When I was a kid, dinosaurs were big, brown, and probably a bunch of white bones in the natural history museum. Then things progressed – I guess, science and archaeology happened? – and new discoveries were made, the thinking changed, and in the midst of all this Steven Spielberg decided to make a little film called Jurassic Park. As science and cinema got ever closer in the last few decades, we’ve treated to a whole host of prehistoric revelations, the most recent of which has led to dinosaurs suddenly sprouting feathers from their leathery hides. These fine and feathered friends(?) are front and centre in the Jurassic World Evolution 2: Feathered Species DLC.
You’re getting four new dinosaurs in this DLC pack, and, if the title alone didn’t make things clear, they’re all of the feathery, or at least fluffy variety. The first, Yutyrannus, ‘the feathered tyrant’, looks like a furry T-Rex. There’s not much else you can say except that. It’s an awesome-looking model that’s slightly smaller than an Allosaurus, and there’s an incredible amount of detail including some impressive head crests. The sense of weight to their movements, their sweeping elegant tail and the unique animations that bring them to life continue to make Jurassic World Evolution 2 one of, if not the, best-looking park builders of all time.
Second, there’s the Jeholopterus. This is a flying creature, and it’s somewhere between a giant bat and a giant butterfly. Most importantly, it’s ridiculously cute, and it brings with it another new addition in the form of the Insectivore Feeder, which Frontier has had to include so it actually has something to eat. It seems to be full of mouldy fruit which attracts a host of bugs for the Jeholopterus to munch on, and you can see them floating off and around the ground-based feeder.
It’s funny how adding feathers and fluff rather than leathery skin suddenly makes everything cuddlier, and that’s undoubtedly the case with the Sinosauropteryx. This social group-loving Compsognathid is, like the others in its genome-type, pretty tiny, but they’re able to be seen from a much longer distance thanks to their squirrel-like furry tails. Cabot Finch, annoying park manager extraordinaire, returns here to warn you about not treating them like plushies to take home, but I’d be willing to give it a shot.
The fourth and final new dinosaur is the Deinocheirus. It’s a giant ostrich-like creature, which looks a little like a dino-platypus, and just like the others in this DLC pack it is decidedly more loveable than its featherless compatriots. It’s an omnivore, it loves water, and it’s also the joint most dangerous plant eater in the game. As these guys stomped out of the hatchery there were genuine cries of delight from me and my son, and they might actually be our favourite of the four new species here.
Alongside the four new creature types, Update 6 is launching at the same time as a free addition for all players. It brings some tweaks and additions to both the gameplay and the Sandbox mode, including the ability to create huge square maps in a variety of biomes. These give you pretty much all the space you could ever need to craft the amusement park/death and mayhem factory of your dreams. I can see players absolutely loving this increase in space.
There’s also two new viewing stations, the tree trunk and the dome, both of which can operate independently within an enclosure. They’re linked to the outside by underground tunnels so you pop the entrance somewhere convenient while your guests can get closer than ever to the wildlife. These both look very cool indeed, and add a new flavour to your park designs.
Jurassic World Evolution 2: Feathered Species Pack brings four new unmissable additions to the Evolution 2 formula, while Frontiers’ continued updates make this an ever more exciting and involving park builder.
