Building roller coasters is unbelievably addictive.
Holy mother of addictive god. As if Lords of the Realm 2 isn’t extremely addictive already, I recently installed Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, and these two games have been keeping my neck strained as I hunch down to look at my netbook screen – better fix this problem using this guide. A little cautionary tale.
Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 is one of the most unique games out there. It comes as one of the most outstanding games of the early 2000′s due to the fact that it is extremely unique, and it is also lots of fun.
In the spirit of tycoon games, your goal is to ensure that you manage your theme park well and you make a lot of dough. Yep, that’s pretty much the basis of a lot of missions. Sometimes the missions have other requirements such as ensuring that your park rating does not drop below a certain score, or that you have a certain amount of rides that have a high excitement rating, etc., but the basis of the game is that you need the dough so that you can keep the park clean and tidy, and always with new rides that are enticing and exciting.
Well, f***...
The game is quite engrossing because of one key feature – designing roller coasters. While your park must contain other elements such as ‘Gentle Rides’ and ‘Thrill Rides’, which are basically rides such as a ferris wheel or a rocking ship, designing a roller coaster will be the feature that will keep you coming back for more.
In order to make a roller coaster entertaining, you have to know your crowd and design rides that are not too intense, not too nauseating, but are as exciting as possible. ProTip: high lateral G-forces will cripple your ride.
Then comes the other little bits of the game, and what I like to call the ‘nitty-gritty’. Your rides don’t last forever, they break. So you have to make sure your mechanic is always on-site, not stuck in the sticks where he’ll take three (in-game) months to arrive from the jungle to the broken ride.
People puke too and that’s because they refuse to go into a toilet to let it all out, or head to a first-aid clinic, so they vomit on the path. It almost feels like it’s Theme Hospital as you call a handyman (yes, they’re all men) out.
As you build your next great masterpiece, keep that financial statement window open, so you can conveniently loan thousands.
Lastly, certain eccentric individuals also pay a premium to enter your park, and then head out to vandalize the benches, which is a sign you don’t have enough po-po patrolling.
But despite all these, the game is extremely entertaining because of how it gives you satisfaction to be the owner of a high-rating, revenue generating park.
The best part about this game is that it runs smoothly on all netbooks, because the game is essentially a throwback to the heydays of 256-colour, meaning that you won’t need any fancy graphics card – Intel GMA would do fine. It even supports widescreen displays natively, how rare!
Like
Building roller coasters!
A well-managed park is a reward in its own
Dislike
It can get repetitive if you play this game constantly over a short period of time
Verdict
As always, a game with a good concept can last through all sorts of ageing. While RCT2 has pretty old-skool graphics and cutesy music, the game makes a great tycoon game because it has a great build-it-yourself concept, a bit like how Lego is fun. The endless combination of roller coasters, dealing with the ‘nitty-gritty’, and then launching your way to capitalist heaven makes RCT2 a must-have.
Gameplay: So simple, yet so addictive.
Graphics: A throwback to the mid-90s.
Work needed to get game to play: None!
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Awesome article as always.
I really like this site you’re doing an awesome job.
I do wish there would be more love for netbooks but hey you can’t have everything
Seriously one of my ol’ time favs! I still leave it in my computer, playing it as a ‘break’ between those fanciful high graphic/action/blahblah modern games.
The update from RCT1 to RCT2 is purr-fect. Doubt about RCT3 though.