Price: Free Score: 9/10 Category: Casual
Prehistoric Park, by developer Gear Games, is a great example of a park building game done the right way. It’s been awhile since park building games were a big deal on desktops, but they’ve experienced a great revival on touch screens over the last few years. Android users are in for a particularly fun experience with Prehistoric Park, which puts a fun twist on the standard park themes.
When you first open Prehistoric Park you may notice a long load time. Luckily this seems to be a one-time issue, as the game takes your first boot as a chance to download additional resources. It would have been nice if something was provided for the user to do while waiting for the download to complete, but it’s not an unbearable amount of time, maybe 45 seconds to a minute, so it’s not a major gripe. In fact, once you get into the game realize how well done Prehistoric Park really is, it makes the wait seem trivial.
The first thing you’re going to notice is how crisp and clear the graphics are, even for a 2D top-down, and that this game looks fresh. The animations for the rides are entertaining and comical, and the ‘Flintstone’-esque styling looks great. Some animations, such as when customers get into a fight, will bring out nostalgic feelings for those users old enough to remember the classic cartoon styling.
It’s easy to tell what your customers are looking for in the park as little thought bubbles appear above their heads to give you a clue. After a few minutes of playing you will have all their needs down to a science, but you’ve got to keep an eye on your money, as it can be very easy to overspend. A face/meter on the upper left corner of the screen lets you know how happy your customers are, and in-turn how good of a job you are doing as the park manager.
There are plenty of staples of the genre present as well, such as picking up trash and adding designing a path structure that optimizes spacing and mobility. Keeping your customers happy is as easy as giving them new rides to enjoy, an easy to navigate park, easy access to food and water, and of course giving them a restroom to relieve themselves.
The music and sounds effects are just as well done as the graphics, and include catchy background music overlaid with sounds and information from your customers and rides. None of it seems particularly repetitive, but you can enjoy the game just as well with the sounds off, and there’s no fear of missing any vital information.
The game also features a quick and easy tutorial when you first start, offering up helpful suggestions at the bottom of the screen. After a few minutes of leveling up you’ll be able to make adjustments to your park without assistance. Keep an eye on the coins above your rides and attractions, that’s how you collect your money to keep upgrading your park.
Overall this is a quality theme park management game, with classic style and great gameplay. Anyone who enjoys strategy games, theme park games, or just leveling up should enjoy Prehistoric Park on their Android devices.
[youtube width=”500″ height=”300″]eiDNLlQxirs[/youtube]
Prehistoric Park is available now in the Google Play Store. It is available for Android devices running 1.6 and up. The version reviewed was 1.0 and the download is 6.6MB. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this Android app review.