Recent reviews by Liekeze

Is this a perfect game? No, but very few ever are, and Frontier's dedication to improving this title, which is only just started to slow down as we enter the 5th year of support, has taken this from being a spiritual sequel to Zoo Tycoon 2, to being a true successor and a blueprint for the genre going forward. I cannot recommend this game enough to those that enjoy sitting back after a long day, and just letting creative energy envelop them.

I typically avoid reviewing products in early access, but for this game, I have made an exception, as given the scope of the project and the size of the team working on it, I feel that 7 years is ample time to have created a finished product. I am sad that I am recommending against this game, as it has so much potential, and thanks to some of the best paleoartists around, some of the finest dinosaur models and animations in any game. However, time and again the developers have shown that instead of implementing features that correspond to enhancing the core gameplay loop (or actually implementing a gameplay loop for that matter), they prefer to add what "looks cool" first. This pattern can be observed from the very start of the game's public development 7 years ago, and continues to be the case nearly a decade later despite the majority of the developers having been replaced during that time. Pros and cons below, as there is still good in this game, which just makes the bad hurt so much more.

Pros:
- Top tier model and animation quality. The artists on the team very deeply care about their work, even if the coders and management do not.

Cons:
- Controversy to the moon and back regarding ethics on a variety of levels
- Rabid fanbase that is quick to insult and would seemingly be willing to die for the dev team that couldn't care less if these fans even played the game
- Terrible netcode and optimization that has only become worse since the original releases. Rubberbanding and low frames reign supreme.

TL;DR
Play it if you are happy with the state of the game at the time of your purchase, but don't expect anything to ever change in any meaningful way

As a Jurassic Park fan, I can say that this is the game that I have been waiting 16 years for. Frontier has crafted a game that despite having flaws, returns you to the wonder and fear present in the original films.

Pros:

*A huge selection of dinosaurs, both famous and relatively unheard of, allowing you to create diversely populated parks

*A solid campaign, that with the help of film voice actors, really feels like a television show

*Six base game islands to build on, each providing their own challenges

*Thanks to recent updates, the game has gained a lot of replayablity, with randomized challenge modes and terrain tools presenting you with the opportunity to build unique parks.

Cons:

*Due to the skeletal similarities of many of the animals, the animations and combat of the dinosaurs feels very predictable and lacking in variety

*While some of the dinosaurs have a variety of cosmetic skins, others, including the Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor, are restricted to dull and unimaginative patterns and colors

*For those looking for a classic Jurassic Park experience will not find it here, as all of the UI, buildings, and dinosaur models are based off of the recent Jurassic World films

Overall Opinion:

I would highly recommend this game to both dinosaur and Jurassic Park fans alike, as there are few other games of this quality on the market.

For a game about doing work, this game is surprisingly enjoyable and addictive.

Pros:

*Tons of vehicles (tractors mainly) to choose from, with your choices effecting your overall approach to farming

*A variety of crops that keeps gameplay interesting and diverse

Cons:

*Despite human sprites walking around and cars driving along the roads, the world that you play in feels a little lifeless

Overall Thoughts:

Pick up this game, or its sequel if it's on sale, and enjoy a few days of farming fun.

Ark, oh where do I start. Probably best to start with the pros and cons.

Pros:
1.Huge Variety of animals. Seriously, there are 137 of them in-game right now, with more on the way!

2.Lots of different ways to play. Thanks to the steam workshop, you can spend a life time in this game and never have the same experience twice.

3.Large, frequent updates. While the content in the updates can be unapperciated, the game does still recieve a major game update about once a month. Not many games that I know of can claim that.

Cons:
1.Community. The community is not always behind the steps taken in the devlopment process. Major outbursts of disgust include the release of a well made, paid DLC in early access, and the recent crippling of the flying creatures.

2.Optimization. While the game is in alpha, (despite what some reviews might say), optimization is lacking. However, it was worse, alot worse.

3.Size. The game is huge, almost taking up a whopping 80 gigs of space. Hopefully this will be helped in the upcoming optimization update. (2020 Edit: The game now takes up 312 gigabytes of space with all DLC installed and about 20 non-map mods.)

4.Lack of scientific accuracy. No creature in the game is scientificaly accurate, most being far over or undersized. This is a minor con, and does not significantly affect my opinon of the game.

Overall Opinon: ARK is still evolving. At the time of writing, a final release seems only a few months away. My advice to potential early access buyers is to get the game and dlc bundle when on sale. As for starting off, play single player for a while.Use single player to get accoustomed to the game and the mechanics, then start looking into finding a server, preferably one that you think you would have fun on. Un-officals can have great communitys, while officals are reliable, with some even offering offline raid protection. Single player is where the majority of my hours in-game were spent, only recently did I move to a low population un-offical server.

I recommend this game for any one who loves dinosaurs, and is willing to tolerate a little bit of fantasy. I hope this was helpful to any future buyer.