Return to Isla Nublar for the review of Jurassic Park Aftermath, we found ourselves once again treading on the ground of that fantastic and cruel world that for 24 years has been grinding revenue at the cinema, giving some satisfaction even in video games. No wonder, therefore, in the face of the arrival of an incarnation of the series in virtual reality that promises tension in quantity, exploiting the stealth dynamics typical of films to make it the main focus of the experience of this title for the Oculus platform.
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The advantage of virtual reality
Almost entirely molded around size stealth, Jurassic Park Aftermath leverages one of the sequences most common to all the films in the series, the one that sees the protagonists narrowly escape the voracity of the Velociraptors. In this case, however, we are completely alone in the face of predators as lethal as they are intelligent that can concentrate all their ravenous hunger towards us. Fortunately, a voice guides us on the radio, showing us a way to safety through the semi-destroyed buildings of Jurassic Park, now iconic environments although different in this case. They are in fact reinterpreted with a view to a marked cel shading that returns an excellent three-dimensional feeling, but that at first does not seem the most suitable choice to enhance the realism that the experience aspires to.
But the subjective perception has the advantage of changing, in this case thanks to colors and excellent animations that, scene after scene, transform a world at first sight alien into a reality that slowly swallows us, allowing us to fully enjoy an intense atmosphere that represents without doubt the main pillar of the experience. On the other hand we find ourselves alone and unarmed to face some of the most dangerous creatures that have ever lived on our planet, starting from the Pterodactyl that welcomes us on Isla Nublar to get to the T-Rex that certainly cannot be missed in a Jurassic Park. But themain opponent, what chases us for almost the entire game, is the aforementioned Velociraptor who in Aftermath plays the role of the xenomorph of Alien Isolation.
The dynamics, on the other hand, are the same and push us through tunnels and hiding places in order to escape the patrols of enemies from theartificial intelligence non-scripted that enjoy superfine hearing, do not completely erase memory when they lose sight of us and have unpredictable behavior that often manages to surprise. The experience is less complex than that of Alien Isolation and leaves us more loopholes thanks to the large number of hiding places present, but among those that are clearly inspired by the Creative Assembly title it is one of the most successful. The tension is always palpable, the margins of error are few and it is also necessary to be very careful about the force with which a locker is closed, which enhances the virtual interaction.
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A few compromises too many
Unfortunately, not all elements of Jurassic Park Aftermath contribute to enhancing its virtual dimension. Slipping between desks, ducts and more or less large environments, the first thing that becomes evident is the almost total lack of interaction with the game world. There are puzzle which include radios to tune and levers to pull, as well as there are devices to be activated remotely to distract enemies, but from this point of view it would have been much more engaging and credible to be able to grab and throw objects, as happens in countless other stealth titles . Furthermore, the gory scenes are hidden from view and this subtracts a key component of the franchise from a title that by the way is certainly not designed for children. The suggestion, however, holds up well, even if put to the test by the repetitiveness of the stealth dynamics that often put us in situations that are all too similar to each other. At first, so to speak, the escape from the Velociraptors has all the intensity of the cinematic Jurassic Park, but at the end you have the feeling of having seen that film too many times.
In the middle of the adventure, it must be said, there is a sequence that changes the pace and which is decidedly effective, but it is not enough to avoid a feeling of repetitiveness that is out of place in a title whose duration is around four hours, even when dying many times. Definitely not much, even considering that it is half the adventure and that it has a price of 21.99 euros. We must take into account the fact that in 2021 the second half of the game will be released in the form of DLC, but for now we are in our hands another virtual experience with great potential that sins in terms of duration, suffers a few too many shortcomings and is rather trivial from the plot point of view.
We know that developing a virtual reality game requires more effort in front of a still limited audience, but with titles like Jurassic Park Aftermath it seems that developers are leaning too much on the wonder effect of virtual reality, sacrificing the other aspects excessively. In this case, however, the compromise linked to graphic design it makes sense. On the one hand, we have said it, the cel shading technique has limits which in this case are magnified by a general lack of detail, evident where some objects are not even modeled three-dimensionally, but once you get used to it everything works properly and requires minimal hardware resources, which is very useful for ensuring full fluidity and extremely fast loading in the case of a title designed to run exclusively on Oculus Quest headsets.
Furthermore the I share audio is excellent and it is both in the English dialogues that guide us towards salvation, and in the music that takes up the theme of the soundtrack of the series, also useful for maintaining the atmosphere and involvement that, we repeat, are the pillars of a title that does not shine for interaction with the game world, making it unnecessary to play in the roomscale mode. Indeed, the view on the ground is very low, like the very few options dedicated to the accessibility of VR, they encourage you to play seated, thus also reducing a sense of vertigo that in Jurassic Park we felt more strongly than other comparable titles.
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