. You have access to dinosaurs. You have two options: either unlock a dinosaur by obtaining a single chunk of amber or collect all 10 mini-kits for the skeleton version. While some dinosaurs can be swapped from the roster, others will become available at various grids out in the world.
Dinosaurs: Once you unlock a dinosaur, you can customize dinosaurs, similar to the steeds in Lego: The Hobbit, by swapping out their head, body, tail, and color. This is in addition to your standard character creations. There are a few collectibles that will require you attach a Tyrannosaurus Rex "roar" head on top of a medium-sized dinosaur summoning platform. Practically every dinosaur has their own set of abilities. Holding X will initiate a charge or roar, pressing X will allow you to interact with objects, and B will cause you to strike. The game excels to prevent motion-sickness by blurring the outside of the rim instead of moving the camera during a charge. Raptors have multiple abilities like their own personal smelling trails, the option to pounce onto a bar, pull bars away, and cut rope (as seen from Alan Grant's ability). The Dilophosaurus spits venom to break black rocks, Indominus Rex uses camouflage in one instance to pass security cameras, and Tyrannosaurus Rex gives you the power to (film accurately) roar to shatter amber. You can choose from a number of different kinds of paint, including a few "chrome" colors that sparkle. Outside the visiting centers and the T-Rex Arena, there are three areas you can enter to summon exclusive dinosaurs: a water arena you can use a Mosasaurus and two aviaries you can use pterosaurs.
Expressions: I very much appreciate how each character expresses their own version of being scared, similar to how they react in the film, in the presence of a dinosaur. Lex Murphy will shrug her shoulders tight while Timmy Murphy will close his eyes while running. Characters will also have various expressions while sneaking, walking, and running. It is also nice that you have three different versions of traveling in the dark that reflect what they do in the film: Ian Malcolm ignites a flare, Zach Mitchell has a torch made from old cloth, and Timmy Murphy uses his night-vision goggles. When accessing the character wheel, your mini-figure will have a serious expression on his face while looking in the direction you are pointing. Characters will panic and actively fight back when pinned down by a raptor.
Abilities: The game does a fairly decent job at implementing the mechanics into the Jurassic Park universe. Things like screaming to break glass, using a glider to hover over gaps, and using an electric gun are all things we've similarly seen in previous editions. Each scream uniquely fits the character with ones like Lex Murphy being a little too loud and realistic. One very weird mechanic is the option to dig through poop, whether it is to initiate a quest for a sick dinosaur or retrieving food for it. Nearly every person has their standard strikes. Ian Malcolm, because of his study of chaos, will randomly choose a part of his body to hit enemies. What's kind of strange is how some characters will slam their bottom or split their legs when striking the ground. Finding an item on the ground and actively tracking a source is only slightly different than Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean. If you do forget what a person can do, the object they use is usually attached on either side of their waist. If you approach an element with someone who can't perform the action, a character icon will appear up above for someone who can. If someone who is on the screen can, they will wave at you. Switching a character immediately after the prompt is displayed will automatically swap you to the one you need. I like the new option to snap photos. Characters might be able to build structures, but only those with dinosaur knowledge can construct using dinosaur bones.
Idle Animations: With so few named characters - some having generic names like "Unlucky Bystander" on the roster - there are perhaps less than 20 characters with actual animations. Ellie Sattler pulls out a leaf and examines it with a magnifier glass. I don't like how Amanda Kirby's idle animation includes feedback from the giant megaphone she uses in the film. Gray Mitchell & Owen Grady play with miniature dinosaur figures. Dennis Nedry chows down on a pie. Ian Malcolm pours water over his hand with a cup like he does explaining Chaos Theory in the film. Claire & Zara will occasionally pull out their devices. Those with hats will sometimes take them off. Hammond will dance. Lex Murphy plays with her baseball. Zach Mitchell will put on his headset and do a little jig.
Summary
Review: I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this game. The developers must have researched the movies thoroughly to include the amount of detail from the vehicles you can drive to the dinosaurs you can control. Not only do the characters express themselves accurately but you can explore both islands featured in the films. Each of the levels are a blast to play and there is enough bonus content to keep you interested. There is a fair number of quality of life features that indicate which character you need for a certain puzzle and traversing between the sites. It is quite amusing to see how far the designers went to make sure everyone stays alive in some capacity. There were, however, some technical limitations with how you can explore between the islands, where you can drive a vehicle, and repeat some activities for the collectibles. I'd definitely play this game if you are in any way a fan of Jurassic Park.
3-10-2023