Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
PlayStation 2 cover art for Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
Developer(s)	Blue Tongue Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Universal Interactive Konami
Distributor(s)	Sega (Japanese PC Version)
Engine	TOSHI
Platform(s)	PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release date(s)	PC Version JP July 31, 2003 NA March 10, 2003 PAL March 28, 2003 PS2 Version JP October 16, 2003 NA March 25, 2003 PAL March 28, 2003 Xbox Version NA March 26, 2003 PAL March 28, 2003
Genre(s)	Theme Park Simulation
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen
Media/distribution	DVD-ROM (2x), CD-ROM (1x)
System requirements Pentium III, Celeron or AMD Athlon 400mhz or higher 128mb of Ram 700MB Hard Disk Space + 300MB for swap file 16MB 3D Graphics Card (TNT2 or Better)[1]

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (known colloquially as JP:OG or JPOG) is a construction and management simulation video game for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 based on the novel and film series Jurassic Park. The main point of the game is to recreate Jurassic Park - building a 5 star theme park with dinosaurs, and turning John Hammond's dream into reality. In the park, the player builds paths, amenities for visitors such as, food and restrooms, as well as enclosures and attractions. One must also keep the park safe and secure. The park can be populated with up to sixty dinosaurs, with twenty-five different species available. The player can also add attractions similar to those seen in the film, such as the safari seen in the Jurassic Park film, and additional attractions like a balloon tour and several varieties of viewing platform.

Gameplay

The player's main objective is simple: create a theme park/zoo featuring dinosaurs, make it popular, and make it safe. The gameplay functions are very similar to the SimCity and Tycoon game models. It is necessary to build feeding stations where herbivores can get bales of plant feed, while carnivores are fed live cows or goats. However, herbivores become unhappy if they don't have enough trees around them or enough nearby dinosaur friends to socialize with. Likewise, carnivores have an innate desire to hunt other dinosaurs, so even a constant stream of livestock will not keep them happy.^[2]

Players may also create dinosaurs; in order to create a dinosaur, a significant percentage of the particular dinosaur's DNA is needed. Fifty percent (50%) is needed in order to create a dinosaur; the higher the percentage of DNA, the longer that dinosaur will live unless it dies by means other than natural causes (which, in the game, is old age). To gain a dinosaur's DNA, the player must extract it through fossils or amber, higher quality specimens mean that more DNA is extracted.

The player may also dig for fossils using a fossil hunting team to dig in one of the nine dig sites positioned around the world to obtain DNA. There are various dig sites in which the player may search for fossils and each dig site contains fossils from three certain dinosaurs and some of the dinosaurs, like Brachiosaurus, are available in more than one dig site. The chance of finding fossils in the site depends on the quality of the site. There are 6 classifications on the quality of a dig site. These classifications are excellent, good, average, mediocre, poor, and exhausted (exhausted sites are not truly empty, as it is still possible to find fossils, amber and gems there, but findings happen rarely and the fossils and amber are often low quality). More dig teams can be purchased at increasing amounts of money. When a player's dig teams are excavating a site, they occasionally will come across various precious metals and stones which can be sold when collected and can help raise park funds.

Dinosaurs

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis features twenty-five species of dinosaurs, including thirteen that appeared in at least one of the Jurassic Park films. Most of the dinosaurs, however, are based on their look and appearance in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and Jurassic Park III, even if they were in the 1st film. Each species has its own behavior. Each species is ranked using a star rating (1-5) based on their popularity with the virtual visitors, as well as grouped into one of four major categories based on size and diet: (N/A means it wasn't in any of the movies)

