Jurassic World Aftermath Collection

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Leaping like a raptor onto its prey, Jurassic World Aftermath Collection is out now on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Developed by Coatsink and published by both Coatsink and Thunderful, just how would this original Oculus Quest VR Jurassic World game play out on console?

“What Fools We Were, Trying To Run Before We’d Learned To Walk.”

Set between Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, you find yourself literally crash-landing onto Isla Nublar in the Aftermath Collection. With your original mission to grab some priceless information in tatters, you now find yourself trapped at the abandoned research facility that is patrolled by a whole host of roaming dinosaurs. Can I escape?

Gameplay

In a nutshell, Jurassic World Aftermath Collection is a single-player game that contains a mixture of stealth, puzzle solving and moving like the clappers in order to avoid being eaten. Think of it as a dinosaur-infested Metal Gear Solid with Spider-Man-style puzzles.

Control-wise you have a handy sprint button (you will need this however it’s not always the best method) along with the standard movement and interaction buttons. I enjoyed the idea of being able to lean around corners using the bumper buttons, although at times I did want to regret my actions in doing so!

You play as a character called Sam who is a professional smuggler and security expert. All of the action is captured through his eyes in a first-person perspective. Throughout the game, you are guided by Mia Everett, a park geneticist who is hunkered down in a ranger tower with a broken leg following the plane crash. Mia drives the story along and gives real-time hints and objectives as she sees through your shoulder cam. I found that as you get further into Aftermath, the background of Mia’s past and motivation for the smuggling run becomes clear as well as the conflict she is facing between her own personal glory and humanitarianism. With interactions from Dr. Henry Wu and Dr. Ian Malcolm, I enjoyed how fluently key items were revealed as you came across certain objects and environments within the game. Can Mia be trusted?

As Mia guides you around the facility it does not take you long to establish that you are not alone. With the thuds of raptors as well as other dinos such as T-rex’s nearby, you need to keep your wits around you and always be wary of your hiding spots within each room. So many times I got caught out as I flapped like a chicken trying to escape the clutches of the very fast-moving raptor! Hiding in lockers is your best bet however this only delays the inevitable unless you can cause a distraction. Thankfully you have a piece of equipment called the Virtual Interface Assist that can do such a thing. Very soon you start to set off radios and speakers in order to have the raptor wander elsewhere so that you can move to the next “safe” place in the room. Imagine the scene in Jurassic Park where the kids are trying to move around the kitchen…that is how it feels. Should the screen turn red then you have been seen and you have around 3 seconds to get to safety, not long at all! Should you die then you go back to the last checkpoint.

Puzzling

When it comes to puzzles there is a good blend of mechanics in play. While unlocking doors using pattern combinations, numerical codes and stopping a moving bar at the right time is good fun, you would be forgiven if you thought that it would always be this easy.

One of the tasks I came across early on was to sort out an antenna signal and to do this you needed to align a waveform, not too dissimilar to how you achieve it in Spider-Man. Sorting out the frequency with one stick and the amplitude on another, all seemed ok. That was until you hear the clump, clump, clump of a raptor. Yep, you guessed it, the raptors hear the interaction sounds you create and come quickly to see what is going on! Rapidly taking cover you realise that setting these 3 devices is going to be a tricky affair, especially when at times you lose sight of where the raptor is. Hiding under a desk is useless as you will be eaten!

I have not played a game as tense and as frustrating at times as Jurassic World Aftermath Collection for a long while. It really sucked you into the situations and I realised at times that I was holding my breath in real life patiently waiting a dino to leave where I was hiding alone! I tended to not dwell in one location for too long however through exploration you will find alternative routes at times as well as hidden collectibles and secret information.

Graphics & Audio

I loved the graphics in the Aftermath Collection. It reminded me of one of my favourite games XIII along with Borderlands in that the artwork looked all hand drawn in a comic book cel-shaded style. While there is not really much gore, the terror and fear you encounter comes down to the simple audio of snarls and the thuds of dinos getting closer as the volume increases. The game is fully voiced and features the legendary Jeff Goldblum and BD Wong as well as Laura Bailey from The Last of Us: Part II as Mia.

Longevity

Jurassic World Aftermath Collection is unsurprisingly not that long, even with both of the parts contained within it. With up to 8 hours of gameplay depending on whether you go all out to find all of the collectibles and secrets, you probably are not going to really pick it up again for another play though for a while.

Final Thoughts

Having been a VR port to Nintendo Switch, I found Jurassic World Aftermath Collection to play ok. The were times whereby I could see how the VR experience would have made the gameplay probably feel a lot smoother and less clunky. That said the puzzles were achievable. For me, it was more the quick pressing of buttons as you try and hide inside a locker and shut the door again where it sometimes went wrong! Probably my age. I have played some VR ports to console before and you can tell that something is off with the way it feels. Aftermath did not leave me with that feeling thankfully.

If you want to play a challenging game that combines puzzles, stealth and the lore of Jurassic World then this is for you.

I award Jurassic World Aftermath Collection the Thumb Culture Gold Award!

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

About Author

Jason

Atari ST, PC & PS5 Gamer, Father and Rock legend.
Usually bouncing around between Pinball, Call of Duty and Fortnite when not gigging or taking part in Dad duties!
PSN: Psycho_sparky

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