Home » Solitaire games » Review and evaluation of the game ark survival evolved. Review of the game ARK: Survival Evolved

Review and evaluation of the game ark survival evolved. Review of the game ARK: Survival Evolved

Other game titles ARK: Survival Evolve: ARK: Survival Evolved, ARK: Survival Evolved.

Translation of "ARK: Survival Evolved" in Russian: ARK: evolutionary survival.

Game type: Client

Status: Game started

Distribution model: One-time purchase, Buy-to-Play (B2P)

Availability of Russian language in the game: Yes, the game has Russian language

Steam gamers in the game: With approximately 43,192 gamers currently playing ARK: Survival Evolved on Steam, the game is super popular and a gem in the gaming world!

Popular tags on Steam: survival, open world, multiplayer, dinosaurs, crafting, building, adventure

The Steam version of ARK: Survival Evolve may contain the following anti-cheat systems: BattlEye, Valve Anti-Cheat

ARK: Survival Evolved stats on Twitch right now:

Popularity: 2389
255 channels online
2382 online viewers

Find out more details about the adventure project ARK: Survival Evolved, this page provides an overview of this online game, as well as screenshots (70 screenshots), videos, trailers, gameplay videos, announcements (85 videos), release date, game rating, system requirements, OBT, CBT dates, live broadcasts (24 streams) and other useful and interesting materials on the ARK: Survival Evolved game project are collected in one place.

The client online game ARK: Survival Evolved is a mixture of the Adventure, Action, Survival genres, developed by Studio Wildcard, the game is available in Russian, this project has many features that are interesting to players, including construction, open world, crafting, in Russian, dinosaurs.

What gaming publications, critics and gamers say about ARK: Survival Evolved:

on Metacritic, critics and gaming publications left positive reviews of the game ARK: Survival Evolved, with an average score of 70 out of 100 points, which is a decent result;
mostly players on Steam recommend this game, more than 179,759 positive reviews;
In addition to all this, ARK: Survival Evolved also has high scores on OpenCritic, with 50 reviews and an average game rating of 61 out of 100!

All this means that, regardless of preferences, it is better for every gamer to try this game.

Review of the online game ARK: Survival Evolved in the Adventure genre

Without a doubt, ARK: Survival Evolved is suitable for players who love survival modes and endless adventures in a huge world. In this game you can build, craft, hunt, tame and ride various creatures. All this is seasoned with very good graphics and sound.

At the very beginning, the player finds himself on the shore of the island, where he needs not to panic and immediately begin to engage in various activities aimed at survival; very rich crafting opportunities will help players with this.

Of course, one cannot fail to note such an important detail of ARK: Survival Evolved as the presence of dinosaurs, loved by many since childhood; in the game world of ARK you can meet more than 50 different creatures, tame them or use them as a riding horse.

As already mentioned above, the game’s graphics are at a decent level, the audio component of ARK: Survival Evolved also did not disappoint, but you have to pay for everything and the payment in this case will be the decent system requirements of the game, as well as the amount of required free space on the hard drive. If the system requirements do not frighten you, if you have a burning desire for adventure, then you are welcome to our hut in ARK: Survival Evolved!

ARK: Survival Evolved System Requirements

Below are the minimum system requirements for the game ARK: Survival Evolve, if the computer meets these requirements or better, then the game should run with an acceptable level of frames per second on low graphics settings. If your computer is slightly inferior in performance, then it’s worth trying to run ARK: Survival Evolved.

OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better
RAM: 8 GB RAM
Video adapter: NVIDIA GTX 670 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or better
DirectX: Versions 10
Free disk space: 60 GB
Additionally: Requires broadband internet connection for multiplayer

Also check out the complete minimum and recommended system requirements for the game ARK: Survival Evolve, before installing, find out how much the game weighs and will take up space on your computer (PC).

How many people are currently playing ARK: Survival Evolved?

