Frontier’s dinopark-building management sim Jurassic World Evolution launched this morning, I’ll remind you in case the waves of E3 announcements mean you forget games can even come out in 2018. It’s a bit disappointing, our Jurassic World Evolution review will tell you, especially in comparison to Frontier’s Planet Coaster, but you might still fancy it? It does, at the very least, have pretty dinosaurs. Read the rest of this entry »
RPS Feature Confessions of a dinosaur jailer
I’m not proud to admit that I’ve forced dinosaurs to fight to the death in Jurassic World Evolution. What could possibly lead me to do something so horrible to these wonders of science-fiction? Capitalism, of course. I was being paid, and I needed to buy an ugly fast food restaurant. Every ‘Dino Bite’ that my guests have snacked on has been stained with Velociraptor blood. That’s my guarantee.
My sadness and guilt are especially profound because the dinosaurs are one of the few bright spots in this otherwise humdrum theme park management game.
RPS Feature Where's the goat?
Remember the bit in Jurassic Park where John Hammond airlifts a live Ceratosaurus into the food court? No? That’s because it didn’t happen, which was a huge failing of imagination on Spielberg’s part. Hammond was all about show business, after all, and business doesn’t come showier than a dinosaur eating tourists as they exit a burger joint. Obviously, the makers of Jurassic World Evolution don’t encourage you to feed guests to the ‘talent’ – it makes for a doozy of a TripAdvisor write up – but that it’s done with just three mouse clicks suggests they know exactly what they are making.
Back in January, zombie publisher Atari suffered the legal ire of its past-life contractor Frontier Developments over unpaid royalties for 2004’s theme park sim RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.
There’s been no word as yet of how that particular dust – alleged by gossip site TMZ to be worth some $2.2m – settled, but I suspect many of us would raise an eyebrow or six if someone told us that RT3’s sudden removal from Steam and GOG yesterday was merely a coincidence. But, well, it might be.
Read the rest of this entry »
Among the many player-run organizations in sandbox space sim/MMO-lite Elite: Dangerous, few have the glowing reputation of the Fuel Rats: A philanthropic alliance dedicated to rescuing stranded players that have carelessly used up the last of their hyperdrive fuel out on the far fringes of charted space.
Yesterday, it was the Rats’ turn to be rescued, after one of their fueling bases of choice nearly fell under quarantine. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of people willing to lend a hand to these humble heroes of the spacelanes.
After building rollercoasters in Planet Coaster, the next park management game from Frontier Developments will focus on the wildest ride of all: life. Today they announced that Jurassic World Evolution will launch on June 12, days after the next movie comes out. Evolution will have players build their own tropical dinoparks, trying to keep tourists happy so your business turns a profit while keeping dinosaurs happy so they don’t break out and devour tourists. Life, I’m sure Jeff Goldblum will remind us in his role as the in-game advisor, finds a way. For now, have a watch of 20 minutes of gameplay: Read the rest of this entry »
Many of the most impressive player creations in Planet Coaster are based on movies, as Rich McCormick noted in his recent revisit, and they’ll get to be even more impressive now the latest DLC has added a touch of Hollywood. Released today, the ‘Studios Pack’ draws inspiration from movie parks like Universal Studios. It’ll help players build movie sets, backlot tours, and glitzy rides with plenty of special effects, stunts, explosions, sounds effects, and other features that could really jazz up a park.
The paid DLC is accompanied by a free update adding new features for all players, including hotels and path tunnelling. Read the rest of this entry »
RPS Feature Update Night
Update Night is a fortnightly column in which Rich McCormick revisits games to find out whether they’ve been changed for better or worse.
“Your love is like a rollercoaster baby, baby I wanna ride,” the Red Hot Chili Peppers famously sang on their awful song Love Rollercoaster. Unlike the Red Hot Chili Peppers, though, I don’t want to make a Rollercoaster of Love.
I want to make a Rollercoaster of Hate. I want to make something so fast, so rickety, and so nauseating that its riders feel as uneasy as I do when I think about the Red Hot Chili Peppers song Love Rollercoaster. Planet Coaster is largely accommodating of these dark urges. Frontier’s game — the spiritual successor to the glorious Rollercoaster Tycoon series — lets players construct their own coasters, noodling on every twist, turn, and terrifying drop to squeeze the most vomit out of its riders. Read the rest of this entry »
What d’you think the greatest gift of the holidays is? Dinosaurs? I’d say dinosaurs. And so would Frontier, who are making the upcoming dino safari simulator Jurassic World Evolution. We’ve not seen much of the Planet Coaster developer’s pre-historic theme park sim but today they’ve at least narrowed down their release from “Summer” to June 2018 (which makes sense considering the next Jurassic World movie is due out June 22). Alongside this, they’ve revealed that Jeff Goldblum will feature in the game as leathery mathematician Dr Ian Malcolm. But, uh, well there it is. Read the rest of this entry »
Elite Dangerous is now four years old somehow, or five if you count the various betas. In that time, it’s gone from impossible promise (ah, those halcyon 2012 Kickstarter days) to absolute bedrock of modern PC gaming, what with its blend of solo noodling about, lethal PVP sandbox and slow-burn, community-driven storytelling. Whether it’s quite what we expected a new Elite game to be half a decade ago is an enduring question, but by this point it’s very much its own game, including embracing the ‘Seasons’ concept that’s so hot right now (er, again for about five years). Season 3, ‘Beyond‘ is kicking off at the end of this month, with a headline wordcount-challenging update named Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter One.
