RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes

"Loopy Landscapes (noun)-The third and best expansion to the Rollercoaster Tycoon series"

Loopy Landscapes, an expansion for Rollercoaster Tycoon, gives you a plot of land, a bit of cash, and an objective for you to complete within the allotted time period. Sound easy and boring? Wrong! Let’s take a look at this challenging, addicting game…

Graphics (9/10)
Visually, Loopy Landscapes isn’t the great PC game, but the graphics aren’t terrible. Not quite truly 3D, Loopy Landscapes features views from four different angles, and three different zooming distances. With a limited view, it can be really hard to see what you’re doing, especially amidst many rides, guests, and stalls, where it can be that there isn’t any good view of what you’re trying to see. The guests are all basically the same character with different shirt colors and names. However, you have a couple more colors to choose from in rides than in the original RCT.

Gameplay (10/10)
Besides the fact that Loopy Landscapes is very addicting (I’ve found myself up at two in the morning trying to conquer a scenario), this isn’t a game that you’ll finish in a day. The scenarios are more varied than in the original, and get very difficult as the game progresses.

You need to maintain staff, build stalls for your guests, create a layout that’s not too confusing (the guests easily get lost), not to mention building rides that’ll please everyone-there’s the timid I-only-like-merry-go-rounds-roller coasters-are too-scary-for-me guests, and the I-want-to-go-on-something-more-thrilling-than-the-Ferris-Wheel-where=are-the-roller coasters guests. You need to learn to try to make everyone happy (easier said than done) to have a successful park.

Story/Scenario Challenge (10/10)
There isn’t really a story behind the game; you’re given a plot of land and an objective to meet within a certain period of time. So, instead of the non-existent story, I’ll talk about the scenarios.

These objectives, such as “Get 2000 guests without letting your park value drop below 700” and “Get 1500 guests by October, Year 2” get pretty difficult at the end, especially when you get small parks, where every bit of land counts, and you need to plan very carefully.

Sound (6/10)
Now in Loopy Landscapes, as opposed to the original Rollercoaster Tycoon, each ride can play its own music to help attract riders. However, the music gets annoying after awhile, and the noises the guests make (laughter, etc) don’t have much variety. Normally when I play Loopy Landscapes, I’ll turn the sound off through the game, because, besides the fact that it gets annoying, the game runs faster.

Replayability/Play Time (10/10)
This isn’t a game you’ll complete within a week, and each scenario won’t take you ten minutes. On the contrary, I’ve spent a week on a single scenario. Unless your goal is to beat the game a quickly as possible (which isn’t any fun in my opinion, you don’t get to enjoy the game) this’ll keep you busy for at least a month or two. I enjoy going back and redoing the scenarios, seeing if I can finish with more money, guests, and better rides than my previous finish.

In my opinion, you can’t actually beat the game, you can always build a better roller coaster, better layout, better scenery, happier guests, and win the various awards throughout the game (from “Best Roller Coasters” and “Best Water Rides” to “Worst Food” and “Best Bathrooms”.

Summary

Graphics-9/10
Gameplay-10/10
Sound-6/10
Replay-10/10
Overall-9

I thoroughly enjoyed this game (still do) and would highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys simulation games, and even if they don’t, I’d tell them to give it a try. The only negative thing I have to say about Loopy Landscapes is it’s very addicting; many times I’ve been up late trying to finish a scenario. As for the Buy vs. Rent, definitely buy.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/02, Updated 12/30/02