Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis - Xbox

The usual premise for a Jurassic Park license generally tends to fall into the 'there are loads of escaped dinosaurs and you've got to shoot them all dead' kind of category. This never really does any justice to the context of Michael Crichton's novel as, anyone who has read it will attest, it's all about science, strategy and chaos theory, as opposed to the crowd-pleasing thrills and spills of the silver screen iteration. This latest PC strategy game takes a more appropriate approach to the story, however, appearing in the form of a Theme-Park-style management game.

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis charges players with the task of designing, building and maintaining their very own dino-filled theme park. Paying close attention to Crichton's original scribblings, the game is very intricate and comprehensive, placing players in charge of a great deal of tasks. Throughout the game, players are faced with such assignments as cloning and caring, protecting and rescuing the terrible lizards, as well as the more fundamental jobs involved with most theme games, like construction, financial management and entertaining.

Just like in the film though, containing the blighters in not an easy task, and when you have a breach, all hell breaks loose. The first rule is very important: you have visitors and you have dinosaurs - the two must be kept apart at all times. Try big fences.

In contrast to this world building game, Operation Genesis also contains an assortment of missions designed to test your skills against the awesome powers of nature and its most dominant creatures. Providing a variety of gameplay not normally found in similar strategy games, these 12 missions include such tasks as rescuing stranded park visitors and stopping a dino rampage.

It's this diversity of gameplay that makes this game stand out, combining two distinct styles that are both competent enough to make for great games. more