My first steps into the world of gaming were at the age of about 10. The most influential game in my gaming career has to be Jurassic Park operation genesis. It was released on PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC, and even today I plug in my dusty PlayStation 2 and play the game that got it all started.

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis is a last gen game that was revolutionary at the time, though took influence from Zoo Tycoon and Rollercoaster Tycoon, both of which I enjoyed playing in the past. However, Jurassic Park blows these out of the water. The game allows a vast amount of customisation; you decide the shape of your island, the position of mountains, rivers and trees.

Once you have decided on the location of the park you then must build it, along with fences, viewing stations, hatcheries, food stands, picnic areas and much more. The real fun however comes when you introduce the dinosaurs. For me, as a huge fan of dinosaurs anyway, the vast number of things to do kept me entertained for hours. From looking after docile herbivores to feeding a cow to a hungry T-Rex.

You are also tasked with keeping the dinosaurs fit and healthy, with a supply of food and water and even taking control of a helicopter and shooting the dinos with a dart gun to cure them from any diseases they may have.

The game even allows the player to let loose the dinosaurs, free to roam amongst the public and even eat a few of the visitors; this is however not advisable if you want return visits. If a rampage does occur then the only way in which the player can stop it is to swap the darts for live ammo and dispatch any rampaging carnivores.

This game is, in my opinion, one of the best last gen games, rammed full of things to do. I would love to see a similar game on the current gen consoles, with updated graphics and capabilities that they can offer. With the current rise of popularity in the gaming industry we are yet to see a recent game of this nature; similar games in one sense may be ModNation racers (which allows you to modify and build tracks) or LittleBigPlanet which is also a great game but for different reasons. I would love to see a sequel to this game, or something similar – perhaps if enough old PS2 games are re-released in HD like God of War 1 & 2, we may see an updated version of Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis in the future. I won’t hold my breath however!