Sim Theme Park
Aren't there enough funhouse games out there - how did we end up with Sim Theme Park and Rollercoaster Tycoon coming out at about the same time? How does Sim Theme Park stack up against the Tycoonster?
First off, Sim Theme Park is far more CPU-intensive. With its 3D graphics rendered in a by-object manner, it runs nicely on my 750 but bogs down on my friends' slower systems. Part of why they render in such detail is apparent when you realize their key feature and draw: you can Ride Your Rides. Yes, click on a pirate ship, and there you are, swinging, actively looking over your own park. Bounce on a dinosaur belly, roam around a haunted house.
That's definitely fun, but it can get old quickly. What you're left with is a replica of Rollercoaster Tycoon that's harder to manage. Yes, you can set the amount to serve for drinks, or the amount of salt to put on french fries. You can control the number of patrons per ride and the number of cycles it activates. However, the interfaces for knowing which rides need maintenance, and which can be upgraded, and how people are feeling, all suffer in comparison to RCT.
The black globe-helper is cute at first - he wears different hats, and makes comments that are supposed to be helpful, but he makes them over and over again. Others in the room with me insisted I turn him off after 1/2 hour. The selection of park types is neat - Halloween, Dinosaur, Space, and Wonderland, but I like being able to customize sections of a park instead of being stuck with one theme everywhere.
There are neat touches - the trash barrels are in theme, and even the restrooms are. There is a costume shop that equips your kid patrons with cute little tiger outfits in the dinosaur land, and your entertainers wear a multitude of costumes to humor them.
I also found the rollercoaster creation easier to use, but far less feature-full, than in Rollercoaster Tycoon. You in essence lay a track, then make sections higher or lower. No loops or curls - just a basic path around.
Sim Theme Park definitely pushes its on line aspect - there are many areas to hook into their web page, or to publish your own park. You can even send snapshots of your park via email to your friends and family. Look, ma, I'm on a spinning pumpkin!
The kids come into your park in swarms, brought by local transportation. Instead of getting a steady stream or trickle, based on your park's reputation, you go through dry spells and then get swarms depending on how you're doing. You can't publicize your park either. This doesn't work out very well when you are on the edge of survival.
With all of my smaller complaints with this game, I think my main complaint is that I cannot see an individual guest's problem and help fix it. Guests meander around complaining that they are unhappy, but I can't click on them to figure out why, nor can I move them to help them out. All I know is that they are leaving. And that's what I ended up doing as well - going back to playing Rollercoaster Tycoon.
Buy Sim Theme Park on Amazon.Com
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