Jurassic World Aftermath Collection Review

April 13, 2023

There are a number of franchises that could make use of virtual reality, and Jurassic World was one that should be a perfect fit. So, it was great to see an experienced VR studio like Coatsink get access to this IP. After skipping the game on the Meta Quest I was certainly interested in checking the collection out on PSVR2, now I have been on Isla Nublar, what did I think?

STORY

In Jurassic World Aftermath you crash land on Isla Nublar after the fall of the Jurassic World theme park. The original idea was to return to the park and recover valuable information that has been left behind, but with the crash landing you have to also work out how to also escape – all while being hunted by some dinosaurs that have been left behind. The question is can you still complete you original mission and escape this nightmare?

GAMEPLAY

The main excitement and the core gameplay comes from the threats that are still on Isla Nublar with you coming across a number of dinosaur species. The main on you will encounter are Velociraptors, which are very cunning, and this has allowed the team at Coatsink to bring an Alien Isolation feel to VR. They have done this by not giving you any weapons, meaning your choices are sneak, hide and distract them as you make you way around the abandoned park. You will know when they are near because you will hear the stomping when they are close, hearing these starts to increase the tension. Then get sported and it gets a red tint, the stomping becomes faster and the tension will raise massively – as you look for somewhere to hide in a panic.

You will also come across Pteranodons, who will hunt you in the dark and you can only hope to spot these in time and scare them off with your flashlight, and it would not be a Jurassic World game if you did not encounter a terrifying T. Rex. Mixing some extra species in with the Velociraptors was a great idea, as it did give you a break from the core gameplay-loop to stop this from becoming stale.

Outside of the killer dinosaurs roaming the theme park, you are going to need to complete objectives around them. These will see you needing to find parts to repair machines, manage the pressure of turbines, access terminals, unlock doors and tune satellites. With accessing the terminals and unlocking doors presenting a number of mini-games in order unlock them – with this introducing Simon says, stopping a line on a visual overlap and turning dials to get the right frequency. These get a lot more intense when you start to hear the foot-steps of the Velociraptors as you are doing these and sets in a panic to try and get them done before being spotted.

These things will all present themselves, as you really try to just get from point A to B carrying out the tasks needed in order to get what you came for.

There is a few issues that I found while playing the game. The first one is that is all seems a little to linear inside the park while following the story and there really isn’t any reason to explore, unless you want to find the six hidden dinosaur plushines around Ilsa Nublar. The second comes more on the immersion side, as someone who has been invested in VR for so long, I like to try and interact with objects in the world and this really offers little in the way on interaction with objects that are not part of your objectives.

PRESENTATION

The team have gone for a cell-shaded look to the game and for me this is something that really works in Virtual Reality if handled correctly – and Jurassic World Aftermath falls into the it works category. All the environments look great in this style and the lighting on the PSVR2 really is fantastic and brings the abandoned park to life. I think another reason I was happy they went with this aesthetic is it sort of removed some of the horror feeling that the game would have had if they went with realistic visuals. Making the game rely more the tension it builds through the gameplay.

Audio is used well to build the atmosphere and create the feeling of it being abandoned with the creeking of the structure, the crumbling walls and hissing of broken pipes. Add to this the noises of the dinosaurs, the stomping foot-steps and things scurrying around and it does build that aforementioned tension perfectly. Then the solid voice acting featuring Laura Bailey and Jeff Goldblum and music being used to set the mood perfectly and it’s very easy to be fully immersed in Jurassic World Aftermath.

COMFORT/CONTROLS

This can be played either seated and standing, as the game does come with a crouch button for getting into areas to hide. They have made the decision to make the game smooth locomotion only for movement – but with how the game plays this makes sense. Taking motion sickness into account Coatsink have included comfort options like vignettes and snap turnng.

Controls have been kept simple and with the nature of the gameplay I think this is a good idea, as the panic can set in when you are spotted. Analogues are used for movement, with L3 being sprint and R3 being used to crouch and ‘Square’ being used to switch between your navigation assit and signal finder tools and ‘X’ activating you VI assist and right trigger activating this – this is a tool that can be used to distract the Velociraptors. When the game requires a flash-light this will activate manually, so no button presses needed here.

The game uses both the haptics in the Sense Controllers and the headset to make you feel each step from the dinosaurs in the game, and in the introduction as the T. Rex stomps around the crash site it instantly set the feeling of what is going on and the dangers around you.

LONGEVITY

When playing the game I wanted to concentrate on the story the game was telling, this means I didn’t really look for the collectibles – even though I found clues on my journey on where to find them. With this in mind just sticking to the story and only having a few deaths throughout my playthrough it still lasted an impressive six-hours. But. will I go back and play it again? Probably not, it just doesn’t offer me enough incentive to return.

REVIEW USING PLAYSTATION VR 2

For the purposes of transparency, this review was created using a review code provided by the company or their respective PR company. The use of a press code does not affect my judgement of the product.

REVIEW OVERVIEW

Jurassic World has been brought into Virtual Reality very well by Coatsink. With the approach of being defenseless and more about hiding, and sneaking about to survive in the ilk of Alien Isolation being perfect for VR. Mixing in other little elements of gameplay to break up the stealth really helped keep the game feeling fresh, although, it is let down a little by the linear design of the world. One thing is does really well is build on the tension created by being hunted, the look of the abandoned theme park with a great use of sound – really making you have a true sense of fear and panic at times. What Aftermath offers is a great game set in the Jurassic World universe, that even those who are not fans of the franchise can enjoy.