Jurassic World Evolution 2: Dominion Biosyn improves but doesn’t change the original gameplay.
Jurassic World Evolution 2: Dominion Biosyn is an expansion to the simulation game Jurassic World Evolution and requires the main game. The expansion DLC is once again made by Frontier Developers. Dominion Biosyn is directly tied to the theatrical film Jurassic World Dominion. Biosyn was the leading rival company to John Hammond’s InGen.
A recapping of past events highlights Lew Dodgson’s secret meeting with InGen’s Dennis Nedry; the dinosaur embryos are hidden in a Barbasol shaving cream can, and how they were lost in the chaos. Now, after decades of setbacks, both Dodgson and Biosyn are ready to make their park.
Dominion Biosyn adds a few new destinations for a free-play sandbox mode. This includes the lush Biosyn Sanctuary and the frozen Sierra Nevada. Each map has a unique set of trees, rocks, and other terrain designs – though, in Serra Nevada’s case, these are remixes of designs from the base game rather than entirely new assets. Players can further customize their world with cosmetic structures featuring Biosyn logos and other motifs from the Jurassic World Dominion film.
Most importantly, Dominion Biosyn adds new structures that alter gameplay. All Biosyn set structures have the same functionality as the Department of Fish and Wildlife ones from the original campaign. However, instead of roads, all Biosyn buildings connect via the Hyperloop.
This underground subway allows workers and supplies to move without interfering with the surface. One caveat is that the rails of the Hyperloop must meet a minimum length and angle requirement, making building placement particularly important.
The Research Outpost viewing tower is another new Biosyn creation. It allows guests to observe dinosaurs at various height levels from the convenience of one building. However, the Biosyn set is overall guest-unfriendly, lacking hotels, restaurants, and restrooms. Players will need to mix and match from either the Jurassic World, Jurassic Park, or DFW sets to make a fully functioning park.
New dinosaurs can now be bred and added to parks in sandbox mode. This includes the birdlike Pyroraptor, the clawed Therizinosaurus, the finned Dimetrodon, and the flying Quetzalcoatlus. Other base game dinosaurs also receive new skins and cosmetics to make them appear more in line with their Jurassic World Dominion aesthetics. Players can also wrangle dinosaurs with a new invisible fence, though it still requires a constant power source to prevent escape.
Dominion Biosyn wraps up these new features in the stand-alone campaign mode. This is recommended for seasoned players who have first completed the Department of Fish and Wildlife campaign and have possibly completed several sandbox trials.
The campaign gets off to a strong start, providing players with nearly $15 million to begin building a functioning park. As the expectation is that players will have already beaten the base game, there is little to no tutorial. Instead, key objectives will be presented, such as establishing a headquarters and connecting all buildings to a power supply.
Once facilities are set in, players will need to select and manage a set of dinosaurs of their choice. As with the first campaign, hunger and illness will be the primary concerns. This means the good placement of both food and medicine, along with treatment facilities.
Once all objectives are cleared, an outro will play featuring the main characters of Jurassic World Dominion. In all, the campaign will last around three to four hours. One should remember that DFW and Dominion Biosyn are entirely stand-alone and do not affect each other. It would have been great to use the new features to enhance the older campaign, but this is impossible.
Dominion Biosyn also adds a new chaos theory starring main heroes Owen Grady and Claire Dearing. They aim to protect a herd of crest-headed Parasaurolophus from poachers in the Sierra Nevada. The AI of these foes isn’t very smart, and there is typically ample time to either prevent any captures or quickly rescue lost dinosaurs. After fending off the initial enemies, Grady will still need to turn the location into a five-star resort. This includes maintaining sufficient funds and space for hotels and restaurants.
The voice acting in Dominion Biosyn is surprisingly shoddy. Bryce Dallas Howard reprises her role as Claire Dearing, but almost always sounds tired and unmotivated. Laura Dern and Sam Neill are much more convincing than Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant.
However, they are featured in only a few scenes of the game. Chris Pratt did not return to play Owen Grady. Instead, AJ LoCascio takes on the role and attempts a rather unconvincing impression of Pratt during the entire chaos theory mode.
Dominion Biosyn retains the same excellent performance as the original Jurassic World Evolution. Load times are extremely fast, featuring amazing animations and high-quality graphics. Most dinosaurs look tremendous and accurate with their default skins. Many of the other cosmetics are a bit tacky, but there is no obligation to switch to them.
The features of Dominion Biosyn are very engaging for sandbox mode, but it is disappointing that there is no further mixing with the base game or other DLC packs. There could have been great replay value in utilizing the new buildings in the DFW campaign, other Chaos Theory modes, or some involvement in challenge maps. If Frontier Developers does not add such a feature, a fan mod may eventually be created.
In all, Jurassic World Evolution 2: Dominion Biosyn boasts some great new features, including interconnected buildings and ferocious dinosaur species. Its tie-in to the Jurassic World Dominion film is rather flimsy and sometimes takes away from the immersion.
Finally, at the current price of $19.99, the price still might be a bit high for those who are not diehard fans of the franchise. For most, it may be a good idea to hold off until the first sale or consider one of the premium DLC bundles.
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