This game is now (2019.08.03 01:10) approximately 43,192 gamers are playing through Steam, and 255 users are also streaming on Twitch, so you can start playing and not be afraid of running into empty servers. You just need to remember that the number of players online often changes greatly during the day, come here often, check how many players are online and playing ARK: Survival Evolved right now.

Please note that it happens that games released online are available not only through Steam, but also through third-party gaming platforms, as well as on other gaming platforms, Xbox, PlayStation, so there may be even more players online! And of course, we must not forget that most often there are separate servers for different regions. Even with all these reservations and conventions, we can say that there are a lot of players online, the game ARK: Survival Evolve is very popular!

Stream ARK: Survival Evolved right now!

Online streams right now:

Past streams:

Video ARK: Survival Evolve

Video is one of the convenient ways to learn about game news and new updates to ARK: Survival Evolved, to see with your own eyes what the developers and localizers have prepared for their players, fresh content, analysis of changes, the best cases on leveling up, development, new game events, and often publishers and developers hold various competitions with gifts, and talk about the conditions in video news. It is better to learn about all this through the Video section.

ARK: Summer Bash 2019!

2019.06.28 742636 23662 858 2690

It's time to run to the wild beach! The ARK Summer Bash 2019 has everything you need for fun on a sunny day: fireworks, hats, swimsuits and more. Plus, you can show off your beach body with new emotes or make a special candy that will give your tamed dinosaurs a festive look. From July 2nd to July 16th, it's time to survive in star style - ARK style!

Screenshots of the online game ARK: Survival Evolve

A few screenshots from the game for a quick visual assessment, but don’t rush to conclusions, the first impression can be deceiving, take a closer look, study the interface details, open the screenshots in full screen and try to feel the atmosphere of the ARK: Survival Evolved game. Don’t chase instant impressions, the devil is in the details, this is especially true for complex online games and hardcore genres. More screenshots can be found in the Screenshots section.

Download on PC and start playing ARK: Survival Evolved in Russian

Have you compared the characteristics of your computer with the system requirements of the game ARK: Survival Evolve? Have you checked the free space on your computer and found out how much the game weighs? Have you read the materials on the game? Don't delay and start playing ARK: Survival Evolve in Russian right now! Click the Start Play button and immerse yourself in the game world of ARK: Survival Evolved.

An original survival simulator: with dinosaurs, a plot, clan wars and, unfortunately, still unresolved technical problems

Ark is one of the most famous and respected survival simulators, which can be put on a par with DayZ and Rust. The game came out into early access two years ago and immediately attracted a bunch of fans - primarily due to its unusual setting and a huge number of possibilities: from taming animals to construction. At the end of August, Ark finally got around to release: over the past time, the developers have corrected many bugs, added new content, but, alas, they were not able to make their project ideal.

The world of Ark is full of huge dinosaurs, giant spiders, overgrown sharks and other creatures. A real interactive paleontological museum, adjusted for the fact that all the exhibits are alive and can bite your head off. By the way, Ark only looks like a game in the primitive world - starting with bows and wooden swords, you can level up and learn how to make energy rifles, combat turrets and even an exoskeleton with a jetpack.

To survive, you have to work hard from the very first minutes: extract wood, collect stones, create primitive tools, hunt small animals, plant a vegetable garden and build housing. Ark's signature feature is animal taming. In Ark you can transport cargo and fight on horseback, and this is not limited to land creatures alone. If you wish, you can arrange an underwater battle, where players will fight each other while riding on the backs of huge sharks.

The stronger the predator, the more food and time it takes to tame it: sometimes the process can take several hours. It’s the same with crafting and construction - the number of recipes and resources grows monstrously quite quickly. The best way out of the situation is to unite in a tribe with other players. Serious tribes have well-defended villages, crafting is organized, and there is plenty of entertainment - from battles with other clans to hunting large animals and killing raid bosses.

