When it comes to my childhood, Roller Coaster Tycoon played a major part. Recently Steam introduced its Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic collection, which included RollerCoaster Tycoon® 2: Triple Thrill Pack, RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3: Platinum and RollerCoaster Tycoon®: Deluxe. It was surprising that it was only 78AED and because it was my childhood favorite, I decided to buy it.
I never liked the 2nd and 3rd edition of this game so I’ll only talk about the 1st and my ultimate favorite. The now famous and legendary developer, Chris Sawyer, developed this theme park game back in 1995 for Windows 95 and it was a hit among all kids.
What made it a hit was its simplicity and anyone with a basic computer knowledge could play. To start a new game, all you had to do was choose a park from the list then the following park will provide objectives for you to complete. Objectives can/may include reaching X park rating, achieving X company value, having X number of coasters, and more. All you have to do is develop your park to reach the objectives. It does sound easy, but here is the catch; for every objective, you will have a time limit (eg.Finish before year 3) to finish them off. I never liked that and I had to spend countless hours redoing the park objectives so that I can unlock the next one.
Yes, RollerCoaster Tycoon might not sound like our NextGen Call of Duty or Battlefield games, but the concept is the same. You always had to finish your present park objectives (in COD will call it a mission) to unlock the next Park and its objectives.
As the name of the game implies, you will have to spend time building rides and the other facilities you would normally find in a real life theme park. This is nothing different to that. The game might not have the best graphics but you will always feel the responsibility on your shoulder to get the task done.
The 1st edition included transport rides, roller coaster, water rides, thrill rides and obviously shops. My ultimate favorite was always water rides because I was able to get 100s of customers to tag along. As you are the park owner, you have to manage every single ride, shop, and stall you create. Tapping on a building opens a pop-up, with settings for operation (like minimum waiting times for rides), ticket prices, and more. You can also see what guests think of a certain building, which is critical to maintaining a high park ranking and a steady cash flow. For example, if many of your guests call your ride “a great deal,” you can bump up the ticket price a small amount without most guests causing a fuss. Or if your guests are complaining about the price, you will likely have to lower it to keep a good park rating.
I’m sure the present generation will not like this game because of the graphics. But then not all games with amazing graphics are good. So if I were to pick a classic I would definitely pick this without a doubt.
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