Jurassic World Alive offers Pokémon Go-style AR gameplay with dinos (Update: Out now)

Update (05/25): Fed up with hunting adorable Pokémon? Then you might want to try hunting something a little larger, and a lot more deadly in Jurassic World Alive. Developer Ludia’s take on Pokémon Go‘s AR mobile game formula is available now via the Google Play Store.

Here’s the blurb straight from the Play Store listing: “As a brand-new member of the Dinosaur Protection Group (DPG), your mission is to save dinosaurs from a second extinction. Explore your surrounding area to find your favorite dinosaurs – including new breeds that are more awe-inspiring and terrifying than ever before.”

The setup should be very familiar to the millions of current and lapsed Pokémon Go players, with Alive tasking you with exploring real-world locations, collecting creatures (in this case 100 different dinosaurs), and doing battle in PvP arenas. Alive’s unique feature is the ability to combine genetic traits of different prehistoric beasties to develop specific stats.

Jurassic World Alive is a free-to-play game with in-app purchases, but the early user reviews suggest it isn’t too aggressive with its monetization strategies. It’s also worth noting that only Galaxy S8 and above or Google Pixel users will have access to the AR features as the game utilizes Google’s ARCore platform.

Hit the button below to try the game for yourself and be sure to let us know your first impressions in the comments.

Original story (03/07): Mobile game Pokémon Go became an instant hit in mid-2016 thanks largely to its use of augmented reality (AR). It let players explore the real world to collect Pokémon creatures. Today, a new mobile AR game was announced that shares some of Pokémon Go’s gameplay features. However, instead of cute anime animals, Jurassic World Alive offers players a chance to collect huge virtual dinosaurs.

The game, from developer Ludia, uses the premise that all those genetically-created dinosaurs from the movies managed to leave their island home of Isla Nublar and are now roaming the entire world. Your job, as a member of the Dinosaur Protection Group (DPG), is to find the dinosaurs in your area and collect its DNA with the use of a virtual drone. Those DNA samples can be taken back to your “lab” to be used to make more, “cooler” hybrid creatures. You can even take your collected team of hybrids and have them battle dinosuars controlled by other players.

The game is set for release this spring, ahead of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom arriving in theaters on June 22. You can pre-register for Jurassic World Alive right now at the Google Play Store and get a free in-game gift when it goes live.

This is just the latest mobile AR game announced based on a major franchise. There are other AR games in the works based on Ghostbusters, The Walking Dead and Harry Potter, the latter of which is being developed by the Pokémon Go team at Niantic Labs.