Dinosaur	Group	Star rating	Film that the design is based on
Dryosaurus	Small herbivore	1	N/A
Gallimimus	Small herbivore	3	Jurassic Park
Homalocephale	Small herbivore	3	N/A
Kentrosaurus	Small herbivore	2	N/A
Pachycephalosaurus	Small herbivore	2	The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Styracosaurus	Small herbivore	2	N/A
Ankylosaurus	Large herbivore	4	Jurassic Park III
Brachiosaurus	Large herbivore	5	Jurassic Park III
Camarasaurus	Large herbivore	3	N/A
Corythosaurus	Large herbivore	3	Jurassic Park III
Edmontosaurus	Large herbivore	3	N/A
Ouranosaurus	Large herbivore	2	N/A
Parasaurolophus	Large herbivore	3	The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Stegosaurus	Large herbivore	4	The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Torosaurus	Large herbivore	2	N/A
Triceratops	Large herbivore	5	Jurassic Park
Albertosaurus	Small carnivore	3	N/A
Ceratosaurus	Small carnivore	2	Jurassic Park III
Dilophosaurus	Small carnivore	2	Jurassic Park
Velociraptor	Small carnivore	5	Jurassic Park
Acrocanthosaurus	Large carnivore	4	N/A
Allosaurus	Large carnivore	4	N/A
Carcharodontosaurus	Large carnivore	4	N/A
Spinosaurus	Large carnivore	5	Jurassic Park III
Tyrannosaurus	Large carnivore	5	Jurassic Park III

Dinosaur Types

• Small Herbivores

The least popular dinosaurs, ranging from 1-3 stars. They are common prey for predators (especially Dryosaurus, Gallimimus, and Homalocephale, which are defenseless), but Pachycephalosaurus, Styracosaurus, and Kentrosaurus will attack small carnivores with the exception of Albertosaurus, whilst Kentrosaurus can also harm large carnivores by swinging its spiked tail, but at the same time attempts to flee. They like to live in large herds guarded by larger herbivores, but Kentrosaurus is shy and wary of very large herbivores such as the sauropods and especially hadrosaurs in the game, but they like to socialize with Stegosaurus, since both dinosaurs are related.

• Large Herbivores

Medium-popular dinosaurs, ranging from 2-5 stars. They are challenging for small and large carnivores to take down. Parasaurolophus, Corythosaurus, Edmontosaurus, and Ouranosaurus are defenseless, mostly relying on great numbers within their herds and speed. Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and Torosaurus are able to defend themselves by using their tails or horns. Brachiosaurus is the only herbivore that no carnivore can take down due to its large size. Triceratops is unusual because it will rampage when stressed, like the carnivores in the game. All large herbivores can live together peacefully, though Torosaurus and Triceratops will compete with their own kind for dominance.

• Small Carnivores

Small carnivorous dinosaurs that ranges from 2-5 stars. These type of carnivores will attack all kinds of herbivores with the exception of Brachiosaurus, and some of the smaller carnivores will not attack Ankylosaurus. However, the Dilophosaurus (the weakest of the small carnivores) will only attack and kill small herbivores such as Dryosaurus, Homalocephale, and Gallimimus and is unable to take down large or armored small herbivores. The other three carnivores will attack herbivores small and large. The Dilophosaurus can also stay near a Velociraptor pack to scavenge kills, as both species can tolerate each other. Ceratosaurus will become cannibalistic if there is no other food available, and Albertosaurus will take down its own kind if one of them is diseased or sick. The downside of this dinosaur type is that they become easily stressed, an easy choice of prey for large carnivores, and can be killed by aggressive herbivores with just one attack, except for Albertosaurus and Ceratosaurus. Ceratosaurus is the only small carnivore that does not fear Allosaurus. Unlike the other small carnivores, Velociraptor will rampage when stressed, like the large carnivores do. When rampaging, they will kill other Velociraptors, as well as Ceratosaurus and Dilophosaurus.

• Large Carnivores

Large carnivorous dinosaurs are the most popular dinosaurs that ranges from 4-5 stars. These carnivores, like their smaller relatives, will attack most kinds of herbivore, except Brachiosaurus. Usually they will attack their favored prey, if it is available. Large carnivores fight for territory when they meet, and when stressed, tend to rampage. When Spinosaurus challenge other carnivores for territory, they will not run away if they lose, which is why groups of Spinosaurus will tolerate each other. Surprisingly, Carcharodontosaurus, Allosaurus, and Acrocanthosaurus will not fight members of their species unless they're stressed, meaning they can live in groups, although Acrocanthosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus will hunt Allosaurus as food. Also, if a Carcharodontosaurs and Acrocanthosaurus are together, they treat each other with respect and will even share the same kill. Since Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus are the most dangerous and territorial of all the carnivorous dinosaurs, they can only be kept alone, and will kill or fight any other dinosaurs that they see, including their own kind. Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus are also able to do a "Death Duel" against each other, with one of them being killed by the other in the end of the duel.