Ark even has some semblance of a story, which is rare for survival games. The diaries of the former inhabitants of the island are scattered around the world: collecting them not only adds experience, but also allows you to better learn the history of the world - it, by the way, is quite interesting. Well, pumped-up heroes can go to a story-driven dungeon located in the very heart of a volcano: if you defeat the boss, answers to the most important questions will be revealed.

Over the two years of early access, the developers have done a lot of work - they added three new worlds, increased the number of animals and recipes available for crafting several times. But there are serious problems with the technical part: the game is still too demanding on hardware, and there are bugs - for example, dinosaurs often get stuck between trees, which is why a potentially epic battle with a tyrannosaurus turns into an absurd circus. In addition, the pricing policy caused a lot of dissatisfaction among players: even during early access to the expensive Ark, they began selling DLC. Now the main game costs 1,049 rubles, plus eight hundred is worth adding for the season pass with access to three add-ons - this turns out to be one of the highest price tags among all survivalists.

Today, Ark: Survival Evolved, to be honest, is no longer as surprising as it was two years ago, after the start of early access. Yes, the game still boasts an original setting and several interesting ideas, to which the developers have added a lot of new content. But a lot of bugs, the presence of new strong competitors and a high price prevent us from recommending Ark for purchase. If you are interested, then at least wait for the sale.

Lost, scared and without clothes, new players open their eyes on the shores of an island teeming with dinosaurs and wildlife that wants to kill you. Ark survival is an open world, in the truest sense of the word. You have nowhere to go, no one is waiting for you. But you can’t just starve, you have to try to survive.
Two years after the game came out in early access. We're still keeping an eye on how it's funded and early access impacts the game later on. A large flow of money and attention fell on the video game, but this was not enough for the developers to try to make a quality product.
Players can break a tree branch and tie it to a stone, making themselves a stone axe. Tools help you get more wood and stone. Unlike other projects, technology research in Ark Survival is in full swing: a stone ax eventually leads us to a grenade launcher.

Gameplay features of Ark Survival Evolved 2017

You can wear a hat made of grass or steel, become a hunter or tame a pterodactyl and take to the skies, you are not limited in any way. If you're tired of traveling, the game allows you to build your own house on a hill overlooking a waterfall. First, you need to collect the required amount of wood and stone. Lay the foundation, raise the walls, and then before you know it, you’ve already spent several hours playing the game. It's truly addictive, just like Minecraft or The Long Dark used to be.

But the worst thing is the game mechanics. The game has incredibly few resources, and to get them you will need to spend a lot of time. Death lurks around you in every corner. Most materials are required not for modernization or construction of houses, but for getting started. If you die, then all your things will be lost, and you will have to get them again, and so on in a circle. After the second death it starts to get annoying. The real feeling of fear is the fear of losing your things. Of course, you will remember how you run away from some dinosaur, but you will remember it even more when it kills you and all your things disappear. The game just doesn't respect your time, and that's sad.

Animal world

You can tame a dinosaur in Ark Survival. You need to wait until he wakes up, at this point it becomes very boring to watch, but it's worth it, and then feed him. It's cool to have your own pet to help you on the hunt. However, at higher levels, taming becomes harder. Animals can take real time and sleep several hours a day. For example, you can start taming on Tuesday, and only get your pet on the weekend.

Ark Survival Evolved multiplayer.

Such 24/7 surveillance is impossible. Most likely, the mechanics are designed so that in multiplayer people would unite into tribes. On PVe servers I encountered a problem that all areas of the map were built up. There are houses around, there are no trees, so there are no resources. It is difficult to find a place where you can get stone.
In PvP you worry all the time that someone will kill you and things will go missing. Anyone who has played DayZ knows how frustrating it is when people with good weapons kill newcomers. Surviving, getting good things and weapons is what attracts players to this genre. There is a huge imbalance on the game servers. For example, you and your friends are building a stone age village with huts and straw fires. At night, you were all killed by other players who walk around with night vision goggles and silenced rifles. We are forced to waste time on the same thing.

