It absolutely baffles me how some on here seem to be criticising others for going out and sourcing a variety of opinions from different sources and forming their own conclusion, and are being told to buy it to play it for TWO hours and then get a refund, as if that is enough to form a solid opinion on whether the game is shallow and devoid of meaningful gaming content.
The biggest disappointment to me is that they already had Planet Coast as the perfect foundation to modify and improve upon.
- Keep the creative aspect, just tighten it up. Let people put down individual rocks, trees/plants, props, and so on, just strip out the modular building pieces in order to ensure the results stick to how the licensee created them.
- Keep the visitor AI, their wants & needs, their budget, their feedback on everything they like & dislike etc. At least make it seem like they're relevant.
- Improve the park management so its still accessible but isnt shallow. Hire janitors, 'zoo keepers', maintenance folks etc.
About the only feature i feel they've spent a decent amount of time on are some of the research/upgrade type aspects, everything else seems a real let-down from a title they released over 18 months ago.
If you actually look at everything, it has the complexity and interaction you'd expect of a mobile title, and im not being hyperbolic. The management aspects require 2 clicks to do anything. 1 to select them, then 2 send them to do a specific task (fix object/resupply item/heal dino). Everything is built to be extremely simplistic and accessible as if it was a mobile title. Its dumbed down as if its a touch-screen game where it cant do complex interaction.
Frontier have created a [genre] builder game which frankly isnt built to appeal to a significant proportion of that audience. Its an entry into builders, for Jurassic Park fans.
To appeal to most actual [genre] builder communities, there's a couple of specific aspects that need to be done reasonably strongly - simulation/authenticity, AI, management and creativity. You can be weak on 1, but thats about it. Ignore a bunch, and its either a junk game or you were never their target audience.
None of this is to say the game cannot be enjoyed, its just that theres so many alternatives sold at a better price with better features if you're looking for a proper 'builder' (im guessing most of us have them already, which is why this is doubly disappointing). It looks fantastic though, and i'd love to play it for what it is, but it needed to be a better game or a price to reflect its simplicity.
As it is, its still enjoyable enough to watching specific youtubers playing it and enjoy it that way, but i doubt i'll play it unless an library-sharing mate buys it.