Scrapped dinosaurs

Compsognathus, a major feature in the franchise is notably absent presumably due to its very small size which would have created tremendous gameplay problems. Other species missing include two that were shown as embryo species in cold storage in the first film; Metriacanthosaurus and Proceratosaurus, and two others from the Jurassic Park films; Mamenchisaurus and Pteranodon were absent, the latter alongside any flying reptiles and aviaries. Plans for marine reptiles also never made it to fruition. Three dinosaurs seen on the park map in the film, Baryonyx, Herrerasaurus, and Segisaurus are also missing, although the first was originally to appear in the game. According to Blue Tongue the game was to originally have 40 dinosaurs, but nearly half were removed in the final version, the scrapped dinosaurs that still have files remaining in the game are:

• Alioramus
• Apatosaurus
• Baryonyx
• Deinonychus
• Diplodocus
• Iguanodon
• Maiasaura
• Ornithomimus
• Panoplosaurus
• Tenontosaurus
• Thescelosaurus
• Wuerhosaurus
• Yangchuanosaurus

A Chasmosaurus model and its animations could have been seen on the now closed Jurassic Park Institute website; it resembled the Torosaurus in the final game, but had a different frill. The skin, model and sounds for the Deinonychus were recycled for Velociraptor in the final game, original plans for the Velociraptor having it be more accurate to the real animal.

Fighting and death duels

Some dinosaurs will sometimes fight each other when they meet. However, all small carnivores, except Dilophosaurus, will attempt to attack herbivores of all kinds, except Ankylosaurus and Brachiosaurus. Certain herbivores can defend themselves, while others rely on their speed and agility, or their safety in numbers to defend themselves. Brachiosaurus is the only dinosaur carnivores will not attack because of its tremendous size. Most of the larger dinosaurs will take several hits before succumbing, while the smaller dinosaurs may be killed by one attack. Large carnivores can swallow a small dinosaur whole, whereas Ceratosaurus, Albertosaurus and large herbivores will only die if they are attacked one or more times, depending on the size.

Showdowns only happen with Pachycephalosaurus and Torosaurus. They sometimes fight each other for dominance, ending with one of the two rivals backing down with no injuries.

Death duels are fights where a Tyrannosaurus and another dinosaur fight dramatically, ending with one killing the other with one blow (in contrast to normal fights where each will usually take several blows before fleeing, dying or counterattacking).

Official Death Duels:

• Tyrannosaurus vs Ankylosaurus
• Tyrannosaurus vs Stegosaurus
• Tyrannosaurus vs Triceratops
• Tyrannosaurus vs Spinosaurus

A Tyrannosaurus vs Velociraptor death duel was scheduled to be in the game, but was disabled, however it can be re-enabled with mods.

Missions

A view of a Carcharodontosaurus from a ranger helicopter

The game has 10 missions the player can complete. In some websites like IGN and Gamespot, early previews indicated that there were originally to be 12 missions. There are about three or four general types of missions, including taking photographs of dinosaurs to try to rack up a certain amount of points from the photos in a Safari mission. Here are all the missions numbered:

