The game features a training mode and a mission mode that gives you simple tasks to accomplish. The core gameplay mode however is the open-ended Operation Genesis. You select a randomly generated island and begin building your park from scratch. The goal is to achieve a five-star ranking, officially making your park "the best theme park in the world." Unfortunately, achieving this five-star rating is quite easy. I reached it only a couple hours into my second park. Thankfully, the game allows you to keep playing to further perfect your creation.

Gameplay is generally a bit less hectic than other games of this type. In fact, when you are just beginning a park you may find yourself looking for things to do. Once you establish the main paths and key buildings and research some new technologies, the pace picks up a bit. To spice things up, the 3D engine allows you to experience your attraction from the viewpoint of your guests. You can check out the view from your towers or take a ride on your hot-air balloon tour. You can even drive the safari vehicle to ensure it doesn't get eating by a dinosaur with a bad attitude.

All of the necessary game functions are accessible through the Manager menu. Like most simulation games, learning what menu performs your intended function is a large part of the game. Operation Genesis, however, adds a unique twist that makes menu navigation much easier. You have an e-mail inbox, which all of the dozen park executives will use to communicate with you. You will get loads of e-mails, sometimes far too many, and much of your game time will be spent reading them. The advantage of this system is that when you read an message that describes a problem, or makes a suggestion, you can push the X button to go directly to the applicable menu. This nicely circumvents a lot of tedious menu flipping.

Security is a major issue to consider when building a successful park. Park rangers are responsible for making sure none of the guests get hurt. To help them, you can install security cameras or even machine gun turrets to take out a rampaging dinosaur. This becomes especially important during storms or tornadoes, which can wreak havoc on your restraining walls. Once a dinosaur is loose, you'll have to take flight in a helicopter to tranquilize it or even put it out of its misery.

Keeping your guests happy is the best way to raise your park rating. That means making sure they have bathrooms, eateries, benches to rest on, and ATMs to replenish their pockets with cash. The guests are there to be entertained, so you must make sure they have compelling views of all the dinosaurs. You'll have to cater to all types: Thrill Seekers want to be up-close with the fiercest creatures ever to walk the earth. The Dino-Nerds want the exhibits to be as realistic as possible, mixing only creatures and plants from the same time period. The Mainstream visitor just wants to see his favorite dinosaurs in a safe and clean environment. Finding ways to make all types happy is key to building a profitable enterprise.

Once your park is full of guests, you'll have to work around their less than optimum path-finding routines. Unless every path loops back onto the main path, you'll find a bunch of people never make it much further than the entrance area.

Load times show their ugly face and will become an annoyance on extended play. Every time you access a menu from the Manager menu, there is a two- or three-second load. Now that may not seem like a big deal, but after you deal with it dozens upon dozens of times it begins to be a distraction. It's also worth noting that load times when starting a new game are painfully long. Thankfully you'll only have to deal with that once per sitting.

The visuals can only be described as adequate. Models are a bit blocky and some textures are especially muddy. This is offset by the excellent dinosaur animations. They move realistically enough that you'll definitely want to spend some time watching the first creature you create of each breed. Thankfully the simple models allow you to load your park with scores of creatures while still allowing a smooth frame rate.

Sounds effects are all well-done. Dinosaurs growl and moan realistically. Visitors scream in terror when they are scared. The ambient sound of crickets can be heard at nighttime. All of the music is pulled straight from the films. It's definitely well-orchestrated, but it begins to get tiring after a few hours. A little more variety would have been appreciated.

Operation Genesis is a good game, but ultimately there just isn't enough variety to allow it to reach its full potential. There just aren't enough attractions to research and build, assuring that the limited building set will soon become tiresome. What's here is fun enough to keep you captivated for a couple of days of extended play, but I don't think it'll be enough to keep you coming back. Of course you can always get a few more hours of play by removing all the exits from your park, then deleting those retaining walls. Time to sit back and enjoy some man vs. carnivore chaos.

· · · PBMaX