Jurassic World Evolution 3 review – Turn your back on Mother Nature

Jurassic World Evolution 3 is a strategy/simulation game where you build your own Jurassic Park, or in this case, a park/conservation hybrid. Simply put, this is the best Jurassic World Evolution game to date. Everything about this game screams quality, and every aspect of the gameplay has been improved. Jurassic World Evolution 3 truly captures the feeling of pushing nature aside for greed, profits, and scientific understanding. 

I have played every Jurassic World Evolution game, and, for the first time, I am hungry for DLC and updates. This is in large part because of the way the game plays, but also because of the quality of the gameplay mechanics themselves. 

Campaign 

This portion of my review features spoilers. Don’t worry, I won’t ruin the ending or any major story beats. 

The campaign is a must-play for those who are new and also for those who are returning to the series. The reason I say this is that the campaign gets you familiar with all of the game's concepts that are both new and old. It’s a great way to learn how to play the game before diving into challenges and the sandbox. 

Jurassic World Evolution 3 introduces breeding, and boy, do they do it well. You have to have compatible males and females in your enclosure, and you must make sure that you monitor the baby carefully because they have their own needs. The campaign introduces us to this concept in a way that is fluid. As you progress, you’ll learn that one of your species would be happier with male dinosaurs, and that starts the chain reaction of the game, introducing us to the breeding program. Remember to always track your population stats because they can always influence how happy your dinosaurs are. Breeding introduces a variety of new things, too, such as the fact that your pen can become overcrowded if you don’t practice population control. They also change the way that you have to lay out your pen because they can’t reach high foliage, for example. 

The campaign also introduces us to another new feature, where you have to maintain your park's infrastructure. You can assign teams to Maintenance Posts, which will allow them to work within their radius to keep things repaired. You can also take control of the teams and do this manually, which I enjoyed in the campaign occasionally, but would never do long-term. You can also assign medical teams to what are called Ranger Posts, and they will work within the area to keep your dinosaurs happy and healthy. Both of these options took a lot of weight off my shoulders and allowed me to have more fun within the park. 

The writing for the campaign is about what I have come to expect from this series. There are some good moments, but nothing that really made me fall in love with the story. Really, the Campaign feels like an introduction or tutorial so you can get to Challenge mode and Sandbox mode faster. I was never annoyed by this because this time the Campaign feels like it gives you more room to play. You will always have tasks to complete, but I never felt like I was in a rush to jump from one task to the next. The last leg of the campaign has the best writing of any of the three campaigns, at least to me. But I won’t spoil that for you. 

Overall, the campaign does a fantastic job at introducing new and returning players to new gameplay mechanics while managing to keep my attention. I especially appreciate how nice each of the tutorials fits into the campaign as a whole. It never felt like I was playing an extended tutorial.

Creativity Evolved 

Jurassic World Evolution 3 introduces Modular Building (which I suck at, but love doing). This allows you to use pieces to put together buildings. I haven’t gotten the hang of this yet, and it's not for a lack of trying. Building is easy enough; I just haven’t figured out what I want to make. For those who are more creative than me, you will get thousands of pieces to choose from, and yes, you can blend the customization with pieces that are more functional. What I really love about this feature is that you can edit pre-existing buildings. 

The terrain builder, another thing I have to practice with, allows you to make your parks feel a lot more organic and a lot less flat. There is a bit of life that comes with customizing your park this way. When playing Sandbox, you can also use the Island Generator to create your dream island. I have spent far too much time doing this; I just like the tools. They’re stupidly easy to understand and feel fantastic on the PlayStation 5 controller. All of the new creative tools together make it feel like I can finally make my park my own.

Dinosaurs and Management 

The dinosaurs are great, too! Everything from animations to color pallets has been refined. You can view the full dinosaur list here. Note that I am playing the deluxe version and there are some dinosaurs exclusive to this version of the game, such as my new favorite, the Concaven­ator. Each dinosaur and its offspring feel more alive than they ever have. I spent quite a bit of time just watching them exist, and they feel more dynamic than ever before. I especially loved watching the babies get acquainted with the new area. Male and female dinosaurs have distinctions too, some being more notable than others, which I am completely obsessed with. It is also possible to watch two males fight if you have that setting turned on in the Sandbox. Honestly, just watching the dinosaurs exist is gratifying and relaxing in its own way. 

There are also new attractions, too, which I dove into for a little bit. My favorite is the River Ride, but in general, I love the way that water looks in this game, especially with a dinosaur swimming around inside of it. The aquatic life has seen some major upgrades to its animation and fluidity. I love watching the Megalodon eat; it's extremely satisfying to watch it move around its enclosure. I also have to call attention to the hot air balloon attraction, which I found mesmerizing to watch. Attractions feel much easier to set up, too, which I appreciate.

I do wish that the pathing system got more love. Placing paths is easy enough, but it feels “old” and almost outdated. Especially when trying to maneuver the paths up and down the terrain. It’s not difficult to place paths by any means, but the way that it currently works stands out as a negative, especially when compared to how many other features got quality-of-life updates. The terrain is nice and feels a lot more organic, but it still hasn’t reached the point where I would like to see it. Don’t get me wrong, though, I do love what we have, but I think it could’ve been improved just a touch further. Placing foliage could’ve used more love, too. It works, but I would love to have more creative control. 

Final Thoughts

One thing I must call attention to is how slick all of the UI feels. Not only on the main menu but also within each of the game systems. Nothing feels clunky to navigate, and in fact, navigation around every menu feels like a significant improvement from Jurassic World Evolution 2. It feels great on the Dulesense controller.

The music, ambiance, and sound effects are on point. From dinosaurs running through water to the sound of the rain crashing down around them, the sound design is incredibly impressive and immersive.

Sandbox mode is simply put, the best it has ever been in the series. Not only do you have more control over how your game starts, but there are so many options for you to change. For just the dinosaur section alone, there are so many options for you to make your sandbox experience comfortable. On the Gameplay side of things, you can go as far as turning off Expeditions and fossils, and even Contacts. I can’t lose every option, but you get the gist. Each tab offers you full control over every aspect of your park. You can make it as easy or as hard as you want it. For example, I play with low Income Tax, High but not Unlimited Cash, and the Guest Count Target set to Jurassic. There are so many maps to choose from, too. When I am writing a guide, I play on flat maps, but there is a specific map (that I won’t spoil) which I’ve played on that is my favorite map in the whole series so far.

Challenge Mode is back and features 9 different challenge maps for you to choose from. I am completely obsessed with this mode because of its difficulty, though I am still in the process of getting through it. The design, especially for the first three maps, feels fair and challenging. These maps will not ever be a cakewalk, and I am here for it. Even the easy maps still have enough bite to them to keep me focused on beating them.

Jurassic World Evolution 3 feels like a true evolution for the series. Everything from the first and second games is improved upon in a way that feels natural. You can feel the DNA of the last two games coursing through the veins of this entry.