Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis

Well, It had to happen.The only surprise is how long it's taken for the ultimate theme park movie to be converted into a Theme Park style game. And while Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis was never going to possess the awe-inspiring thrill of the film, fans will be pleased to hear it still carries a reasonable bite.

Love Thy Neighbour

Caring for your dinosaurs is no easy task and there are plenty of factors to consider. You don't have to be a paleontologist to succeed, but a degree of common sense helps. First things first - food. Feeding modem ferns to a 200 million-year-old creature is a definite no-no. Watching your prize Stegosaurus slip into a coma because she's scoffed the wrong grass is not the prettiest of sights for the guests.

Getting the right blend of 'cell' mates is also crucial. Housing a bunch of hungry Velociraptors with a herd of small herbivores is not a good idea. True, the gathered crowds enjoy the bloody spectacle, but after a while, having to constantly replace your mangled grazers can seriously eat into your park's cash reserves. Guests also want to see different types of beast. So, although it's tempting to cater for the thrill seekers by exhibiting nothing but ferocious carnivores.

the huge herbivorous Brachiosaurus devouring tree-tops, and the small but funloving Gallimimus flocking across the plains. To develop a truly magnificent park you need as wide a variety of dinosaurs as possible. Thankfully, with 25 different species from four Mesozoic periods to choose from, that's not a difficult proposition to fulfil.

Amber Nectar

One of the game's better features is the ability to send experts on fossil hunts to extract DNA from amber and bones to breed new dinosaurs. It's a novel concept and it adds to the whole Jurassic Park vibe. There are also 12 set missions that include oddities such as going on safari to take good quality' photos of dinosaurs. At least it makes a change from the usual drab holiday snaps.

Otherwise, the you also have to think about those who want more wondrous gameplay is what you would expect from a Rollercoaster Tycoon/Theme Park clone; you charge for entry into the park, charge for standing on viewing platforms, charge for souvenirs, charge for burgers - you know the drill. The more money you have, the more fossils you can excavate (or buy at the fossil market) and the more dinosaurs you can proudly show off.

Overall, Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is a good representation of its genre and certainly highly enjoyable until you've hatched every dinosaur, cured every dino-disease and tackled every other challenge the game throws at you (such as typhoons, heatwaves and breakouts). But after that, like so many other games of this type you're left wondering, OK, what now?"