Get your designing hat on! (Theme Park World (PC))

Member Name: sagat

Product:	Theme Park World (PC)
Date:	16/02/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Addictive play!

Disadvantages: Addictive Play!!!

Theme Park World is the latest installment in the Theme series from Bullfrog/Electronic Arts. Having not played a version since the heady days of the Megadrive version back in the early Nineties, I was curious to see what had changed.

The short answer to that question is- not a lot. It is still essentially the same game, which to me, is more or less a good thing.

The graphics have been given a fancy overhaul. You are now able to ride on some attractions and play sideshow games yourself. Initially this is quite novel, but after spending a couple of minutes on a rollercoaster, it was not a feature I was fussed to return to. Similarly, the sidegames are fun for a few minutes, but there was no real replayability for me. You can zoom in and out of the action quickly and easily, which makes navigating your park nice and easy.

In terms of sound, it is fairly standard music and effects. Nothing particularly stands out and grabs you, but it does not grate on you either. Considering how much time you can spend playing this game, I would prefer unremarkable music to irritatingly repetitive anytime!

Gameplay wise, this is the same old Theme Park with a few twists. Instead of having to conquer a variety of countries, buying and selling your parks, you now have to progress through different lands. Each land has its own style and individual themed rides. You have a budget to assign to staff, rides, shop, research and facilities and have to meet certain objectives to gain golden tickets to open other lands.

The gameplay is tried and tested and enjoyable as ever. Thankfully they have done away with the ridiculous micromanagement that was necessary in early PC versions of the original as well as the Megadrive bug to whack up the cost of your sideshow prizes to make more money (which is a shame!)

It is great fun constructing your own park and designing your unique form of rollercoaster and log flume. However, I preferred the old style of having your own plain canvas of a park to work with. Whilst I can understand why certain zones have been created for players, I used to greatly enjoy assigning different corners of my park to different themes and placing rides and accessories accordingly.

The game is still as addictive as ever and a lot of fun and frustration can be had from trying to get all the targets.

Summary: Great way to lose a weekend