It is not surprising that with such mechanics, the game has an open world. After two years of development, the idea became overblown, with strange gameplay features. For example, you can create a camera, take a photo, and display the photo in your home. But no one will do this, especially when creating a camera is many times more difficult than creating a firearm. A lot of opportunity is good, but not with such optimization.

No advantages?

For a game that's been in early access for over two years, it still has a lot of bugs. Hunting animals is done terribly, you don't need to track your prey, it's easier to run after it and wait for it to get stuck in the textures. Optimization also suffers. When you launch, you will watch for a few seconds as all the textures are loaded. In a multiplayer game, performance depends on the server, but even with a good connection, there are noticeable delays when moving, or moving things into the inventory. It takes time for dinosaurs to understand that you are attacking them. Usually large buildings are loaded in parts, and only then textures begin to be loaded. All of this leaves a bad impression for a 2017 game.

Don't look for flaws, they are almost everywhere. You can place furniture, and then you won't be able to move it until you break it, losing your resources in the process. There is no training here; all information about crafting can only be learned from other players or on the Internet.

Verdict

As a game, Ark Survival is more frustrating than enjoyable. Of course, there are advantages here, but they are invisible behind the huge number of bugs and shortcomings. The game is more ambitious as a platform. If you decide to open your own server, you can change everything on it. Instant taming, endless resources, limit some technologies. This is the main plus.
Large scale, prehistoric warfare is what I want from a game, not a version that is full of bugs. Servers with primitive technologies, survival mode, like in PUBG. These are two reasons why anyone plays it. It's worth remembering that the game costs $59.99.

Ark survival is an open world, in the truest sense of the word. You have nowhere to go, no one is waiting for you. But you can't just die, you have to survive...

Positioning

What is needed to extend the “life” of a good device that was released a year ago and is still on sale? The easiest way is to slightly improve the “hardware” characteristics and add some kind of index to the model name. Actually, that’s what Sony Ericsson did with their successful Arc: they added the Latin letter “S” after the name and installed an overclocked Qualcomm MSM8255T processor. In addition, we decided to change the color a little. Now Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S is available in white and pink, and there is also a universal one – black “Arc”.

Due to the fact that there has already been a review of the SE Arc, and the Arc S is practically no different from its predecessor, I will not describe many points: I will pay more attention to the performance tests of the “old” and “new” devices.

Design, dimensions, control elements

It’s not easy to understand by appearance which is the Xperia Arc and which is the Xperia Arc S. You can recognize it only by the color of the back cover. For example, for the “first” Arc it was made with a gradient - from dark silver to black, and for the “second” it was completely black. Also, the previous model did not have pink and white body colors. This is where all the visual differences end.

If fingerprints and minor scratches are not visible on the white cover of the device, they are very noticeable on all other colors. When squeezed in your hand, the body of the SE Arc S makes an unpleasant crunch. However, the design of the device is quite ergonomic.

The front panel contains light and proximity sensors. Nearby is a speaker. Its volume is very high, the timbre is pleasant, the interlocutor can be heard clearly and intelligibly. Unfortunately, the new modification did not add a front camera, although it would have been appropriate here. The screen is protected by mineral glass. True, there is still a film stuck on the display, which is quickly wiped off. At the bottom of the device there are three buttons: “Back”, “Home” and “Menu”. They press very softly, but the stroke is small.

On the left side there is a standard 3.5 mm audio output, on the right there is a volume rocker key, microUSB and a missed events indicator, as well as a small camera activation button. Frankly speaking, it is completely inconvenient to use due to its size and placement (close to the edge of the bottom end). At the bottom there is a microphone and a strap holder, at the top there is a button to turn the phone on and off, almost recessed into the body, and a microHDMI connector under a plastic plug.

The speaker, camera eye, LED flash and additional microphone are located on the back side.

