Cheaper than the real thing (Theme Park World (PC))

Member Name: MR.COATES

Product:	Theme Park World (PC)
Date:	18/06/01 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Update to a classic game, Plenty of new features

Disadvantages: Not a great update, Low replay value

‘Sim’ games have become incredibly popular over the years thanks to the likes of Sim City, The Sims, Theme Hospital and the most famous of them all Theme Park. Bullfrog became very famous for their original game and after the game had appeared on various platforms it was decided that an update was well overdue.
So what did we get? Theme Park World, that’s what.

All the principles from the original game are there, you build a park, employ staff, research rides etc but many elements of the original have been updated.

Visuals:
Sequels that are a year apart can be completely different in the graphical department so it shouldn’t be too much of a shock to find out that TPW (Theme Park World) has had quite a dramatic overhaul with its visuals. Instead of the simple 2-dimensional overhead view you now have a 3-dimensional view that can be altered to view from different angles. You can even go down to ground level and be among the visitors!
The rides are also much more detailed and in fact everything in the game is much more up to date compared to the original. They’re still very much functional though and I’m surprised that the highest resolution is only 800x600 but this game is about playability, not visuals so it’s a forgivable point.

Sound:
Again, there is so much going on here that the sound becomes quite unimportant. You can hear your rides, you can hear the visitors enjoying themselves and there is one last thing that you will hear. The friendly assistant. With his comedy Scottish accent and generally irritating behaviour. You thought Jar Jar Binks was annoying in Star Wars? Well you’ll think that Jar Jar was a comedy genius once you’ve heard this Muppet.
At first it’s quite amusing, the advice is certainly helpful and the Scottish accent is irrelevant really but after an hour of playing you’ll be wanting to launch him out of the window.
The sounds are
realistic though and although there doesn’t appear to be a hyped ‘sampled from REAL rides’ claim, the rides sound like the real thing which is good.

Features:
To my knowledge there are five parks to choose from and this is the big difference between this and the previous version. You used to have different sized parks with differently themed areas but now you actually have completely themed parks. For example one of them is a Jurassic Park theme and the rides within it are all based around that theme. I think this actually works quite well but in a way it’s more realistic to have different themes within the park as opposed to a whole park with just one theme.
It doesn’t matter though as each of the five parks are quite different and this also means that there is a much larger selection of rides available.
You can’t just jump in anywhere either, you can choose to have training but other than that the only thing that holds you up is the requirement for keys. These keys allow you to access the other parks and you earn them by achieving tasks within the existing parks that you have accessed.

As before you have to hire (and fire!) staff, completely plan the park from paths to rides, set entrance charges and even decide how much ice goes in the drinks! It’s not as difficult as it sounds but the key point is that if you played the original Theme Park then you should be fine. Otherwise have a run through the training level to get you started.

Playability:
It’s all about fun and that’s something that Bullfrog have successfully done here. The rides are great and unlike in the previous game you actually get to ride the ride you built. That means that you ride the actual rollercoaster instead of a generic one that came with the game. You’ll also notice that when you do go on one of the rides that you can see the rest of the park (as you would in real life).

I find th
at after an hour or so the game can become a little boring on one park but as long as you’re progressing to get those keys then you’ll be kept interested as each new park brings something new to the gameplay.

System Requirements:
 Windows 95/98
 Intel Pentium 200MHz MMX
 32MB free system RAM
 300MB free hard drive space
 4 x CD-ROM
 4MB Video Card
 Requires Video and Sound Card compatible with DirectX 6.1 (Supplied on CD)
 Direct3D requires a 3D Accelerator with full Direct3D driver support

I’m sure you’ll agree that the above specs aren’t anything too demanding but for some reason this game runs like a dog once you’ve got a load of rides in any of the parks. My PC is an AMD K6-2 450, 256 RAM, 8Gb hard drive, 32xDVD ROM and a 16mb Voodoo 3 2000. So if the minimum specs are right this should have no problem on my PC even when the park has loads going on it.

This is pretty much my only criticism, the game is a decent update, loads of new (and improved) features but I don’t believe a PC with the minimum specs will run this game once you’ve started building up one of the parks.

The good thing though is that this is now available on budget for a mere £10 so for that this really is a must have if you haven’t yet tried it (just like I hadn’t!).

MR.COATES

Summary: