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Review: Jurassic Park 3: Park Builder

© Gregor Simeonov

Features
Multiple buildings
140 dinosaurs
Multiplayer DNA exchange mode
Battery save
Level of difficulty: Medium

The Game Jurassic Park 3, the movie, was not very successful. Why the people behind the license decided to make three Game Boy Advance titles about it is a mystery, but Park Builder is a pretty fun and original game, that could've used some touchups.
Jurassic Park 3: DNA Factor for GBA was not a very big success. Thankfully, Park Builder has a completely different style of gaming that works out quite well on the GBA. Park Builder is a simulation game in which your goal is to construct the ultimate Jurassic Theme Park. To do so, you will have to provide your visitors with food, a place to rest, transportation, souvenirs, and of course, a multitude of dinosaurs. By doing all of this, you have to stay on budget or make a profit, which is the real challenge. What makes this game so versatile is the fact that there is plenty to do, all at once, like: managing entry fees and facility prices, advertising the park managing buses, dinosaur cages, dinosaurs themselves, excavation teams that gather dino DNA, all in goal of keeping your visitors happy. There is a total of 140 different dinosaurs to create and give a home to in your park. What stinks about this feature is that all dino data is lost when you start a new park, so you have to start from scratch, and there is only one save slot. The game is really something original for a portable game system and it feels somewhat like one of the popular SIM Pc games. However, the developers should have provided the player with more than one map. At least the entrance of the island should have been placed at random, but no, it's the same deal every game. There is a multiplayer mode, yet very weak, that lets two players exchange DNA to complete their "Dino-Dex".

Graphics Park Builder has some typical 16-bit graphics, so its not used to its fullest on the 32-bit GBA. The buildings, roads and overhead dinos are drawn clearly, but more detail could always help. You won't find a hard time viewing the visitors opinions either, since huge smiley or sad faces appear over their heads. Also, the dinosaur portraits are done with photo image quality, but those are the only top notch graphics in the game.

Sound As for sound, this game really fails. I wasn't sure of what to expect, but I feel there could've been more done. For example, 75% of the game takes place in the overhead mode, while you watch your visitors travel around your theme park. However, there are literally no sound effect in this mode, besides a single elevator-music tune that repeats the whole time. It would have been nice if you could here crowd noises, dinosaur roars, bus honks or anything that would liven up the mood.

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