The concept behind
Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is one that, except for the five people who bought
Sim Theme Park, will be alien to most console gamers. The basic premise behind the entire game is to give budding 'John Hammonds' the opportunity to run their own Jurassic Park. Much like similar 'Sim' games found on the PC (such as
SimCity,
SimLife, and
SimEarth), players begin the game with only a few thousand dollars, a plot of land, and a dream. Over the course of the game, players will manage their own park and try to entice visitors to part with their life savings.
One of the more interesting things about Jurassic Park is the amount of freedom the game allows players. You can literally build the park of your dreams - the only trick is building it while keeping both your visitors and attractions content. On the surface this seems like an easy task - but once you delve into the game, you discover that nearly everything has an effect on everything else, making your job that much harder. Before you even begin building your park, you have to find something to put in it. This is accomplished by sending your paleontologists out into the field to collect amber, which as you probably remember, contains dinosaur DNA. This aspect of the game not only provides a catalyst for your park, but it also adds an educational element. Once you have the DNA, it's up to you to build a park that is pleasing to both your dinosaurs and your guests. As it turns out, dinosaurs are much easier to please than humans, but even this comes with its own logistical headaches. For example, let's look at the decision between raising carnivores or herbivores.
Choosing to raise a park full of T-Rexes is sure to pack in large groups of visitors; however feeding time becomes a problem since you can't simply plant trees like you could if you were raising a Brontosaurus. Carnivores require meat - and you have to provide them with it, which brings up another question: Should you allow them to hunt for their food or should you simply tie up a goat and let them find it (like in the movie). Allowing the dinos to hunt for their food is a good way to keep both your dinosaurs and guests happy (after all, who doesn't like a little bloodshed on their family vacation?), but this increases the risk of your attractions getting injured from their food defending themselves. In addition, you also have to raise other dinosaurs for them to hunt, costing you more money. On the other hand, simply feeding the T-Rex is much cheaper, but it will also affect his mental state, and increase the risk of him 'breaking out' of captivity and eating your visitors.
As I mentioned before, humans are much harder to please since you must not only keep them entertained (thus giving your park more money), but also think about their preferences and safety. You'll have to constantly keep an eye on whether or not you have enough food stands, bathrooms, worthwhile exhibits, and most importantly (from a business point of view) gift shops. Nearly every aspect of each of these 'shops' can be tweaked and refined to keep your visitors happy, which in turn translates to a better cash flow for your park. Another big component to keeping your visitors happy is keeping them safe. Failing to provide enough security measures, such as electrical fences and rangers could spell disaster for your park (not to mention your insurance rates).
