Prehistoric Kingdom Review (Your Blind GF)
Prehistoric Kingdom...
*Note: This review is strictly based off of my opinions and experiences with the following game.*
TLDR: I don't want to recommend against this game, but currently, there's just too much wrong with it. Come back after they've patched it more. If you do buy it now, great, I'm sure the devs need support and funding. Just go in with realistic expectations of what you're getting.
I've been watching this game for awhile. As someone who was disappointed by Jurassic World - and absolutely adored and still worships Planet Zoo - I desperately awaited this game to release. And honestly, after finally getting my dino obsessed geek fingers all over it... I have mixed feelings!
What's good?
- The dinosaurs look absolutely STUNNING. I wasn't disappointed visually. Sometimes I just sit and blankly watch the dinosaurs walk around their enclosure. I honestly think some of their models are the best I've seen in the dino genre, especially when you combine them with interesting and appealing skin design. Whoever is doing some of these skins needs a serious raise, because wow.
- The game allows you to switch between biomes at will. You want a desert vibe for your habitat? Just switch over and pick between different sands and rock textures. This is so neat, and something that could potentially add a lot of charm and customization to exhibits.
- Instead of having to place each tree, bush, or flower, they have a brush that auto generates it!
- Pathways aren't complicated, and building pieces can be scaled. If you've played or seen Planet Zoo, you know why this is a massive quality of life feature that makes this game a breathe of fresh air.
So... what's bad?
- This game suffers from one major thing; being yeeted into early access. Yes, yes, everybody knows the risk they take when they support an early access project. Everybody understands what it means. That doesn't take away the slight bewilderment and overall disappointment I feel when I realize that a game got pushed into the market when it's a fraction complete, and could've benefited from having more time. Yes, there's quite a few dinosaurs and mammals in the game. Yes, you can make them habitats and technically create a full size zoo. However, there's a lot of content lacking, and an immense amount of polish missing. Everything I'm about to list is stuff I'm certain will eventually be added or worked on, but just like 99% of early access games, it's a guessing game of, "Hmmm, will this be done in a year? Perhaps five? Ten? Never?":
• The game doesn't run very well on older PCs, and doesn't seem to be optimized yet. If you've got a weak PC, I would hold off on this game for a bit, chief.
• The dinosaurs often lack any sort of personality or behaviors, and mindlessly wander from point A to point B, phasing through their food piles and enrichment toys, and don't have enough animations or AI to be anything more than moving decor. I didn't notice or witness any social hierarchy, territory disputes, etc. I don't even think they have a working guide book yet, because every time I built an enclosure, I'd have to go to my nursery building just to see basic info (such as fence height requirements) for what I was putting inside it.
• While the biomes are really cool, they haven't added in a blending feature, or an auto-paint brush. Kind of annoying, because you just end up with circular patches of different textures that kind of look extremely ugly.
• There's no staff. You have to manage everything yourself, or spam dung beetle colonies that don't even seem to tackle the amount of waste your walking dung factories will cause.
• There's not a lot of props. There's like 3 enrichment items, a handful of walls, some prefab scenery, and that's about it. They need wayyyyy more before building becomes interesting imo.
• If you place a path or certain objects, your undo button completely ignores it. Alternatively, if you undo edited terrain, you have a chain of it glitching and taking out huge chunks of earth.
• Water is... disappointing! You can't make fancy water falls, or really customize much about it period. It's also extremely hard to path around water, and as far as I could tell, I couldn't raise my path to make bridges or platforms.
It feels empty... I have no clue how "finished" this game truly is, but from a player perspective, it feels around the 25% range.
- Guests are entirely broken, to be honest. They often walk in place, spin, or pause before turning around randomly and pacing back and forth. I had to mess with shops to get them to even enter them, and when they finally did, they didn't use any of the seats or furniture, there was no clerk, so they would twitch at the counter before turning around. They would walk across and stand on tables, and there's been multiple times where guests have scaled fences or rock decor and taken leaps of faith into my dino pens, where they casually walk by a herd of prehistoric chickens before phasing through the fence on the other side.
- Glitches. Glitches everywhere.
So, would I suggest buying this game? ... Yes, just not right now. Wait until guests actually interact with whatever they're doing. Wait until the dinosaurs have basic interactions and functions. Wait until it isn't just the bare-bones.