It introduces a whole mess of changes, including new types of ship and traders, revisions to crime and the punishment thereof and an overhauled mission system.
Read the rest of this entry »
Boldly-going space sim Elite Dangerous is due to start its third season of updates, named Beyond, by the end of March but spacefolks will be able to check it out a bit early. Frontier Developments have announced an open beta test for Beyond: Chapter One will begin on January 25th, inviting all players to check out its additions and kick ’em around to see if they break. New features in it include objective-driven Wing Missions for squads, prettier planets, a new warship, and changes to mission rewards as well as crime and punishment. Oh, and those ↑ alien cuties are coming. Read the rest of this entry »
An explorer in Elite Dangerous who was stranded outside our galaxy has been rescued thanks to a trio of pilots who flew out to refuel her. The rescue mission took days to plan and execute because of the long distances involved. But eventually the explorer, Commander Persera, was returned to the milky way after setting a new record for travelling further from Sol than any other player. Not to mention spending a full week in the void between galaxies.
“It feels like both one of the shortest and longest weeks of my life,” she said. Read the rest of this entry »
An explorer in Elite Dangerous has ventured into the void between galaxies, seeking to break the record for travelling the furthest distance from our own sun. But due to a miscalculation, they’ve run out of the fuel necessary for a return trip and are currently stranded further than any pilot has ever been from civilisation. Now the fuel rats – a collection of players who save player ships from dereliction by refueling them – are mounting an ambitious multi-ship rescue that will take two days to complete. Read the rest of this entry »
Oh dear. A pilot in Elite Dangerous has fallen for a cheeky prank. Commander SpeedyBebop undertook a six-hour journey to Hutton orbital (a remote space station orbiting 0.22 lightyears from its parent star) after hearing that a free Anaconda awaited anyone who travelled there. This is one of the space sim’s most expensive and powerful ships. But when he arrived, he discovered the whole thing was a ruse. There was no Anaconda. And it turns out he’s not the first one to fall for this prank – it has become a running joke among Elite’s pilots. Read the rest of this entry »
To celebrate the one year anniversary of Planet Coaster’s launch, Frontier have put together a massive anniversary update that introduces autumn themes, new rides and coasters, new management features, an extra scenario and a fancy scenario editor. It’s a pretty comprehensive update — expansion-worthy, even — but it’s entirely free. Read the rest of this entry »
RPS Feature Fwoop!
A photon checks into a hotel and the receptionist asks him: “Any luggage, sir?”
“No,” he says, “I’m travelling light.”
This is just one of the jokes pilots were broadcasting over the comms channel as I collected my wages in Grant Dock. There was one joke about the Higgs boson walking into a bar, or maybe it was a synagogue, I don’t remember. All I care about is getting that sweet Palladium money, which I take from the pale-faced man who runs this station. He doesn’t do much, the pale-faced man. Imagine a profile pic stuck on a postbox, with a little slot where money comes out. I prefer the people sounding off in local chat, they’re at least human beings. Not that you’d know it, listening to their jokes.
I load up my spaceship with power generators. It’s good to be back. Read the rest of this entry »
I enjoyed Jurassic World. There, I said it. Apparently I have bad taste, but gosh, I’m a sucker for anything involving dino shenanigans and Chris Pratt. If I had better taste, I’m still pretty certain I’d be looking forward to Jurassic World Evolution [official site], however. Frontier showed off the park management game at their Frontier Expo, letting us watch dinosaurs just hanging out.
You can check out the trailer below, and while it doesn’t show off much, Frontier devs were on hand to explain what you’ll actually do in the game, from picking different development paths to managing disasters inspired by the films.
Things have been hotting up in Elite Dangerous’ [official site] facsimile of our massive galaxy, what with that whole alien invasion problem. But if humanity can survive the Thargoids, there’s a whole lot more coming in 2018 with a new season called Elite Dangerous: Beyond. Frontier announced a roadmap at Frontier Expo, and it looks like they’re going to be cramming a lot into these free updates, including new ships, tools and large group content
The big alien ships of Elite Dangerous [official site] have been eluding, confusing and amusing the space sim’s pilots for a while. But now they will also blow you up, thanks to the most recent patch. The Return (less ominously known as update 2.4) gives weapons to the extraterrestrials in the form of a beautiful swarm of tiny fighters that launch from the rear of the alien vessels and cut any aggressor to ribbons. I’m calling this gang of lethal little fellows “the Thwarm”. Read the rest of this entry »
After yonks of littering space with their garbage and buzzing spaceships while repeating “Is this bugging you? I’m not touching you. Is this bugging you?“, the alien Thargoids will start to arrive properly in Elite Dangerous [official site] this month. Frontier Developments have confirmed that the update bringing them back to the space sim series, version 2.4 aka The Return, will launch on Tuesday, September 26th. It’ll kick off a storyline unfolding over the months to come. For now, check out a Thargoid fight in this new cinematic trailer:
