Along with the film came a series of Jurassic Park merchandise.  One of the biggest moneymakers was video games.  Multiple game companies acquired the rights to Jurassic Park, including Sega, who developed a terrific 2D action game for the Genesis (followed by a great arcade shooter).

After that, the Jurassic Park franchise began to dwindle.  The movies were good, but where were the good games?  There were some memorable games from developers that were "inspired" by Michael Crichton's masterpiece, but very few titles with the JP label were comparable to the films.

Most of the games that feature dinosaurs have the same goals: hunt dinosaurs, run from dinosaurs, and make it out alive.  It's a great concept when done right (Dino Crisis 2), but it's usually not.

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is a different kind of dinosaur game.  There aren't big explosions, heavy artillery, or any of the usual hunt-and-kill aspects of a prehistoric game.  This is a park-building simulator.  Similar in style to the Sim City games, Operation Genesis crams a ton of mind-boggling options into one persistent, evolving world.  I spent more hours with Sim City 2000 than I care to admit, and I've played a ton of other simulation games since then, but that didn't make Operation Genesis any easier.

Anxious to see some dino-making action, I foolishly jumped right into the main game without looking at the manual or playing through the game's in-depth exercises.  Having no clue as to how I should get started, I created some buildings, attached some roads and placed an electric fence around an area that looked perfect for a T-Rex to live in.  Thing is, my "perfect place" was completely ruined by the way the park had been set up.  The park entrance was too close to the water, my buildings weren't far enough apart from each other, and despite my best intentions, no dinosaurs were being hatched!  (This must have been why Allen Grant was so against the creation of the park in the first movie.)

Further experimentation lead nowhere.  No matter what I did, I wasn't going to succeed with my current park.  Too much money had been spent, and I couldn't even figure out how to open the park, let alone how to create some dinosaurs!  Without them, the park is just big, empty island.

It's not that the game is too complex, but there are menus on top of menus, and although everything is very easy to do, the game itself is not, and it is nearly impossible to figure out each and every game element on your own.

This led me to the dreaded exercises.  Why are they dreaded?  Because I hate it when I have to be "taught" to do something.  I like to figure things out on my own and let the game surprise me.  But simulators aren't as easy to get into as other games, and generally take a lot more time and patience to enjoy.

My fears of the exercises were alleviated once I experienced them.  They don't waste time with useless babbling; they get right to the point and tell you exactly what needs to be done.  Exact button and menu actions are explained through a small window at the bottom of the screen, which stays on the screen at all times until that particular exercise has been completed.  This made the game so much easier to grasp, and prevented me from having to look at the manual.

Once that was taken care of, I immediately fell in love with the game.  It was somewhat of a dream game come true for me.  Me and my friends used to spend hours building our own Jurassic Park with action figures and various play sets.  Now I would finally be able to build my own virtual Jurassic Park!  One with more dinosaurs; with more options; and one with hardly any limitations.

Operation Genesis is one of the more complex simulation games developed specifically for a console.  DNA research must be conducted before dinosaurs can be created, which will take one month or more to complete (actual game time is roughly a few minutes).  While the research is being conducted, the time spent waiting should be put to good use by building fences around the area that you wish to make the dinosaurs live in.  Hatcheries must then be placed inside of an enclosure (a fenced-in area), along with a feeder to keep the dinosaurs well-fed.  They also need water, so for the dinosaurs that don't live near the water, a small lake must be built inside of their enclosure (otherwise they'll die).  In the case of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, it's important to choose the right kind of food for her to eat (all of the dinosaurs are supposed to be female, remember?).  The infamous goat makes a return, as well as some cows, followed by more types of food later on.

Believe it or not, this is smallest and easiest aspect of the game.  Creating dinosaurs, and making sure they're eating properly is not that hard to do.  But what happens if a dinosaur becomes angry and tries to escape?  Or what if the dinosaurs are eating, but your customers are starving?  What if your dinosaurs start feeding off your customers?  That would solve one problem, but you'd eventually have to close down your park!

That sort of overwhelming depth -- the urgency that comes along with rushing to appease every customer's whim, and ensuring that the place is safe and continues to make money -- is the reason why Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is such a good game.

Technologically, it does have one major flaw.  The camera is really, really bad.  You can zoom out, but not very far, and no matter how much you reposition the camera, it almost always feels a little awkward.  It works great for targeting and panning around the dinosaurs, but that's a small part of the game.  However, it would be foolish for someone to overlook this game just because of its annoying camera.

Gameplay: 8
I don't play many simulation games, but when a good one comes my way, weeks will go by before I even think about stopping.  Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis plays as good as the top PC sim games, and will have you engrossed in prehistoric history-making for hours.

Graphics: 7 
There are good things and bad things about Operation Genesis's visuals.  Good things: dinosaur textures, animation and dino-to-dino interaction (very realistic, aside from the Stegosaurus's water-drinking motions).  Bad things: frequent pop-up and slowdown.

Sound: 7
There aren't a whole lot of sound effects in this game that will take advantage of your sub-woofer, but the music is pretty good.  It sounds a little like the music from the film, which is good, because the movie soundtrack was a masterpiece.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
It's not easy managing Jurassic Park.  You'll have your hands filled with objectives, demands and things that must be done in order to keep your park up and running.

Concept: 8 
All I have to say is: it's about time.  Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis was long overdue.  Why it took so long for a developer to realize what a great idea this would be is beyond me.  Someone finally did it though, and the results are excellent.

Overall: 8
Operation Genesis is a true Jurassic Park game.  Playing this game was like going back to the summer of 1993.  Watching the dinosaurs exist in a natural environment was amazing.  I loved to just watch them eat, drink and interact with each other.  And of course, the park creation and operation aspect is great.