1. Jurassic Park is being accused of exhibiting fake dinosaurs and the player must help them prove them wrong by taking pictures of a variety of dinosaurs.
2. The park's carnivores have gone out of control and the player must retire them before time runs out.
3. The player must muster herbivores to the muster area and retire all 4 rampaging Tyrannosaurs (optional) before they kill the herbivores.
4. InGen scientists want to conduct further research into dinosaur behavior in weather conditions. The player will need to take photos of different dinosaurs during a heatwave and a thunderstorm.
5. The president of Dregovia (a fictional country) has arrived at Jurassic Park when a thunderstorm has hit the island. The player must retire all the rampaging carnivores and rescue the president.
6. The Danger Club is willing to donate a large amount of money to Jurassic Park if the player can get them photos of dangerous dinosaurs. For example you need to take a picture of a: Spinosaurus, Velociraptor, Carcharodontosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus doing things that please thrillseekers (i.e. things that are gory, like fighting, hunting or eating).
7. Hammond has been trapped in a visitor shelter surrounded by large carnivores and the player must get a rifle from the ranger station, retire the attacking dinosaurs (optional), rescue Hammond, and drive him to the park entrance.
8. The park's automated hatcheries have gone out of control and the player must destroy the generators and retire all carnivores before the authorities arrive to shut down the park.
9. The player must muster the herbivores through a maze of electric fences filled with dangerous carnivores and into the muster area.
10. Many Jurassic Park visitors have said they would like to see a calendar featuring all of the park's dinosaurs. The player must drive into the park and take photos of dinosaurs that are exhibiting certain behaviors and doing certain actions.

Site B

After all the missions are completed, a Site B option unlocks on the title page which allows the player to build an island without any fences or buildings for people, and no visitors are allowed (meaning no security buildings or ranger stations). Site B was designed to be more like Isla Sorna in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. In it, the player gets to place eight hatcheries and up to sixty dinosaurs (same as the park setting unless modded). The dinosaurs will be created and live out their lives on your island without diseases or the possibility of becoming stressed. Weather is not a factor because you don't really need to protect or nurture the dinosaurs during a heatwave or a tornado; as long as they have food, water and living space, the player can sit back and watch.

Attractions

Attractions help make the park popular, and increase its rating power and income when correctly configured. Attractions must be researched before they can be constructed, and include the Balloon Tour, Safari Adventure and Viewing Dome (The Viewing Vents and Viewing Platforms do not need to be researched.) The Safari Tour and Balloon Tour attractions also allow for the player to "take over" the ride for the purpose of park exploration and photography. The player may also observe the dinosaurs from the Viewing Dome, Viewing Vent, and Viewing Platform by selecting the "View" option after clicking on the building.

Fan Modification

Thanks to the PC version's modular file structure, the game is very easy to modify with nothing more than a regular text editor. It is possible to create almost completely new missions, exercises, dinosaurs, and play options. They can also edit the TML and DDS file to make a different "skin" of the Dinosaurs and Visitors. Most skins are done on Dinosaurs. Most packs and projects include skins.

Thanks to this open ended design, a small community of fans have come together to work to improve realism, unlock unreleased features, and design new things to be included. A group of people have formed the Community Expansion Project and the Genesis Expansion Project, which takes previous modifications, and designs new ones for release in a patch for the overall community. The team's main aim is to recreate the dinosaurs to be as realistic as possible, mainly expanding and creating new behavior.^[3] Two other modification sets are Jurassic Park Legacy's the Film-Canon Mod and Novel-Canon Mod. The "NCM" includes novel-based dinosaur skins and islands. The "FCM" includes film-based dinosaur skins, music, sounds, and islands.^[4]

Reception

Publication	PC	PlayStation 2	Xbox
"Gamerankings"	73%	74%	70%
"Gamespot"	7.2	7.0	7.0
"IGN"	NR	5.9	5.9
"1UP.com"	B+	A	B+
"Metacritic"	72/100	75/100	69/100

See also

• Jurassic Park video games
• Jurassic Park (film)
• Jurassic Park III
• The Lost World

References

1. ^ "System Requirements of Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis". gamescore.com. http://www.gamescore.com/index.php?action=reviews&reviewid=12. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 
2. ^ "Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis Review". GameSpot. March 20, 2003. pp. 2. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/jurassicparkoperationgenesis/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review&page=2. 
3. ^ "Modding Genesis". http://modgenesis.hostingdelivered.com/index.php. 
4. ^ "Jurassic Park Legacy's Film-Canon Mod". http://www.jplegacy.org/home.php?load=games/modding/pcjpogfcm.shtml. 

External links

• Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis on Xbox.com
• Blue Tongue's official website
• Prehistoric Mods