The original game score for Jurassic World Primal Ops is composed by Winifred Phillips. Rescue, collect and fight alongside your favourite dinosaurs in the top-down action-adventure game with a deep dinosaur collection system. As a battle-trained dinosaur handler, use your expertise and combat skills to save dinosaurs from malicious mercenaries, deadly poachers, and sinister laboratories. Collect dinosaurs, build a roster to deploy in battle, and help your new companions safely find their place in a primal world...

Winifred Phillips delivers an impressive score for the free to play Jurassic World Primal Ops (available for PC as well as iOS and Android mobile devices). Phillips manages to shoehorn so many homages to familiar Jurassic Park themes, but presents them in a way that makes them feel fresh and original.

There's the occasional nod and wink to not only the work of John Williams, but other composers too. 'Capture the Beast' reminded me of James Horner's work on Jumanji. Both 'Apex Predator' and 'Capture the Beast' had segments that brought to mind Danny Elfman's score for Batman Returns. And 'Primal Ops' had hints of Williams's score for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, most notably the militaristic feel of the track 'Belly of the Steel Beast'.

Obviously, Williams's original Jurassic Park themes are what is referenced the most. But here Phillips takes the original and tweaks it to make it her own. But don't for one second thing this is a hastily thrown together collection of atmospheric background pieces peppered with Williams-esque themes. Phillips has finely crafted a score that not only works wonderfully in the game to provide tension and atmosphere, but it also works as an incredible standalone collection of strong themes.

'Mountain Rescue' is as lavish as you'll find in any Hollywood blockbuster and for me, away from the Jurassic Park motifs, I found it to be the heart and soul of the music on offer here.

We were sent the soundtrack (10 tracks - 23 min, 40 sec) files to review. Hopefully these will be made available commercially in the future. But, if you want to hear them in the game you'd better hurry. Sadly, the game will no longer work once the developers take it offline on 31 October 2022. There are also segments of the score available on YouTube and Phillips's official website.

An intense, engaging score that's actually better than a few of the Jurassic Park movie soundtracks.

9

Darren Rea