If you're used to playing PC management sims you will find that there aren't nearly as many structures and attractions as in a typical computer game of this type.  You have your basic food kiosks, restaurants, and viewing platforms which seem to be enough to keep the visitors happy.  The focus of the game is on the dinosaurs, and the park is just something that pays the bills so that you can build and watch your dinosaurs.  There's nothing wrong with that as long as that's what you're looking for.

The dinosaur-centric focus of the game is supported by a few of your structures that let you get up close and personal with your thunder lizards.  There is a safari car ride that takes visitors through the dinosaur enclosures and lets you take control of the car if you want.  When you're in control you can take the car off of its designated route and drive around your dinosaurs, even taking digital "snapshots" of them if you'd like.  There is also a balloon ride that gives you a bird's eye view, but you can't control the direction of your ride as with the car.  Finally, you can take the controls of your ranger chopper at any time.  You're restricted to a single elevation, so it works like a floating safari car with the added bonus of allowing you to shoot sick dinos with vaccines or to shoot and kill rampaging carnivores. 

The dinosaurs in the game are all modeled in 3D and look pretty good, with realistic movements and behaviors.  The park structures and island environment are on the bland side, though, which detracts a bit from the dinosaurs.  It also gives each park you build the same look, making the parks devoid of much character.

In addition to the park building the game has a series of missions that fall into two categories: photo shoots and dinosaur hunts.  Photo shoots have you travel through your park with a limited number of exposures for capturing dinosaurs on film.  Your shots are graded on the number of species in the picture, the picture's composition, and whether or not you've already taken a picture of a particular species.  There's a small danger element in that carnivores sometimes attack the vehicle, but for the most part its a game of patiently setting up the right shots.

The hunting missions place the park in disaster mode and put you in a chopper to try and take out rampaging dinos.  These missions are far more challenging than the photo shoots because they put you under a time limit and because it is hard to shoot dinosaurs from a chopper.  There's enough challenge trying to line up a shot from a bobbing helicopter when taking out large carnivores, but it gets downright fiendishly difficult at times to take out a small dinosaur that is darting in and out of the brush.  Take a small rubber ball and toss it against the pavement, start jumping on a trampoline, and then try to hit the ball with a BB gun and you'll get an idea of what it's like.

The biggest problem with the missions is that they alternate between photo shoot and dino hunt, and you must complete a mission before the next is unlocked.  People who like one type of mission but not the other will be very frustrated by this arrangement.  It would have been far better to add separate mission tracks and let people play their choice of one mission type or the other

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 70%.  Not a bad game for really patient people who love dinosaurs.  If you don't fit into those groups then you probably won't like it.

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