Theme Park - back on the Nintendo DS (Theme Park (DS))

Member Name: julwhite

Product:	Theme Park (DS)
Date:	09/07/09 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Addicitive game, fun to build a theme park up

Disadvantages: No missions, bit repetitive

This review is for the Nintendo DS game, Theme Park, developed and published by Electronic Arts. The game, like its predecessors on other consoles and on the PC, is to build a theme park including the rides and infra-structure and keep your guests happy as they explore your new park.

The concept of this game is quite simple, research and build rides, build infra-structure such as paths and food outlets in your park, and then open up your theme park to the paying public. Keep an eye on the needs of your visitors and make sure that you make money. Although the concept is simple, this is a very addictive game.

There is a challenge mode in the game, so you start each game afresh and have to make enough profit to be able to sell your theme park before buying another bigger one, with more rides and facilities available. You start in the UK and work your way around other countries, but unfortunately, every country is really the same challenge, so it can get repetitive after playing for a while.

Controlling the game is easy enough, using the d-pad to move around and view your park, the touch screen and stylus are used to be able to build rides, place paths and access the menus. This all works well, although it is easy to make some mistakes and have a path constructed in a place slightly different to what you intended, but it's not bad enough to be frustrating.

The display is across two screens, and changes depending on what you are doing, but the developers have ensured that the graphics are clear enough for you to be able to see what you're doing, but for all the information that you might need to be visible. When your park gets busy, it is hard to make out much detail when there are lots of people walking about. The sound in the game is a little bit irritating after a while, as it consists of some slightly irritating sound effects and repetitive background music.

The game is a throwback to the 1990s in many ways, which isn't necessarily bad (there are releases such as Impossible Mission which are from the 1980s and the days of the Commodore 64) but expectations have changed. Working through the game is fun, but it is limited, and this game really does need some missions to work through and some specific challenges to complete.

There is a two player mode which you can access on the Nintendo's wi-fi connection. This is a useful additional feature, as you are able to share your park with another player, and show them just how impressively your park is run! You can't though share, or even visit yourself, games from earlier in the game, as once you move on to a new park, the old ones are inaccessible.

The game retails for 14.99 pounds, but is currently available on Amazon for 11.80 pounds. If you are happy with a second hand copy, these are available at time of writing for around seven pounds on sites such as eBay and Amazon. The game is rated as 3+, so is suitable for children of nearly all ages.

In summary, this game is fun to play and there is a long-term interest in wanting to pick the game up again. However, there are some problems which prevent this from being a very good game, which are really the lack of missions and the lack of variety in the game itself. Once you've built one park and move to a new location, you have to start again, and although there are some new rides, there's not much more. However if you obtain this game cheaply, it's great to relive some memories from the 1990s.

Summary: Just too repetitive, needs more missions and different challenges