Samsung Omnia W and Sony Ericsson Arc S (right):

Samsung Ace and Sony Ericsson Arc S (right):

HTC Mozart and Sony Ericsson Arc S (left):

Samsung i9000 and Sony Ericsson Arc S (left):

Display

Screen diagonal - 4.2" (physical size 93x52 mm), resolution - 480x854 pixels (density - 233 pixels per inch). “No air gap” technology is used, i.e. there is no air gap between the matrix (LED-backlit LCD) and the protective glass. The sensitivity of the capacitive touch layer is high.

Viewing angles are small: when tilted, the picture loses contrast. Color rendition at right viewing angles is pleasant and rich. Perhaps thanks to the "Mobile BRAVIA Engine". But in any case, it is much inferior to the Super AMOLED Plus matrix and even Super AMOLED.

In short, all the specs and screen options are comparable to the SE Xperia Arc. Display in the light:

Comparison of displays: Samsung Galaxy Note (SuperAMOLED) (left), Sony Ericsson Arc (LED-backlit LCD), Samsung Galaxy S (SuperAMOLED), Samsung Omnia W (SuperAMOLED), HTC Mozart (S-LCD), Samsung Ace (TFT-LCD) ), Nokia 700* (ClearBlack AMOLED) (right):

* - the brightness of the Nokia 700 display at maximum brightness is higher than in the photo. This is due to the fact that I took the shots in the dark, and the phone's light sensor slightly dimmed the display backlight.

Battery

The Xperia Arc S uses the same BA750 1500mAh removable lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery as the Xperia Arc. According to official data, the phone will work for about 460 hours in standby mode (for the “first” Arc this time is 430 hours), in talk mode – up to 7 hours 30 minutes (for the “first” Arc – about 7 hours), playing music – up to 37 hours (the “first” Arc has up to 30 hours). Overall, the difference is small.

To test the battery life, I installed the special Antutu Tester application. The results were interesting: the device scored 494 points, leaving behind the Samsung Galaxy SL, Galaxy S2 and LG Optimus 2X.

During practical operation, the following figures were obtained: the smartphone worked in standby mode for about a week, up to 20 hours when playing music at maximum volume (in headphones) and up to 5 hours when playing HD video at automatic backlight brightness. On average, with 20-25 minutes of talking a day, one hour of taking photos and videos, the same amount of listening to music, four hours of Wi-Fi (typing on the keyboard - Twitter and Skype) and two hours of watching movies, the battery was discharged in 10-11 hours. Sony Ericsson Arc has approximately the same indicators or a little less.

Communication capabilities

The Xperia Arc S smartphone operates in 2G (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and 3G networks (HSDPA 900 / 2100). GPRS speed – up to 86 Kbps, EDGE – up to 237 Kbps, HSDPA and HSUPA – up to 14 Mbps and 5.8 Mbps, respectively. There is Wi-Fi standard 802.11 b/g/n. To distribute the Internet, it can be used as an access point. DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is supported, a standard that allows compatible devices to transmit and receive various media content (image, music, video) over the home network, as well as display it in real time. Bluetooth version 2.1 with A2DP is used for data and voice transmission.

Memory, memory card

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S, like the entire Xperia line, comes with 512 MB of RAM. Although they could increase it to 720 MB or 1 GB. There are about 300 MB of free internal Flash memory (1 GB in total) – also somewhat embarrassing for a flagship model. The kit includes a 16 GB card. The maximum supported volume of a micrSD card is up to 32 GB.

Camera

As in the previous model, an 8-megapixel camera module is installed and there is an LED flash. But the front camera is still missing. It’s clear that not everyone uses it, but if you were to upgrade your smartphone, you could install it. There is no point in describing this section in detail; it is better to read the review. I will give examples of photographs and a couple of videos. I will only note that the camera takes pictures very well, and the sound in video clips has a fairly wide stereo base.

