Jurassic World Evolution 2: Complete Edition Review (Switch 2)

It is hard to imagine a better fit for a real-time-strategy simulator than Jurassic Park. At some point, while watching the films, everyone has thought about how much better they could run the parks than John Hammond, InGen, or any of the other mega corporations that repeat the same dinosaur mistakes time and time again.

Frontier Developments (famous for their Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo series) agreed, and in 2018 it gave players the chance to do just that. While the original Jurassic World Evolution released a couple of years later on the original Nintendo Switch, its two sequels did not. And with the original also being one of the few Switch games unpurchasable on Switch 2 due to compatibility issues, some Nintendo fans felt as though they have been left behind. But seemingly out of nowhere, a 'Complete Edition' of Jurassic World Evolution 2 (yes, not the most recent entry) has been released on Switch 2.

If you have played the original, its sequel will feel very familiar. You are tasked with creating and maintaining dinosaur habitats, operational facilities, and guest amenities. It is more than just creating fences and placing dinosaurs into them; dinosaurs need to be fed, facilities need power grids, and guests need places to spend their hard-earned cash.

The core gameplay in Evolution 2 is largely the same, with a greater emphasis on more. More biomes, more customisation, more buildings, and yes, more dinosaurs. Aquatic dinosaurs, in particular, are the game’s biggest new species variety, which does help spice up enclosure planning and dinosaur care. All of these additions and refinements to the original’s already great gameplay loop make the core experience an easy improvement over Evolution 1.

Gameplay is split between four main modes: campaign, challenge, sandbox, and Chaos Theory. While the game encourages you to start with the main campaign, it is unfortunately the dullest of the four options. The original campaign takes place following the events of 2018’s Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, with several of the series’ cast members reprising their roles for the game. Working with Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, you are tasked with rescuing and caring for wild dinosaurs to protect the public from them (and them from the public).

In reality, despite being advertised as the game’s main campaign, it is little more than a glorified tutorial with a weak and forgettable story. Even new players are likely to feel uninvested, as after an hour or two in each area, they are whisked away to a new location to start from scratch and learn new mechanics. It is understandably hard to become engrossed in what you build when you are forced to leave it behind so quickly. The two additional DLC campaigns (themed after Jurassic World Dominion) do fare better, but the campaign mode is still the weakest of the game’s four offerings.

On the other hand, where it really begins to shine is with Chaos Theory mode, which puts you in control of situations from across the first six films of the franchise. In the Jurassic World option, for example, you help plan the titular resort’s opening before everything goes wrong in the film. In The Lost World, on the other hand, you are preparing the San Diego facility for the arrival of dinosaurs from Isla Sorna.

As someone who has watched every Jurassic Park and World film countless times, this mode is truly the highlight, and easily blows the game’s campaigns out of the water. Not only is it a blast to be at the reins during iconic moments across the series, it is also a much more welcome challenge compared to the ease of the main campaign. Given that Chaos Theory did not return in Jurassic World Evolution 3, this mode alone is enough to justify porting the older entry to Switch 2.

Speaking of the Switch 2 port, the game has largely made the jump intact. Frontier isn’t always known for its polish and visual fidelity, and although some compromises have been made, it is largely a smooth experience. The dinosaurs and environments generally look great up close, but the further you zoom out, the more pop-in and diminished textures you will notice.

Similarly, while the frame rate is largely smooth, in busier areas it can get a bit choppy. These are far from deal-breaking issues, however, and even with them the port is without a doubt an improvement compared to the somewhat lacking Switch 1 version of the original game.

Arguably the biggest missed opportunity of the Switch 2 version is the lack of Joy-Con 2 mouse mode. PC has been the undisputed king of construction and management games thanks in large part to mouse and keyboard input. For some diehard fans of the genre, lacking mouse controls itself is an instant dealbreaker. But with the Switch 2, the combination of mouse controls and portability seemed like a match made in heaven for the genre.

Despite that, Frontier has taken the easy way out by not including mouse controls here, which is a tremendous shame. While the Switch 2 release does include all previously released DLC content (of which there is a lot), it is hard to call this port definitive with such a glaring missed opportunity.