Dinosaurs come back to life with Jurassic World Alive
If you’re a fan of Jurassic Park and you love dinosaurs, then this is certainly a game for you. Combining the forces of AR/VR technology and the power of smartphones, Jurassic World Alive brings back your favorite dinosaurs to life and uses them in real (virtual) combat.
Developed by Ludia Inc., Jurassic World Alive was released for both Android and iOS last month. The actual game Jurassic World Alive was rumored since early 2018 and those interested (like myself) had the chance to pre-register for the game.
Setting things up
Jurassic World Alive is a free to play game. It also offers a subscription model for $9.99 for those who want extra features. For now, I was excited to try out the base game.
Starting off, Jurassic World Alive offers to link to both your Google Play account and optionally, your Facebook account as well.
Similar to other AR games such as Pokémon Go and Draconius Go, Jurassic World Alive lets you explore the real world. Using the Google Maps API, Jurassic World Alive essentially recreates your actual surroundings including roads, byroads, parks and open areas and renders them in game as well.
Exploring Jurassic World Alive
I take on a role as a brand-new member of the Dinosaur Protection Group (DPG). Following the story of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, dinosaurs have fled Jurassic World which was on the island of Isla Nublar. They have instead decided to make the local neighbourhood their home. So as a member of the DPG, it is my mission to save these giant reptiles from a second extinction. Whilst walking around the map I came across a number of dinosaurs. I also came across a number of supply drops.
With regard to dinosaurs, just like Pokémon GO and Draconius GO, they have to be captured to be added to your collection. This is done by collecting their DNA samples by means of a drone.
Each successful hit on the dinosaur gives you DNA samples. Score enough DNA samples and you can recreate that dinosaur for your own collection. From there, I had to incubate the DNA into an egg which was hatched via an incubator and voila, I had a brand new dinosaur. Any additional DNA that is collected from dinosaurs of the same type can be used to evolve your dinosaur further, increasing its stats making it stronger for battle. Once dinosaurs reach a particular level, their DNA can be fused together to create stronger hybrid dinosaurs (Indomitus Rex, anyone?).
As for supply drops, these can be accessed by clicking the stop and spinning the crate.
The rewards from these supply boxes include in game cash and coins and also darts. The darts are what’s used to shoot at dinosaurs to collect their DNA. If you don’t have any darts, you will not be able to collect any DNA. So make sure you visit at least one supply crate during your day.
Getting into the game
The main interface of Jurassic World Alive gives you access to features such as an Incubator, your Dinosaur collection, the main map of the game, a PvP section as well as a news section as well. The Incubator, available every 5 hours gives you free supplies such as money, darts and even rare dino DNA if you’re lucky. The collection button next to it is where you can manage all the dinosaurs you have. You can view their stats, evolve them and create hybrids if required. In addition, you can also manage your battle deck as well.
The map takes you to the real world in game map where you can walk around, collect dinosaur DNA and spin supply crates. Depending on the spawn distance of the dinosaur, you can either reach it from your current location or you will have to travel towards it. If the dinosaur is very close to you, then getting DNA from it via the drone is relatively easy. However, the further away the dinosaur is, the more battery is consumed by the drone, meaning you have limited time to aim your shots towards the dinosaur.
If a dinosaur is out of reach of the drone, you have the option to sign up for a monthly subscription to Jurassic World Alive. Costing USD 9.99, the subscription gives your drone 33% more battery and also increases its range by 33% as well. Further, if you run out of darts, you can either spend in game cash and buy darts, or use real world cash to then top up your virtual cash after which you can purchase darts.
Depending on your area, you can have anywhere from 1-10 dinosaurs spawning at any given time. If you have experience in playing Pokémon Go and Draconius Go, then it will not be surprising that you have to do your fair share of walking in order to explore and encounter dinosaurs. If you are more of the stay-at-home type, you will probably encounter around 1-2 dino spawns at your location.
Battling with the best of them
This was what excited me the most. You and your team of 8 dinosaurs of your choosing are pitted against similar skilled players. Of the 8, 4 of them are randomly picked for battles.
Battles are turn based. Each dinosaur has 2-4 abilities that do damage, lessen opponent damage or stun enemy dinosaurs. In addition, each dinosaur also has a charge attack that can be used once every few turns. Dinosaurs are categorized into Carnivore, Herbivore, Pterosaur and Amphibian. Each type is strong against its preceding type but is also weak to its previous type. So it’s up to you to create a battle deck that takes into account types, weaknesses and moves in order to dominate your opponent.
If you feel that your deck is performing poorly, you can go back to the drawing board and remake your deck. You can also search for dinosaur DNA that you can use to power up your dinosaurs or even create stronger hybrids.
My experience with Jurassic World Alive
Overall, Jurassic World Alive looks to be quite a promising. The sheer fact that I can put my knowledge of dinosaurs to use is a major plus point. Since I travel and do my fair share of walking, Jurassic World Alive has become my go to app since the date it was released.
For the few days I’ve played it, I’ve actually got out of my house at around 10PM or even later, simply because an Allosaurus spawned on the lane next to mine. I even walked to the junction which is about a kilometer away, just because a Velociraptor spawned and I needed one to level up my existing raptor. Having watched my fair share of Dinosaur documentaries from childhood, it’s quite a thrilling experience to encounter them in real (virtual) life.
The turn based ability battle system and the levelling up of dinos is also a nice touch, very reminiscent of a few major games. This was an element that previous AR games sadly lacked.
Does Jurassic World Alive live up to the hype?
That question is a little difficult to answer. For starters, even though the game was made available a couple of days ago, the actual launch is scheduled for the 30th of May, so it’s a bit early to call judgement.
That being said, while the game does work as intended, there are a few shortcomings. For example, dinosaur spawns are somewhat unbalanced and there’s no real way to track the spawns of dinosaurs like you would with Pokémon GO and Draconius .
In addition, in order to get ahead in the game, Ludia Inc seems to be relying a lot on micro (and not so micro transactions). This is especially prominent when I run out of darts to capture DNA samples. I have to either visit a lot of supply crates, or use in game cash to refill the darts.
There is still hope
Hopefully developers can increase the spawns of dinosaurs to balance things out. At the same time, they could also work on increasing the amount of darts that can be collected from supply crates, especially if like me, you tend to walk or take the bus and play on the go.
One thing I was disappointed about was that in order to use the AR mode to share your dinosaur collection, you need to have an Android device that is compatible with ARCore. This means that only flagships and certain high end devices would be able to use this feature.
However, for a game that has to go against the bar set by ever popular games like Pokemon GO, Jurassic World Alive performs admirably well considering it’s still in a beta stage. The differences from the other games set it apart and I already found a growing fan base that run after dinosaurs shooting darts at all times of the day.
