RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (PC)

There are loads more rollercoaters and shops and the fireworks are great. A huge variety of different people come to your park. It is way more fun and challenging. I certainly recommend it!

Really, the only tycoon games that gave me real entertainment were the roller coaster tycoon games. And this new addition is by far the best.

The graphics are smooth and are something that you can never get bored of. Much more detail has gone into the guests, who all look different and at least have there own name instead of "Guest 100023456". The park feels so much more realistic and is more flexible to play about with. Using the terrain tools are a bit tricky at first since the land isnt just squares anymore. But once you get the hang of it its almost like Sim City's god mode in a park. Infact the only thing you cant do are cliffs, ironically the only thing you could make on the original versions.

There are tonnes more rides that all seem to be based on a real ride somewhere in the world (whoever said that most of them were made up should get a kicking!) and making them has never been easier. The biggest advance being the autocomplete function that puts and end to fiddling around with the last bit of track, trying to get it to connect with the station. A new feature is the building builder function which lets you design your own buildings. This can be a little time consuming if you dont have a clear image of what you are making or what purpose it will serve, but it is still quite wonderful to add yet something else that you made to your park.

The coaster cam couldve been better. Infact, on the official website the coaster cam is amazing, but in the actual game it lacks any realistic graphics to give you any amazment or thrill. The position of the camera never feels like its in the right place, wherever you put it and the screams of the peeps is just plain scary. But it is still a neat little feature that is there if you want it.

The only thing that lets this game down is the actions of the peeps. The crowd move so slowly around the park that it is a little irritating and they seem to stick to a main pathway or open space, not bothering to go down another pathway where all your rollercoasters and amazing attractions were placed. Infact, the main thing that determines if you make a profit is where you place the que line, which is just plain stupid.

One review was titled "Good, but lots of bugs" or something along those lines. I have seen only one bug; Sometimes the roller coaster's intensity ratings drop to "low" for no real reason when it clearly has 100 massive drops and some brain churning turns. When this happens, the peeps dont want to know the ride, and so it falls into dissuse and costs alot of money. Its a silly bug that should be fixed in some patch sometime.

Having critisised the game a little, I am still going to give it 5 stars because it dosnt actually deserve half the critisism it is getting. The two points I nagged at are things that can be fixed and it is highly likely they will be with the arrival of a new add on I am sure to get. Most fans of the original won't be put down, its just the picky ones that are used to the olden days that will be dissapointed.

First there was Transport Tycoon, then Theme Park (from Bullfrog) and then came Rollercoster Tycoon 1 - which pre-empted many of the other tycoon style games. It was innovative, it was addictive, and most of all it was fun. Next came two expansions - which certainly increased your choices and did improve the game. It looked like nothing could go wrong.

But then came RCT 2 and its two poorly developed and thought out expansions - which despite all the hype did very little to improve on the original. In fact many fans (including myself) thought much of it was a backward rather than forward step.

Now, after many months of waiting comes RCT 3. With a totally new engine and new approach to the look and feel of the game. Whilst attempting to keep a lot of the favoured play style elements firmly rooted in its core.
This time it looks like they sat back and listened to the fans - they have included both night and day, fireworks, and a sandbox mode (free build).
The game still follows it's tycoon ideals, taking you through Theme Park management, almost to micromanagement levels. Rides are placed in a similar fashion to the old games, and you still have to think where you want to place each item in relation to park management (A hot dog stall next to the the whirley vomit spinner is just asking for a plethora of pavement pizza). You hire and fire staff, but now you can also train them up, and determine their payscale (Sorry Bob, no pay rise this year).
And now, you not only place your money grabbing side stalls, but you also control details down to the extras given with each item. (you want ketchup on that hot dog? You got it, but I reserve the right to charge you 20p more for it).
But it is the coasters that everyone wants in this game. (Isn't it?) And you can either plonk down ready made ones - or design your own, (including a nifty auto complete function, if your getting fed up) Then test and run them - If you don't know how to do any of this, a series of step by step tutorials are present to guide you through, until you get the hang of the new controls.
But now, thanks to the new 3d engine, you can also ride your rides and see just how that 'Looping Demon' you just created is from the peeps perspective. And not just the coasters you can jump in for a 1st person view of anything from the Teacup Merry Go Round to the Latest Dive Bomber Spin Frenzy. Each with its own customisable theming, and music - including MP3 import - so now you can not only terrify your guests with Dive Bomb Frenzy, you can finish off your latest evil design with Limp Bizkit or Donny Osmand (now that should really get them regurgitating their lunch)
And talking of guests, thanks to Frontier's involvement on this development, you no longer have 200 little clones of Johnny B, you have parties of Male & Female in every ages size and colour you can think of, bringing with them their own preferences.
Park theming appears to follow full park methods, including triggered events and objects that animate as you coaster reaches a certain point.

And if you get fed up with all that, you can spend your time using the inbuilt fireworks creator, trying to synch a display to 'Ride the Lightning' or the 1812 overture.
All in all, it looks like Roller Coaster Tycoon has returned to being what it was best at, A fun Game. The only reason I did not give it 5 Stars - Is because (as I said at the start) this is on the demo, rather than full version, so overall limitations etc., were not aproachable. (i.e. just how much I can cram in one space without my PC falling over).

Lastly, to take full advantage of the many wonderful 3d textures and camera actions in this new game, is naturally going to demand a lot from your PC, namely, if your box is a couple of years old and straining at the seams, you are going to have to turn off many of the higher features to get it to run smoothly, but such is the price of modern gaming tech everywhere. Personally I found it to run as smoothly as a heavily greased sausage down a soap sud slalom, even on max, but then I have a PC that it should've done, and even the demo appeared to have a selectable config that would backtrak in resoloution and feature in an attempt to accomadate all but the new dinosaurs in the PC world (which is about 18 months these days).