Jurassic World Aftermath Collection Switch Review

Handheld dinos.

I don’t see how anyone can grow out of being interested in dinosaurs. They feel like such otherworldly creatures, and yet absolutely set within our planet’s history. In some cases they’re vicious, fierce and terrifyingly huge, while in others they’re slow, calm, and at one with nature – or at least, that’s how we’ve imagined them to be. They cover a spectrum of existence that, to my mind, remains utterly fascinating.

Michael Crichton thought so too, but he probably didn’t imagine that hypothesising that they could be resurrected from mosquitos in trapped amber would spawn one of the biggest film franchises of all time. And when there are films, there are video games. Amongst a spate of recent top-tier Jurassic Park/World games, Aftermath was a terrifying VR sneak ’em up, and now it’s made the jump to regular screens. It’s lost none of that fear in its transition.

Jurassic World Aftermath’s initial calling card is its visuals. Bold comic-book colouring and a realistic solidity mean that it forges a believable setting using far less processing power than many other games. In testing the Switch version, the graphics have gained a higher level of fidelity than they had on the Quest 2, and it looks brilliant in both handheld and docked mode.

You accidentally find yourself stuck in a Jurassic World facility after your plane is brought down by Pteranodons, and you end up skulking around trying to assist Dr Amelia Everett while avoiding becoming a Velociraptor’s lunch. This forms the basis of the entire game, and you have to work your way through the facility by hiding under desks and setting off tannoys to distract the sharp-clawed residents. In VR this made for a tense and often heart-stopping adventure, and the Switch version manages to retain a decent amount of this atmosphere despite the reduction in immersion.

Jurassic World Aftermath on Switch

Jurassic World Aftermath Collection pulls together both parts of the Quest original, meaning that Switch gamers get the full experience straight out of the box while the first players had to wait to complete the narrative. The events fall between Jurassic World and Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, and include some fantastic voice acting from Laura Bailey, BD Wong and the legendary Jeff Goldblum, making it feel like a key part in the Jurassic canon, even if the focus on radio calls and audio logs mean that those characters can feel remote at times.

The shift to the Switch has meant making a mild change to the controls, and though they work relatively well there’s some annoyances like clicking in the right stick to crouch and using the triggers to lean around corners that don’t feel all that natural. Developer Coatsink has done their best here, and it is functional, but it never quite feels right. The physicality and motion controls of playing in virtual reality have a clear advantage.

Another aspect that is essential when playing Aftermath is the use of headphones. Trying to play on a TV or in handheld mode without headphones, the lack of clear directional cues that the audio provides makes the experience far more frustrating, and the raptor’s footsteps simply thump away somewhere nearby rather than giving any true indication of which direction they’re off in. Experience it correctly and the audio really helps to emphasise the tense atmosphere, directly feeding into the obvious anxiety you’d have with the threat of being eaten.

Summary
Jurassic World Aftermath Collection brings the tense experience to Switch mostly intact, but the Quest version - and the upcoming PSVR2 port - remains the best way to play.
Good
  • Excellent visuals
  • Tense atmosphere
  • Part of the Jurassic World canon
Bad
  • Controls aren't intuitive
  • You have to play with headphones
6
Written by
TSA's Reviews Editor - a hoarder of headsets who regularly argues that the Sega Saturn was the best console ever released.