Dino diggers: Dino Quest 2

Dino Quest 2 is the sequel to Dino Quest, which I described in my last post.  This is a huge step up in terms of features and interface and level progressions.  You still start on a map and unlock new dig sites with coins and levels.

The dig site looks more like Minecraft than any of the other dino diggers I have looked at so far.  Which is fine and familiar.

Once you find some bones, you go to the lab where you have a limited staff of scientists, and each scientist can only work on one crate at a time.  The first creates take 15 seconds to open, others take 4 minutes 10 seconds, or longer.  There are three tiers of bones: 1 star, 2 star and 3 star.  Each bone can either be new, or better quality than the bone on your specimen, or a duplicate, or sent to research.  Either way, you get some amount of coins, xp, and specimen research points each time.

One thing I really like is that each species has an upgrade tree based on its research points.  At 80 DNA, you get a base with plaque, at 80 you can choose a pose, at 140 you get better chances of 2-star bones, at 260 you get a rock pedestal, at 420 you can change skins, and at 700 DNA you get the deluxe pedestal.  Exact numbers vary by species.

There is also an informational page for each species in the Dinopedia.  Nicely done.

You can edit your museum layout, even rotate and move the specimens and buy/add decorations.

A completely unexpected tier of game design was the stick figure icon which would let you do a 3-D walkthrough of your personal museum design.  Wow.  It only adds flair, no new options, but it is very well done.

There is an overall character level progression.  Each new level unlocks a new dig site, a museum expansion and "varied rewards".  The XP feels very slow coming, but you do get 10xp for a new bone, 100 or 110xp for a completed skeleton, and 25xp per 100 coins spent on decorations.

Anne & I are both enjoying this one.  I went ahead and paid the $4.99 for the no-ad version.  This mainly lets you get things you would otherwise have to watch videos to earn.  It does not feel too overpowered.  The whole production is well designed and balanced.  So far, this is my pick for a dino digger game, but it looks like there are over 20 others to maybe look at.