REVIEW: Jurassic World Alive – There’s a dinosaur near you

Bishoy Bassilious
EDITORS' PICKSEntertainmentGAMING

Dinosaurs rule the earth once again following the release of the augmented reality mobile game Jurassic World Alive.


Two years after Niantic broke new ground by releasing the still-popular augmented reality mobile game Pokemon Go, film studio Universal Pictures teamed up with video game developer Ludia to unveil a brand new AR game.

Launched worldwide on May 30, ahead of the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, players can collect over 150 dinosaurs, and interact with them while exploring the real world thanks to Google Maps’ AR technology.

According to American technology-news website VentureBeat, the app has hit more than nine million downloads as of July 20.

This is Ludia’s second Jurassic World game, after releasing one in 2015 – the year the franchise was rebooted.

According to data from mobile app market analysis firm Sensor Tower, Jurassic World Alive appeared to garner USD $3 million and $5 million respectively from App Store and Google Play Store downloads – and in-game purchases – last month.

Another mobile game data analyst company, Think Gaming, currently ranks JWA in the top-100 most played games for both iOS and Android users.

In a survey of Australian JWA players, Hatch found the majority are between 25 and 34 years old – meaning they grew up watching the original Jurassic Park film franchise.

This was also evident when asked how they got into augmented reality games. Half responded saying it was thanks to Pokemon Go, while 35 per cent credited the movies for their current interest in the game.

The augmented reality scene will continue to grow in 2018 with at least another two mobile games scheduled for released later this year.

According to video game and entertainment media company IGN, a demo version of Ghostbusters World was made available at San Diego Comic-Con on July 19 – 22. Based on the popular science fiction movies of the same name, players can use proton packs to blast ghosts and catch them. It is being developed by Korean mobile game design company 4:33 Creative Lab. 

Popular U.S. television show The Walking Dead has already become a player in AR gaming, with publisher Next Games launching The Walking Dead: Our World earlier this month.

Niantic is also set to continue its dominance in the industry, with Harry Potter: Wizards Unite perhaps the most anticipated AR game of the year. After news Pokemon Go recently reached over 800 million downloads, and USD $1.8 billion in revenue, there is no word yet on an exact launch date. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald arrives in theatres on November 16, and the game is widely expected to coincide with that. But before thousands of wizards show Muggles how magic is done, head outside for a chance to be face-to-face with dinosaurs in a meeting tens of millions of years in the making.

– Bishoy Bassilious

Feature image: Ludia