Vizzed's First Roller Coaster Tycoon ReviewOn March 31 1999, one of my favorite PC games of all time was released in North America. That game was Roller Coaster Tycoon, which is a simulation game created by the genius known as Chris Sawyer. In RCT, you get to build and manage your own amusement park. The game was extremely successful, so expansion packs and sequels were made. But since nobody on this website has made a review for any of the games in the series, I feel like it's necessary to begin where the series first started. Before the sequels and expansion packs, there was this game, which I'll now review.
Graphics: 9/10 Roller Coaster Tycoon has great graphics for it's time. All the rides from a simple merry-go-round to the massive roller coasters look very realistic. I also love the variety of scenery such as trees and flowers, which can be used to make your amusement park look more attractive. My only issue with the graphics is the fact that if the tracks for a bunch of rides are to close to each other, you'll have a hard time adding another ride around that area. This is a big problem, especially in parks where you don't have very much room to work with. Despite this issue, the graphics are good enough for me for me to give them a 9.
Sound: 8/10 The sound effects and music in Roller Coaster Tycoon are great. I really like how you're able to choose from a variety of music to play for your guests while they're waiting in line for a ride. I also like that the sound effects for roller coasters as well as the guests screams as they go down a hill are very realistic. While the music in RCT won't blow you away, it's good enough for me to give the sound an 8.
Addictiveness: 10/10 Roller Coaster Tycoon is one of the most addicting games I've ever played. There aren't many games out there that give you as much creative freedom as RCT. There are so many rides to choose from. You have gentle rides such as merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels and bumper cars, there's thrill rides such as go karts and swinging ships, water rides such as log flumes and river rapids, transport rides such as miniature railroads and chairlifts, and of course there's the main attractions, the roller coasters. The Roller Coasters are where your imagination truly comes in. What you want the roller coaster to look like and how big and long you want it are completely up to you, as long as you have enough funds of course. How many of these rides are in your park and where you want to place them are your choice as well. You can make rides go or be underground. Making sure your guests are happy is extremely important. You've gotta make sure there's enough food stalls, drink stalls and restrooms as well as making a variety of rides so that your guests don't leave. Also you need to make sure you have enough employees as well. janitors clean the puke and trash off the paths and mow the lawn, mechanics make sure that your rides won't break down, and if they do, they'll fix them, and entertainers are there to... well, entertain your guests! While you're doing all this, you've gotta make sure you're going to meet the objective of each park. Do this, and you can either continue working on your park, or move on to the next scenario. With all this stuff you've gotta do, you'll lose track of time because of how much fun you're having. Because of all these reasons, I'm giving the addictiveness a 10 like it deserves!
Story: N/A RCT doesn't have a storyline, therefore I'm leaving this category blank.
Depth: 9/10 RCT has plenty of content that will keep you busy for some time. There are a total of 22 scenerios for you to complete, and most of them will take several hours to finish. The only major complaint I have for this category is the fact that this game doesn't have a true sandbox mode. The closest thing to a sandbox mode that this game has is Mega Park. That scenerio doesn't have an objective and it doesn't give you a time limit, but at the same time it doesn't even give you an infinite amount of money to work with. If a true sandbox mode would've been added, I would've given the depth a 10. But since this isn't the case, I'm giving the depth a 9 instead.
Difficulty: 4/10 The game itself isn't too hard and it's pretty easy to learn. The scenarios in Roller Coaster Tycoon either require you to reach a certain amount of guests, or reach a certain park value within a time limit. While most of these objectives may look easy, they can sometimes be kinda difficult, especially in the smaller parks such as Dinky Park, where you have much less room to be creative and add bigger roller coasters. Also it's important to watch your money. If you're in the middle of building a roller coaster and you run out of money, you'll either have to get a loan, or wait until you make enough money to continue building. Having to keep all this in mind can create a challenge, but it's not too hard. For these reasons, I'm giving the difficulty a 4.
Overall Score: 9/10 Roller Coaster Tycoon is not only one of the best PC games of all time, but it's also one of the best simulation games ever made as well. With some of the most addicting gameplay you'll find in a simulation game, as well as plenty of stuff to do, and great graphics for it's time, Roller Coaster Tycoon is one of the best experiences you'll find on a PC. The only issues I had with the game were a lack of a true sandbox mode and the fact that rides can be hard to build if there's a bunch of other rides in that area. But overall, these issues aren't enough to take a lot away from the experience that is Roller Coaster Tycoon. For these reasons, I'm giving this game an overall score of 9.
Graphics
9 Sound
8 Addictive
10 Depth
9 Difficulty
4
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