From the photo file we get the following detailed EXIF characteristics:

Video file characteristics:

Format: MP4
Video: AVC, 6000 Kbps
Resolution: 1280 x 720, 30 fps
Audio: AAC, 128 Kbps
Channels: 2 channels, 48.0 KHz

Photo examples:

Performance

Well, now we get to the most interesting part.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc has a Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset and a 1 GHz processor. The Xperia Arc S has the same chipset, but with the “T” index. This means that the processor clock frequency was increased to 1.4 GHz at the factory. Interestingly, the MSM8255 can also operate at 400 MHz faster, but for this it will have to be overclocked manually. The graphics accelerator is the same - Adreno 205. There are no other differences.

Visually, the SE Arc S works the same as the Arc S. Below are several performance tests and browser benchmarks of these two devices. For control, the third device will be the SE Xperia Play, built on the same technological base as the Xperia Arc.

Brief technical information.

The concept of Early Access, which has become a favorite of thousands of small studios dreaming of creating the project of their dreams, is no longer something new, nor is digital distribution, which made the implementation of this idea possible. At a time when large development companies are trying to meet deadlines under the supervision of publishers, small independent companies can give free rein to their imagination and do what they always wanted. In our case, development is carried out not by one such team, but by four - , and . Each of them is more like a department with its own type of activity: some rivet the concept and graphics, others program, others write sound, and others work directly with graphics.

To create all that splendor from the trailer, Unreal Engine 4 was chosen, which a few months ago became absolutely free and open to everyone. This is another reason for the popularity of early access in the indie sector, due to the fact that anyone can just pick up high-tech tools out of thin air and create eye-catching graphics for Greenlight.

ARK, even for a seasoned fan of survival sandboxes, seems at least entertaining and unusual, although it very much resembles a not completely shaken strange cocktail from , and the Jurassic Park films. Oh yes, there are dinosaurs, lots of them! But after logging into the server, standing on a sandy beach that stretches for kilometers ahead, you are unlikely to see all the diversity of local life - except for small, nasty dodo birds and ridiculous prehistoric turtles.

But don’t get too distracted by carefree walks on the warm sand, because here you will have to survive in the most natural way. The “run” can end in very different ways. The most banal option is from the claws and teeth of local predators who are not averse to feasting on an unlucky little man. And other players often behave aggressively, even if the issue of production is not at stake (what can we take from a green newcomer?). But that’s not all, because the threat to health comes even from the weather and the current time of day. Overheating in the sun, hypothermia at night or in water, starvation or slow drying out from thirst - this and other things you should constantly keep in mind and take care of so that the alter ego always has everything necessary for survival. Therefore, try to instill in yourself the habit of picking berries from the bushes near which you pass early - you will save a lot of time and nerves. In addition, if possible, you should avoid walking in the rain, in fog and prolonged water procedures. As for lava and storms, which may be the last thing you see before death, I think there is no need to explain.

The death of a character on standard servers is not so scary, because the experience and learned recipes will remain with you in your “new” life. However, hardcore fans need not worry: there is a separate item in the settings especially for them. Death on servers where it is marked means a complete reset of the level and all development. It is also worth mentioning that going offline does not unload the character himself from the network. It continues to be where you left it. Therefore, one way or another, you will have to either look for a secluded place to “park” or build a house. However, this probably won’t protect you from other residents, among whom a whole subculture of so-called griefers has long been formed - lovers of robbing and destroying other players and their buildings.

The interface positively smells of early access, taking us back years to the same and other sandboxes that have filled the indie scene. However, there is a certain design intent: when you open the game menu, your character rotates his arm so that the interface is projected from a strange metal implant on it in the form of a hologram. This is the first hint that the island is not completely abandoned, and that there is a place on it not only for a variety of creatures, but also for high technologies of clearly non-human origin.

