Sim Theme Park

"If the idea of creating and maintaning a Theme Park sounds like your kind of game, Theme Park World is probably the way to go..."

Introduction
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I’m not quite sure what it is, but the idea of running my own theme park is extremely appealing. It may because I am a roller coaster (and other insane rides) freak, or it may be something else. But whatever it is, every time I hear of a new Theme Park creation game, I follow it very closely.
There are two games that stand out in my mind, the original Theme Park game, which came out for the PC in about 1994 I believe, and was a pretty cool game, but wasn’t extremely extensive, option wise, and Rollercoaster Tycoon, which came out a few years after Theme Park. Rollercoaster Tycoon however wasn’t focused on managing a theme park as much as it was based around the design, creation and tweaking of rides.
When I heard that Theme Park World was coming out I got excited. When I saw the first screenshot of the game I got even more excited, because by the look of it, Theme Park World would be a really cool game. It was just up to Bullfrog, a division of Electronic Arts to make the game all that I wanted, funnily enough, when the game did finally come out crazy Pyro Vesten went right out and picked up a copy, not knowing if the game was any good or not. Would I come to regret this decision, or be glad I got the game as soon as I could? Well, looking at this review, I think it’s apparent that the latter best describes how I fell about the game.

Gameplay
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For me, the idea of managing my own theme park is awesome. And Bullfrog have done a very good job or bringing an experience that few people in the real world have, and put it right into my PC.

The first thing you’ll notice when you load up Theme Park World is that it is set in a fantasy world. Despite its “unrealistic” look, at its heart, t Theme Park World is as realistic simulation of what running a Theme Park would be like.

To help you get a handle on the game, and also give you some pointers and tips along the way is your, I suppose you’d call him a guide. He pops up in the bottom right hand corner of the screen now and then to let you know things such as “The visitors think your ticket price is a steal, perhaps you should raise it” or perhaps “the visitors to your park aren’t very happy…. This isn’t good”. He’s there to tell you all the stuff you need to know from a managerial point of view, as well as letting you know when you are close to earning a golden ticket, which I’ll explain about a little more a bit later.

The basic idea of Theme Park World is to build successful, efficient and profitable Theme Parks. Doing so won’t be a simple task, as you’ll have to tinker and tweak with prices of food, drinks and merchandise, as well as their quality, monitor the conditions of rides, as well as set how fast they are, how many people ride at a time, how long rides last for and more. Everything you change will affect something. Upping the quality of goods will also increase the cost it takes to produce them, making rides faster will cause them to break down more often and so on.

You can build just about anything you want. There are all kinds of rides for you to unlock (by having a successful park) and build. Ride wise there are rollercoasters, kart racers, bouncing castles, water rides and just about every other kind of ride you’ll find in a real life theme park. As well as building rides you can build sideshows, including the famous strength tester. Building sideshows can increase your profits, and also add more excitement to your park.
On top of those, you can build burger shops, fries shops, steakhouses, ice cream parlours, plus souvenir shops and more.

Basically, rides are for entertainment, and are the number one thing to build in your parks, shops are to keep the visitors happy, not hungry and also add some profits on the side, sideshows are for extra entertainment, and give you another opportunity to make money.

You’ll need to employ staff to keep your park working perfectly, cleaners, security guards, researches (who think up new rides, shop and whatever else) and mechanics to repair rides.

You control everything in your park. From how much ice is put in your drinks, to how much you pay your staff. Everything.
You decide where paths will go, how long ride queues are, where you put your rubbish bins, security cameras and toilets and much more.

As your park becomes more successful, you’ll be rewarded with golden tickets, which can be used to access new rides, new themes for your parks and more. Also, every so often your helper will pop up with a challenge, that if you meet you will be rewarded with a nice cash prize. He may for example challenge you to sell 60 balloons in the next 30 days.

Another great aspect of Theme Park World is the ability to explore your park in first person mode, as well as ride your rides! Yep, that’s right, you can hop in your rides just like the visitors of your park a see if you can’t hurl up lunch.

And if you want to know how your park is going, Bullfrog have that covered as well. There is a rather extensive stats screen, which shows park takings, staff wages, visitors in and loads of other stuff.

Theme Park World delivers a really fun and engaging Theme Park Creation and management game.

