If you’ve played 3D Rollercoaster Rush, you’ll feel right at home here.

Jurassic 3D Rollercoaster Rush ($4.99; FREE)

Technically, this a reskinning of their 3D Rollercoaster Rush game. I guess it depends on how willing you are to admit that $5 is still a good bargain for a game, even if it’s “high” for App Store standards.

I personally enjoy the theme more for Jurassic Rush, so if you don’t have either game, I’d start with this one.

Presentation

The game looks really good. While it may be the same engine that was used for 3D Rollercoaster Rush (this is just a guess on my part), the objects look better in this one. Of course, it could partially be a bias on my part, as I’d rather see cool looking dinosaurs than log cabins and teepees.

The segments where you go underwater look pretty slick, complete with rising bubbles and undersea backdrops. The one thing I think they missed the boat on was the lack of any aquatic life when you dipped below the waves.

The sound effects are just as good this time around, and still do an excellent job of conveying a bunch of people riding a roller coaster. The music is okay, but gets repetitive rather quickly.

Controls

The controls are quite simple. You tilt the device to the right to speed up and to the left to slow down. I believe there are touch controls as well, but I never used them on the first game and I don’t see any need to use them here because the tilt controls work so well.

Gameplay

Your goal is to keep the riders happy. The faster the coaster goes, the more excited the passengers get. They especially love it when you do things like long jumps. Be careful, though, as traveling too fast can cause you to crash if you hit an incline at just the wrong point.

Thankfully you only need one car in tact to finish a track, so losing one on the tail end of the coaster is okay. It just means you have to work harder to get points, since you have less passengers that you can make happy. As in the first game you can earn up to three stars depending on how well you race the track, and a fourth star for beating out a “ghost” coaster on the same course.

The stars are important, as parts of the map are locked to you until you’ve earned so many stars. Luckily you can play a track as often as you want until you’ve earned three stars, and I don’t believe playing any of the “ghost” races is required to complete the game. So far the game feels a bit easier than 3D Rollercoaster Rush, but it’s still just as fun.

Suggestions

My main suggestions would be the same as last game. They need better music, and the music should change every 5 tracks or so (even if it’s just a toggle between two tunes). On the map where you select tracks, once you’ve beaten a track the pointer should stay on that track in case you want to race it again, and only move on to the next track when you decide you’re ready.

Conclusion

Overall it was nice to revisit the 3D rollercoaster world. The tracks look better, though game play is pretty much the same, and potentially a bit easier. If you’ve not ventured into the world of 3D rollercoaster riding before then I’d definitely recommend giving it a whirl, and I’d pick this one over the first, if for nothing else then for the looks.

If you’ve played 3D Rollercoaster Rush before, though, I’d take caution when approaching this one. Give the lite a try first to see if it feels different enough to you before taking the plunge for the full version. I think it’s still a really fun game, but some might not feel there’s enough difference to warrant the extra purchase.