In several neat and not devoid of style forms, you can see the crafting menu, which is very voluminous and convenient, as well as a page with character parameters that can be increased upon reaching a certain level. Interestingly, recipes for crafting items are also tied to the level, and this gives a slight RPG flavor to the gameplay. The coveted experience points here are given for almost all more or less significant actions - killing animals and players, crafting and construction - but they are gained rather slowly. Even literally using all the possibilities, you have to do the same thing over and over again without any sense - otherwise you will never make a “technological leap”. Whether there are raw materials (other players shared, for example), or not - it doesn’t matter. In this regard, the game, of course, rewards people who spend a lot of time in it, but everyone else will have to be “stuck in the Stone Age” for a long time.

The role-playing elements do not end there: there is a system of eleven main characteristics (health, stamina, lung capacity, satiety, hydration, carried weight, melee damage, movement speed, resistance to weather influences, crafting speed, degree of torpor (relevant when exposed to poisons and narcotic substances)). Each of these parameters can be improved as the level increases, and the correct order of build-up has already become the subject of numerous guides and manuals.

At first, you are allowed to create only simple objects such as spears, axes and blocks for wooden houses or fortifications; a little later, new recipes will open that allow you to use the skins of killed animals for the first armor, as well as an extensive farming system. Yes, if you wish, you can give up your nomadic lifestyle and settle in some picturesque place, building a hut there and starting to cultivate the soil. If you put in some effort, you will be able to give up hunting altogether and live solely by growing plant foods. When the level becomes sufficient, mining will appear, followed by metal processing to create more durable and deadly weapons, as well as armor. And to create a unique image, you can craft paints and then apply them to your uniform. In addition, color customization is very useful when playing in co-op.

The warhead is made extremely simply and uncomplicated and is an ordinary “clicker”. A couple of animations for each item, no advanced combat moves - just calling until you're blue in the face. The only thing that can be highlighted is archery and firearms: hunting with them local animals and other inhabitants of the island is noticeably more interesting than running around the surrounding area with a stick. The ability to ambush the player by opening fire on him from cover, as well as the prospect of a real shootout in the jungle - all this adds depth to the action part. In addition, a firearm opens up new horizons for a hunter who wants to catch a truly large animal, and hunting in Ark is really worth it!

A funny feature of an incomprehensible purpose: when generating a character, you can change the muscles in the most impossible way, which is why many, for the sake of humor, turn their charges into comical and even creepy freaks with inhuman proportions, among whom for some reason dark-skinned dwarfs with children's voices from cheap microphones predominate. Invariably swearing or asking questions about the basics of the game. It doesn't matter if you're playing with friends or just meeting a stranger, you'll run into them one way or another. Personally, I find it very difficult to take him seriously after this.

However, there are adults too, and no one forces you to spoil your solitary experience. You can always go to an empty server or even create your own. However, the game will still require a constant connection to the Internet, which is somewhat depressing.

By crossing the coast and going deeper into the jungle, you can find much more useful resources, as well as new species of flora and fauna. In terms of wildlife, the game feels great, as it did with . But, unlike the monotonous night survival in the Forest, after training on the coast, ARK makes a strong leap forward, opening up a number of new opportunities. For example, there is a fairly well-recreated underwater world, inhabited by its own types of creatures. Its particularly popular “trick” is the ability to build an underwater base, in which, with certain knowledge, you can even exist without any problems.

But perhaps the most unusual and definitely worthwhile part of the gameplay is the taming of dinosaurs. Some species can be turned into pets, suitable for faster movement around the island, carrying cargo, and even fighting. You must first study the appropriate recipe, then find a suitable creature and stun it with the available weapon (but under no circumstances finish it off!). As a rule, a slingshot or special plants that have a narcotic effect are used for this, because it is very easy to accidentally finish off a candidate with ordinary weapons. After this, you have to go out and feed the animal yourself, feeding it with certain food, which is different for predators and herbivores. There are already detailed tables on the Internet for taming all available species - it wouldn’t hurt to familiarize yourself with them before trying to enlist the support of another prehistoric beast.

