Dino Frontier
Release Date: August 1, 2017
Strategy, RTS, indie games, prehistory, PlayStation VR, VR, PlayStation exclusive, singleplayer
OpenCritic
A unique real time strategy game from Uber Entertainment studio, developed for virtual reality sets. Dino Frontier takes place in alternate Wild West settings, filled not only with cowboys, bandits, sheriffs and locals, but also titular dinosaurs. Players act as the so-called “Great Mayor” managing a village.
Dino Frontier is a unique real time strategy game developed with virtual reality sets in mind. It is a work of Uber Entertainment team, known from its well-received Planetary Annihilation for PC. This title debuted on PS4.
Plot
Dino Frontier presents alternative visions of the Wild West era, with that world inhabited not only by sheriffs, bandits and locals, all trying to survive in harsh environment, but also dinosaurs. Players act as a so-called Big Mayor, overlooking our own settlement.
Game mechanics
Dino Frontier gives players a task of managing a newly built village. Gameplay focuses on gathering resources and steady expansion of a town, the latter growing with more public buildings (saloons) and industrial ones (e.g. sawmills). One of the most important things is role management – a good administrator must pay attention so each denizen will do a proper job. Titular dinosaurs start as major threat, but later they can be tamed, giving players powerful, though dangerous, allies.
Technical aspects
Dino Frontier for PS4 offers good-looking, cartoonish visuals, with both people’s and dinosaurs’ models and surrounding objects delighting with details and rich colors.
The game requires virtual reality goggles, used to look around surroundings by moving player’s head, and dedicated controllers, which move virtual hands on screen that act like cursors. Not only they let players give commands to settlers, but also can move them from place to place, and performing certain gestures will result in zooming the screen in and out.
Last updated on February 13, 2017
Videos and Screens
[1:33] Dino Frontier gameplay trailer #1
[1:20] Dino Frontier PSX 2016 trailer
TheSixthAxis: 8 / 10 by Jim Hargreaves
If Uber had stretched Dino Frontier just that little bit further, adding some kind of longevity beyond its ten-hour playtime, it would be a must-have for PlayStation VR. Still, there are few games using Sony's tech that can boast the same balance of immersion and fun. Where I've often felt exhaustion or relief as I take the VR visor from my head, playing Dino Frontier always left me with a smile on my face.
Use a Potion: 7.6 / 10 by Daryl Leach
Dino Frontier offers an incredibly charming world-building simulation for gamers to play through, with the blend of Dinosaurs and the Wild West working together perfectly in offering a world that you’ll actually really want to be a part of. Add to that the accessible controls and intuitive gameplay mechanics and it’s easy see why you’d get absorbed into the game almost instantly. There just isn’t really enough of it, especially at the game’s high price point. This isn’t a title that you’re going to find yourself spending hours upon hours lost in, but one where it’ll all be over in just a few hours. Whilst this is enough for some games, I would’ve liked to have spent a bit more time in Dino Frontier’s Dinosaur-filled world. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed Dino Frontier and its solid evidence that this kind of game works perfectly within the unorthodox confines of VR. There isn’t enough here to hook you in for too long, but what it does offer is of top quality.
Metro GameCentral: 4 / 10
The VR immersion is great and the setting certainly has potential, but with no depth or challenge to the gameplay this trumped-up tech demo lacks teeth.
Dino Frontier Summary
Platforms:
PlayStation 4
Developer: Uber Entertainment
Publisher: Uber Entertainment
