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Sim Coaster

Remember when you were a kid and you were too scared to try out the roller coasters? And then when you finally get the guts to go through with it, you just can't get enough and you want to take the ride a hundred more times. Well, Sim Coaster is kinda like that - only you don't get to throw up afterwards. To put it simply, Sim Coaster is for people who enjoy creating their own park and facing the responsibilities that come with park managing. However, I think that even those of you who find this sort of game idea tedious, you should definitely consider playing it first, before you jump to hasty conclusions.

	All is well in the Polar Zone. Fun, fun, splash, splash!!

Sim Coaster is a new construction simulation that was developed by the good ol' creative team at Bullfrog. When we think back to the time of Amiga 500 and PC 486 games, we can recall Bullfrog as being one of the most resourceful and competent developers. Their titles all became gaming legends: Populous 1&2, Syndicate, Theme Park, Magic Carpet 1&2, Syndicate Wars, Dungeon Keeper, etc. Each of these games brought something revolutionary to the game industry. So, what we have before us now is yet another masterpiece that gives you, yet another opportunity to organize an amusement park, only this time with more enhanced visuals and gameplay features.

The basic story is simple: Mr. Maybury, the President of Sim Coaster, finds you trustworthy and has decides to give you the opportunity of proving that you can manage the park with utmost care. Starting as the park's corporate executive, you've been given the position of Assistant Manager and you'll have a task to expand the park and look after it as well as you can. If you should fail by any chance, the nasty, lustful, and corrupted Board of Directors will step in and take over the park. While your main goal is not to allow this to happen, you'll also need to watch over tons of other things that are going on simultaneously in your park. This means taking care of every detail, from the finances to the basic satisfaction of every single customer.

The park is divided into three main entertainment zones: Land of Invention, Polar Zone, and Arabian Nights. Each zone has its specific rides, shops and sideshows.

Ok, where to begin? I think I should start this time with presenting the downsides of this one. Normally, anybody enjoys riding roller coasters (even in a PC game), however, many aspects will arise once your little park develops into a huge 'cotton-candy' empire. The annoying part occurs once you realize how much effort and time is necessary for, say, boosting the popularity of a certain ride. Micro-managing this seemingly easy task is simply exhausting and even if you manage to set all the parameters up to highest efficiency, it will sometimes prove to be not good enough. Now, if you realize this is but one of a thousand tasks you'll find the game too knotty. Then again, if you prefer that sort of gameplay concept, this factor won't be a great vexation.

On the other hand, if you're a more down-to-earth player, this may give you splitting headaches every now and then. This, of course, depends on personal taste as there are players who like to be caught in whirlpool of micro-managing features and many of these gamers requested improvements in the previous games (which is basically why the developers focused this much on micro-management Sim Coaster in the first place). I guess what I'm getting at here is that the game will be too hard for most players at some point. Building a huge park is easy enough, but maintaining its well-earned reputation and financial status is the most intricate part of the game. Some would say that this is realistic enough and that it represents a significant improvement after Theme Park. Nevertheless, I think that some of the objectives require more attention and devotion than an ordinary player can provide.

Furthermore, the Interface doesn't seem ideal for the enormous amount of duties you need to perform. The complex micro-management system this game has requires a practical UI for completing the tasks successfully. To set an example: you need to water your plants cause they became increasingly thirsty from the last months dry period, meaning you'll need to call for a gardener. But, what happens if this gardener wishes a wage increase? Or if possibly another ten employees demand the same thing at that exact moment? The difficulty of attending to all of these matters greatly increases thanks to the unpractical interface. In short, it takes too much time to go through all the menus and options just to fix these more than frequent occurrences.

On the other hand, when you sit down to play Sim Coaster you'll find every moment a thrill of its own. Being busy with details like ride prices, general customer satisfaction, and securing a cash balance may not appear to be so amusing, but when you establish a successful park that functions perfectly in every way, you can relax and take a moment off to try out one of your fabulous rides. Taking a trip through the park on a Splashomatic and seeing the whole amusement world you created really is a memorable feeling. Plus you get to go on any ride you want, just to check out what it looks like from the sightseers' perspective. This is basically, the general idea behind Sim Coaster - to give you the opportunity to build and enjoy what you've built.

	He doesn't look well at all. The bus has arrived , lets get outta here!

The developers introduced goal-based gameplay. It gives the player a variety of comprehensive objectives to complete and promotions to earn. Each objective boils down to dealing with several challenges, which will be given to you by your supervisors or shareholders. Challenges are guaranteed to have pleasing rewards (money, gold tickets, and such). In addition, when you complete these assignments the theme zones will widen so you can build more attractions for your park, which will eventually be jam-packed with visitors. Generally, this feature doesn't just improve gameplay, but it also extends the game duration and allows you to maximize your productivity, enhance the park ride characteristics, and maintain the satisfaction of visitors - thus making the whole game more thrilling.

Besides the prolonged sensation, this feature will also give you a chance to try out 18 new coaster styles and over 100 new rides, shops, and games. Moreover, there's the new Coaster Design Kit that offers you a chance to take a brake from executive burnouts and just create rides in a more relaxing atmosphere.

Once your coaster-kingdom starts to thrive, you'll find that there's an amazing array of building models that come up throughout the expansion of your park zones. They have their own characteristics ride capacities and unique appearances. Having a rich and more colorful atmosphere, Sim Coaster also has a diversity of environments in which you can spread out your little fun-world and not get bored with the same old surroundings. As you create & ride, you'll encounter snowy, rainy, and sunny weather, therefore the environment won't be dreary for one second.

Even the free camera allows you to move around almost everywhere and zoom in any area. You can place the camera in a certain park section and just mingle with your visitors to find out how they're reacting to the park features. You can even follow a single customer, join him on a ride, and then finally see him puke around the corner. However, the fact that you can move about freely won't improve your experience unless you modify the graphic settings.

First, the graphic engine was somewhat improved, giving you a clearer picture of your delightful park; the game will look quite impressive in higher resolutions, provided you have a Voodoo 8 or a GeForce 3. Seriously though, sometimes the game looks like a rather irritating non-interactive slideshow. Fair enough, you can reduce the quality of the graphics and lessen the details, which is a shame cause you miss a lot that way.

Music and the in-game sound effects add a dose of verisimilitude to the game's atmosphere. When you stroll around the park and suddenly hear the sound of violent vomiting nearby, it sounds so authentic that, I swear, it will make you feel nauseous. Your customers have a wide variety of sound reactions to the changes you make in your park (people screaming on coasters and burping next to the drink shops). The music is cute and it agrees with the overall game ambience.

Finally we come down to the quality of gameplay. I think it's fair to say that if you sit down and decide to play this game you will undoubtedly have a lot of fun. The new goal-based system works ok, and it prolongs gameplay.

Options and features, which go with every ride you construct, are sufficiently detailed. Players who enjoyed the past theme park simulation will find this game to be even a greater challenge. If we disregard the micro-management and the heavy hardware demands, the impression is still positive, and no matter what kind of games you prefer, Sim Coaster is a universal experience that's definitely going to give you a ride you'll never forget.

			click to learn how we rate games
	Good   77		highs The notion of creating and managing a successful amusement park still works, lots of new rides and similar features, improved graphics, realistic sound;		lows Well not to nit pick, it all adds up to too much micro-management, and the clumsy interface.		stability / learning curve /