Parkasaurus: Dinoluxe Edition Review

Parkasaurus: Dinoluxe Edition (Switch 2) Review

Plenty of content but light on Switch 2 features.

Parkasaurus was previously released on the original Nintendo Switch back in 2022. At the time, Neal Ronaghan reviewed it and gave it an 8.5. You can find his review here. Now, Parkasaurus has its own dedicated Switch 2 version which includes some bundled in DLC so let’s take a second look at this dinosaur tycoon simulator.

Parkasaurus opens on a short tutorial that does a fairly good job at teaching you the basics you’ll need to manage what are some reasonably deep systems for creating and maintaining your dinosaur zoo. Once the tutorial is over you’re let loose on a remarkably large amount of scenarios and other content especially given the DLC content. I did find that it somewhat left me out to dry on some of the secondary mechanics, so I had to learn the rest through trial and error. If you are familiar with other similar games like Rollercoaster Tycoon or the like, you’ll likely be able to figure it out without too much difficulty, but if you’re new to the genre be ready for a slightly awkward learning curve.

Most of the depth to be found here is in the actual dinosaur management systems. Dinosaurs are hatched by going on digs to recover various elements of dino DNA. Once you have the raw materials you need, you’ll need to terraform an enclosure to properly replicate the desired dinosaur’s environment. This is where I hit an odd technical hitch with the Switch 2 version. Any slight bit of terraforming be it changing elevation or adding water, no matter how big or small, cause a momentary freeze of a few seconds. For one-off adjustments it wasn’t a huge problem but when building the initial enclosures it became very frustrating very quickly.

Parkasaurus adapts its menu-rich, PC focused interface to a controller as best it can. It is a little awkward at times. Details can be difficult to make out when playing in handheld mode and I noticed at least one screen in which text actually expanded beyond the edge of the screen making it illegible. What surprised me is that despite this being a dedicated Switch 2 version, it does not support mouse mode. As we’ve seen in previous top-down PC ports like Shadow Tactics and the aforementioned Rollercoaster Tycoon, mouse mode support can be transformative for the difficulties a game like this faces on a controller. Its absence here is a huge disappointment.

Beyond mild graphical improvements, there isn’t a lot to separate the Switch 2 version of Parkasaurus from the Switch version. Especially given that currently it doesn’t really take advantage of what could be hugely beneficial features of the platform. As is this isn’t necessarily a worse experience than the Switch version and it certainly includes more content, but the lack of meaningful Switch 2 features and performance issues keep this from being as obvious an upgrade as it should be.

Summary

Pros

• Deep tycoon gameplay
• Fun art style
• Tons of content

Cons

• Awkward UI with no support for mouse mode
• Persistent performance issues
• Tutorial may cut off too early for inexperienced players

A review copy was provided by the publisher.

Talkback

Worldwide Releases

Related Content

• Parkasaurus: Dinoluxe Edition [S2]

Got a news tip? Send it in!
Advertisement
Advertisement