8.8/10

Graphics
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Theme Park World certainly wasn’t the best looking game on the market when it came out, that’s for sure. You play the game from about a 3/4 top down perspective, but you can rotate the camera around objects, as well as zoom in and out
All of the rides, shops, sideshows and buildings are made from 3d models with decent textures, but they sport a very low poly count. This means that you can have a hell of a lot of stuff on screen at once, with no slowdown.
The guests who walk about your park are 2D animated, multi-angle sprites. From your normal perspective, even zoomed in as far as you can they look fine. Hop into first person mode and have a walk around and you have a different story, from that close, most of them look very average, and there is a noticeable amount of light blue fog when walking about the park. But, I’m not complaining, it’s better to have the option there than to not.

As far as graphical tweaking options go, Theme Park World hasn’t got a great deal to offer, which is unfortunate, because I would have loved to have been able to jack up the res, push back the fog (in first person mode), increase the texture quality, and even select higher poly models. I’m not complaining however, because the game still looks decent, just not great.

7.9/10

Sound
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Nothing in Theme Park World really stands out, sound wise, but just about every aspect of sound that should have been covered, has.

The sound effects are plentiful in Theme Park World. You can head kids screaming on rides, laughing and talking. You hear rides clunking, people’s balloons popping (on the odd occasion) and more.
Hang around the exit to a fast rollercoaster for a minute or two. I’m sure you’ll hear someone blowing chunks all over the place in that time as well.

Another thing worth mentioning is the voice of your little helper. Everything he says, he actually speaks. He’s got a English accent, is voice is crisp and clear, and quite a lot of samples have been recorded, so he doesn’t sound too repetitive.

Theme Park Worlds music could be best described and suited and adequate. In each of the different themes parks, you’ll hear music reflective of the theme. In the lost kingdom you’ll hear jungle type beats, as well as the sounds of dinosaurs for added effects. In the Halloween theme you’ll hear eerier music and so on. While the music isn’t great it does the job.

8.6/10

Multiplayer
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I must admit, I haven’t really given the online “multiplayer” of Theme Park World a go. I just don’t really have the need to try it.
Basically, you can trade parks with people, send postcards (screenshots) or your park to other people, and compete in “best theme park” competitions. I’m sure this is all good and well, but the fact that it didn’t appeal to me enough to make me want to even try it out has to say something..

6/10

Originality
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Off the top of my head, I can only think of two Theme Park creation and management games. Theme Park, and Theme Park World. If you are about to remind my of Rollercoaster Tycoon, remember, that is more of a ride creation game.
Considering that both of the theme park creation and management games are by the same company, that has got to count towards originality a whole lot.
I’m sure there would be other theme park games out there, but I haven’t played them :P

The idea of a theme park management and creation game is very original, and as far as I know the only other game along similar lines was made by the same people that made this.

9.1/10

Controls
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It’s a lot harder for me to judge the controls of PC games over console games…. I’m not toally sure why though.

Anyway, the controls are basic and very effective. You won’t be overwhelmed with 30 different keys to use, nor will you be pissed because you can’t do this or that. If you’ve got a scroll wheel mouse all the better.

8.8/10

Replayability
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I’m sure not everyone will get as much fun out of this game as I do. But I still play it every once in a while, to see if I can still make a great and successful park. I can see myself years from now still whipping this out every once in a while.

8.9/10

Difficulty
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When you first start out, if you’re anything like me, you’ll end up bankrupt. It will take a bit of experience with Theme Park World before you can make a park that stays in the black. It’s easy to employ too many staff, build too many rides and not charge enough for goods and services because you want to make the visitors to your park happy.
Once you’re used to the game, as long as you keep a good eye on things you’ll be able to maintain a successful, fun and profitable park without too much difficulty.

Load Times
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The only load screens you’ll find here are for the opening FMV’s and when you start a new park (as well as loading a saved game). The parks won’t take too long to load, and I have nothing to complain about here.

Pros
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(_) You can build and manage your own theme parks. This is really fun (for me at least).
(_) People spew after eating and then going on a crazy ride quite often.

Cons
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(_) Not everyone will like Theme Park World as much as I do.

Buy/rent
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Rent first. I’m not going to recommend you go out and buy this because I know that there will be people that don’t like the game at all. One look at the current reviews for this game will tell you that.
If you like the idea of running your own theme parks, you’ll probably like this game a lot. Even if you don’t, it is probably still worth renting.

Overall
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Personally, I really like Theme Park World. It’s not for everyone, but if the idea of creating and maintaining theme parks is appealing to you then this is probably a good purchase.
You’d be able to find a used copy of this fairly cheaply now I presume.

Good stuff, but not for everyone.

Overall
8.8/10 (Rounded to 9/10 for GameFAQs)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/01, Updated 09/01/01