There's a "Tycoon" title for every activity on the planet for PC, but console owners don't have much of a choice. Luckily, that truth is about to change, as we're getting a rare taste of the god/management/strategy genre from Universal Interactive's Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis . Taking the formula of building and managing a theme park further by replacing roller coasters and bumper cars with dinosaurs and man-eaters, JP at least has a degree of originality. Besides, as every videogame fan knows, adding dinosaurs to any concept is a plus. In fact, the developers at Blue Tongue even optimized the controls so the need for keyboard and mouse wasn't even necessary.

Unfortunately, there aren't too many positives to be found in Operation Genesis beyond its welcome concept. As the titles we mentioned earlier do a much better job of capturing the elements of what makes the genre so appealing, and goes to prove further why games of this type are so rarely explored outside of the PC. Let us explore!Operation Genesis is the main mode and allows you to build your very own version of Jurassic Park . There are missions and exercises separate from Operation Genesis that first teach you and the apply skills that you will need in that main theme park building mode. For those unfamiliar with the genre, the idea is to use an overhead/god's perspective to build a theme park from scratch, choosing the buildings, where they're going to be placed and how much to charge. Games like Roller Coaster Tycoon proved to be popular among older gamers because of the micromanagement functions that allowed you to set the prices of the park's fast food outlets, manage a custodial staff, and handle security all for the purpose of running a profitable and popular amusement business. In the case of Jurassic Park, you're not picking the rides or designing roller coasters, but are creating every element of your dinosaur exhibits including the species of the lizard, their habitat, and how people will experience them.The combination of playing god and using the strategy to do so actually comes together pretty nicely -- or at least, early on it does. The game works in a multi-tiered system and for every dinosaur you hope to create, you have to first excavate archaeological digs for fossils, the research the genetic material until you have enough to hatch one of those suckers before finally putting the new dino in a habitat. Every single one of those components costs money and the bigger and better dinos (which you can charge more to see) cost you bigger dollars.Cash management aspects of the game are appropriately rich and fall very much in line with the expected 'tycoon' standard. To be successful, you have to charge and spend in the right balance. You can set how much you want to charge for entrance to the park, to use observation areas, for souvenirs, burgers and dogs and even the bathroom if you feel so inclined. But to keep the flow of customers you'll have to make sure you're meeting their needs and expectations. And the magic of games like this, that Jurassic Park also has, is that it's all trial and error. You won't know you're charging too much for burgers and fries until you read your customer reports or read the people individually and see what they have to say.That said, it's the strategy concerning the management of your dinosaurs is what ultimately weighs in as the game's supreme weakness. Once you've done the work and paid for actually creating a dinosaur, presenting them in a cost efficient way is your next challenge. Protecting your patrons from vicious carnivores requires that you use a strong enough fence, but at the same time you have to give those T-Rex's something to chew on so that they can remain happy and healthy. If you don't, people will complain that your lizards are too boring or too sickly.Different creatures have different likes and dislikes too, so you'll have to pay attention to the differences between herbivores and carnivores. Some like to have plenty of their same species around them, some like to be alone, some like lots of trees, some like people, some like to eat certain prey but not others. It's great that there's that there's so much to account for in creating your eco-system, but it takes such an exorbitant amount of time to figure this stuff out, that you'll be pulling your hair out after the first 10 hours or so.