 When I first heard about Roller Coaster Tycoon, two different thoughts
entered my mind: "Is this a cheap Railroad Tycoon ripoff?" and "Maybe
it’s like Theme Park". Well, as it turns out, if you cross the two games
together, you have a pretty good idea of what Roller Coaster Tycoon is like. Happily, it
takes the best aspects of both games and blends them into a challenging, addictive and
downright fun combination.The object of the game is to build a successful theme park
using a combination of architectural and managerial skills to please your customers, and
grow your amusement park into a bustling, thriving business. Factors you must consider
include ticket prices, ride placement, advertising, promotional activities and, of course,
roller coaster design. Like SimCity, you must carefully plan your budget to generate a
positive monthly income so that you can fund improvements to your park; this can be quite
an undertaking in its own right. There are dozens of factors to consider when building a
new attraction in your park. Placement, novelty and ticket price are the most important
ones; you want your rides and businesses to draw patrons into your park, exposing them to
all your attractions and wringing every last dollar out of their pockets. By placing your
big attractions (read: roller coasters) at the back of your park, you will draw most of
the people through the rest of your buildings and rides if you’ve designed your
pathways correctly. New attractions draw more interest, so you can set the ticket prices
higher and make more money initially, but as time goes on and the novelty wears off you
may have to decrease pricing to keep people lining up. Your coasters will be the
cornerstones of your park, in both a financial and popular sense, so make sure they are
well-placed and well-designed.
 Speaking of design, that is one area where the game excels. The design tools
are like a three-dimensional railroad construction set. You can choose from several
different types of coasters, ranging from the old wooden supports to suspended steel
designs to log flumes. Track is laid down one section at a time, starting with the
station. To lift cars to the top of humps, you add chains to the track sections. In
addition to inclines and declines, you can add turns of several different radiuses and
even banked turns on some rides, including corkscrews and loops. There is a limit to the
maximum height you can go above ground, but you can tunnel through hillsides and below
ground. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination, funding and space. One
great feature is the ability to save your coaster designs and import them into future
parks. You can even upload them to the Roller Coaster Tycoon site and download designs
from other tycoons. If you’re not feeling particularly ambitious, you can just choose
the pre-built designs and start raking in the bucks, but designing layouts is one of the
most entertaining aspects of the game, and you’ll miss out on a lot if you don’t
try it.
 A happy customer is willing to spend more time and money in your park. To
keep your customers coming back for more, you must cater to all their needs. Setting up
food and drink stands, restrooms and information booths throughout the park will insure
that no guest will get too hungry or lost. Be careful about placing food and drink stands
too close to your highly nauseous rides, though, or you’ll have a lot of sickness to
clean up. You’ll also want to place trash bins, benches and lampposts liberally
throughout your park. A clean, bright park is more attractive than a dim, dirty one, of
course.
To keep things running smoothly, you’ll have to hire personnel to help you.
You’ll need handymen to clean away debris, mow lawns and water plants. Mechanics will
inspect your rides to keep them in top working order and repair any that break down. And
security guards patrol your park, preventing vandalism and keeping order. All these
workers will cost you a pretty penny, but they are essential to your success, so hire them
and treat them well.
 Visually, Roller Coaster Tycoon is a feast for the eyes. The graphics are
crisp and colorful, with great detail and two levels of zoom, allowing you a birds-eye
view or a close up perspective of your park. The colors used for each ride can be adjusted
to suit your tastes, so if you want to create a park with a particular color scheme you
can. The animations show the individual patrons as they wander through your park, getting
in line for your rides, using your facilities and enjoying themselves on your masterful
creations. The sound is also excellent, with different music for each type of ride, from a
cheerful melody for the merry-go-round to a pounding beat for the bumper cars. Sound
effects are good too, though there is no support for EAX or A3D. DirectX 5.0 is required,
and is included on the game disc. The manual, though not fantastic, is adequate and
contains some useful tips on getting the most out of your rides and funds.
Two other things are worthy of special mention. The terrain is quite varied, ranging
from grassland to desert depending on the scenario you are playing. If you want, you can
make any modifications to the terrain you want, from adding trees and water to creating or
leveling hills and valleys. The tools are quite powerful but take a bit of time to become
proficient with. They are also quite expensive to use – moving earth is a pricey
undertaking. Also, if you run out of space in the park with the land you’re given you
can use some of your money to buy more so you gain room to expand, but again, this is
quite expensive.
 There are two things I would have really liked to see in the game. The first
is a sandbox mode, similar to Railroad Tycoon 2, where you can build and test rides
without time or money restrictions. As the game stands now, you are limited to the
scenarios that come with the game. Even though they are quite varied and can be different
every time they are played, I would have liked a bit more variation. The other thing I
wanted is the ability to climb into the roller coasters and ride from a first-person
perspective. This would require a sophisticated and powerful 3D engine, however, and would
have added a lot to development time. Nevertheless, it would have been a wonderful
addition to a fine game.
Overall, Roller Coaster Tycoon is an unexpected gem in a sea of mediocrity. While
visually appealing and quite detailed in many areas, the game’s biggest asset is that
it’s fun. I found myself engrossed for hours, watching the park grow and
operate, tweaking the terrain and business factors, and designing novel roller coaster
layouts. Few games have kept me up till the sun rises in the morning, but Roller Coaster
Tycoon managed to do just that. Gamers who like simulations and anyone who wants to build
roller coasters or theme parks should pick up this game immediately. Congratulations,
Microprose – you have a winner here.
--Derek
Meyer |