Who exactly should you choose as a companion? Here everyone decides for themselves what exactly they want to get. Fleet-footed raptors are suitable for fast runs on horseback, while large loads or moving a camp can be carried out by clumsy triceratops or some other giants - there are plenty of them on the island. Of course, at first only basic varieties are available, but later, at high levels, they will even allow you to saddle diplodocus giants. This ability is the key to a successful start, especially if you manage to curb a predator or a giant scorpion, which are often found near the shore. In general, species diversity is perhaps the strongest aspect of the game. The food chain, constantly supplemented by new creatures, includes both terrestrial fauna, sea and air.

Developing the ideas of cooperation, the developers introduced a system of clans and tribes, which allows players to create joint settlements with warehouses. Moreover, clans also have their own levels, which speed up the “pumping” of their members. A tribe is not only an opportunity to gain access to a large amount of resources, become part of a community and hunt the most dangerous creatures together. The fact is that the mysterious spiers of lighthouses of unknown origin mark ancient ruins in which advanced recipes for improved equipment can be found. These places are guarded by the most powerful and aggressive creatures, as well as other active tribes. This (battles for control of the ruins) is a local “end-game”, that is, entertainment for those who already have most of the recipes open, and warehouses are filled with a variety of items and resources. But if you suddenly choose the path of a loner, you will still be able to study absolutely all the recipes in the game (although this will take a very, very long time).

Unfortunately, all this splendor with tribes fighting among themselves for the technologies of the future, riding the reptiles of the Jurassic period, collapses due to the weak implementation of the cooperative. Technical limitations do not allow working with densely populated servers; 127 people is the current maximum. However, even so, with a measly hundred black dwarfs on the island, you will most likely periodically encounter lags that appear as soon as three to four dozen people log in at the same time.

Needless to say, with such online restrictions, the whole concept of fighting between tribes loses a lot? In ARK, even in a hundred hours you will not see any kind of organized combat, only small-town skirmishes of the “yard to yard” format without any logic and the use of dinosaurs. In this way, the game is similar to its peers in the genre: it’s more interesting to watch funny highlight videos on YouTube than to wade through many hours of dull runs to hunt for resources.

During the month and a half that ARK has been on Steam, a number of patches have been released that slightly increased performance. However, many users still encounter poor optimization, which is especially noticeable in reviews on Steam. Also, the developers, as best they could, corrected the abundance of bugs and increased the limit of players on the server from 64 to 127. However, the network code is still far from perfect. The only unconditionally positive feature of the updates was the regular addition of content: literally every two weeks new dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals are settled on the island, along with which the list of gaming features grows.

Not long ago, the developers announced that their creation would soon support the Steam Workshop. As a demonstration, they created a rather fun mod called “Survival of the Fittest”, which is something of a free-for-all in an island setting. The goal of the gaming session is to remain the last survivor, having dealt with other gamers. It was done quite cheerfully and quickly, somewhat reminiscent of the books and films of the “Hunger Games” series. However, such a change of guidelines is somewhat frightening, since sometimes it seems that the developers themselves do not know what they want to see in the end, rushing between different genres.

To summarize, we can say that in many ways the game copies other popular sandboxes, but it has a very important feature for EA products - regular updates. There are bug fixes, adding new content and features, and even working on introducing mod support. However, all this is a colossus with feet of clay, because no one knows what will happen to the project next. at one time it was updated every week, and generally promised us a new word in the genre, having achieved excellent sales at the launch stage. Perhaps the project reviewed in this article is also going through that very period of a vigorous start. The main thing is that it does not change to the diametrically opposite one, because the game has the potential for growth and development. It already provides a new experience and also has the good atmosphere that we love so much in Jurassic Park. But first of all, I would like to recommend it to fans of the “Jurassic” theme, those who like to have fun running around with friends and people with a lot of free time, who will certainly be able to squeeze all the juice out of the game. The rest? I think it's better to wait.