Review: Parkasaurus (PC)

 Good evening everyone!  I hope you've all had a lovely weekend and your day has been going well so far.  I've spent my weekend playing the Shadowlands Beta and retail World of Warcraft with a little bit of Portal Knights sprinkled in.  I have decided to start this week off with a review for Parkasaurus.

This is a game that has popped up in the recommended tab on Steam for some time but due playing Jurassic World Evolution, I wasn't quite in the mood to pick up another dino builder.  After seeing some notifications that the game came out of early access, it caught enough of my attention for me to check out some videos and see if this is a game i'd like.  The game looked like a lot of fun and very cute so I decided to give this one a try.  Let's get on with the review!

Parkasaurus is a dinosaur themed park management game where the player is tasked with creating an exciting park experience for their visitors while ensuring that the park is making a profit and all of the dinosaurs are well taken care of.  The story is very basic and by no means the man highlight of the game, some dinosaurs crash landing on earth and teaching humans how to make the perfect dinosaur parks so they can return home.

Image from my Steam Library, the one achievement I miss appears to be bugged

It can be a bit daunting jumping in to a new management game, having to learn how it works and navigating the menus.  Parkasaurus does a great job of easing the player in gently via the campaign mode as each level is broken down in to small learning experiences to get you started.  Within the first hour of playing you will be able to navigate all of the menus and start building parks with ease.  The campaign mode features a talent tree that offer various perks such as giving visitors increased movement speed at night, making them spend more.  You gain points by making progress in a campaign level, think of the usual star system that is active in most park/zoo builders.

Image showing the campaign mode world map as well as the perks you can unlock on the side

Each level gives the player different items to play with such as fences, buildings and dinosaurs.  You can unlock more by gathering hearts, science points and sending your team out to find fossils.  Hearts are gathered at the end of the day based on how many dinosaurs you have and their happiness level.  Science points can be collected by hiring a scientist and building them a work station to generate points.  Both of these currencies unlock decorations for your park, new buildings, fences and enrichment items for enclosures and some funky hats for your dinosaurs to wear.  

To unlock new dinosaurs, you need to find fossils.  Having 4 members of staff before doing this will give you more moves on the grid.  The mini game plays like minesweeper with no major risk other than losing the fossil if you accidentally click on a piece that has already been discovered.  Each dinosaur has a specific number of fossils it needs before you can get an egg so you may need to go to a few dig sites.

Digging up some fossils to add some new dinosaurs to the park

Even though the game has left early access, there are still some issues that need ironed out.  I had quite a few instances of staff being unable to reach a food dispenser in an enclosure and visitors not using paths to go further in to a large park even though there are enough rest stops and enclosures to visit.

One of the later campaign levels, I done a full rebuild and was rather happy with how things looked

In terms of overall gameplay, it is definitely a simplified version of other management builders out there and is a family friendly game.  The learning curve is small with enough objects and dinosaur breeds to allow you to make some big parks with lots to see and a lot of shops and decorations.  It is not challenging by any means so if you are looking for a challenge, this may not be the game for you.  I found Parkasaurus very fun and relaxing to play.

What rating would I give Parkasaurus? 8/10

I hope you've all enjoyed my Parkasaurus review and may be tempted to give the game a try.  I would definitely recommend this to anyone that is looking for something new to play as it will not dent your wallet and quite an enjoyable game.  

I am still waiting for a team that will make a pet shop game, could it be the creators of Parkasaurus or Megaquarium who deliver this dream?  Someone please make a good one!

Have a lovely evening everyone, i'll see you all on my next post.