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Jurassic GO: Dinosaur Snap Adventure review - Pokemon Snap with dinosaurs

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Jurassic GO: Dinosaur Snap Adventure review - Pokemon Snap with dinosaurs

Do you think dinosaurs are cute?

If you instinctively yelled "no, their massive scary mouths gleam with jagged horrors!" then I can understand why. I was once like you.

But then I played Jurassic GO - Dinosaur Snap Adventure. And once you've taken candid photographs of a Triceratops with little birds perched on its horns, or a family of smiling Ankylosauruses, it's hard to see them as anything other than big ol' prehistoric cuties.

Let's first provide some background. You may remember Snapimals, a game about taking photos of adorable animals that launched late last year. Jurassic GO is by the same developer, Bebopbee, and features very similar gameplay.

The key difference is that this is premium, rather than free to play like Snapimals, and therefore is able to really focus on the photography gameplay without worrying about monetisation.

Eyes on the prize

The premise is simple: you're guided on rails through various environments, tasked only with snapping the best shots you can of the dinosaurs around you.

You're given a limit of five photographs in each stage, of which you select the three best to submit. Each is then awarded a mark out of ten, based on the framing of the shot and the rarity of the scenario it captures.

The primary objective is to display your photographs at the museum of a jovial Captain, completing the exhibit by capturing all the required combinations of dinosaur species and scenario.

It may be simple, but there's a real sense of discovery here as dinosaurs behave slightly differently each time you return to an area.

Some particularly photogenic beasts will put it on a plate for you, such as one playful pair of Triceratops' playing Pat-a-Cake, whereas others are slightly harder to come by.

The perfect shot

Some moments require more than just a keen eye to trigger them, too.

Some dinosaurs are stirred to action by the sound of a harmonica, while others can be manipulated by chucking some balls around.

The best thing is that exactly how these work is left unexplained, while many dinosaurs do not react at all, letting you figure it out for yourself through trial and error.

There's not really much to Jurassic GO, then, but that's very much its charm.

It's a calming, sedate stroll through lovely environments packed with dinosaurs far cuter than they have any right to be.

And who could ask for more than that?

Jurassic GO: Dinosaur Snap Adventure review - Pokemon Snap with dinosaurs

It's a pleasure to be involved in Jurassic GO's vivid world, but don't expect more than a cute digital safari
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Matt Suckley
Matt Suckley
Achingly contrarian. Proud owner of an N-Gage and a PSP Go. Matt spends most of his time writing about indie games of which you've never heard. Like that one, yes. Matt is an English student, and largely terrible at games. Go figure.