Rollercoaster Tycoon 3D
Review
Running off the rails
by William Thompson
reviewed on 3DS
A smooth take-off
Ever since Theme Park, I have enjoyed managing my own little world in the Fun Park business. I loved Sim City, but… well… Fun parks are just so much more fun than dreary cities with their town halls and taxes. Setting up popcorn stalls and Ferris Wheels are arguably more interesting than Fire Stations and Schools. So when there was news of a portable version for the 3DS, I immediately went about finding a copy. What better way to make my daily commute more enjoyable than to build Thrill rides and Speedy Rollercoasters and be able to virtually ride on them in 3D?
And you can certainly do that in RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D. After building your favourite ride or coaster, you can watch as you spin around at high speeds or climb on a rollercoaster track to a peak and then zoom down at breakneck speed. The 3D effects are certainly a nice touch as you can see the whole park from your vantage point at the top of the highest ride, or from an upside down position whilst strapped to a ride completing a loop-de-loop.
Game modes
The game comes shipped with a number of game modes. The Coaster Story mode is basically a tutorial for the game, with an old experienced geezer showing the way things are run to a young upstart. It serves its purpose well enough, with a few challenges thrown in, but a regular tutorial would have sufficed without the convoluted story. It does pay to go through the tutorial though, as the idiosyncrasies of the 3DS version are explained quite well and prepare you for the other game modes
The Coaster Creator mode lets you do just that… create rollercoasters. Gamers are able to use this mode to test out and play around with all the various rollercoasters types. Unfortunately, apart from the mode being a testing ground for rollercoaster designs, there is little else to it. Indeed, there aren’t even any challenges linked to it. Maybe if there were challenges such as building a coaster that reached a certain speed or was a certain distance in length it would have some lasting appeal. But as it stands, there is almost no reason to play it.
The Sand Box mode on the other hand is far more enjoyable. You are given a clean slate to work with and it is here that you can design and build your ultimate Fun Park. All the rides and facilities are open to play with as you please. As well as the fun stuff, there are also the more mundane items that guarantee a better quality park such as trash cans, park benches and an array of plant life to beautify the surroundings.
5.0
fun score
Pros
3D effects are cool. Viewing your park from the top of a Rollercoaster is great.
Cons
No managerial skills required and a number of visual bugs.
