RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 - PC Game Review

Most folks that know me know one thing: I am a Rollercoaster fanatic. We spend every summer traveling, with 2 goals in mind: to hit a new RenFest, and to coordinate that with riding the newest and baddest Coasters in the country. I am also a Sim freak. Therefore, it was only natural I would be attracted to Rollercoaster Tycoon.

This was the first of the 'tycoon' games, and still the best out there. Rollercoaster Tycoon was a hit of mega proportions. This is a simulation game, and the goal is to build the best Amusement Park in the country. You get a variety of rides to choose from, along with refreshment booths and souvenir stalls. You can also build your own coasters. Yeah Baby!

Shortly after Rollercoaster Tycoon hit the scene, it was followed by various add-ons such as Loopy Landscapes, which added new park scenarios and a wider variety of rides. Then came the big daddy of them all: Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. This is a combo of RCT and both expansion packs... plus a ton more!

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 has several new park scenarios, including quite a few Six Flags properties such as Magic Mountain, Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Belgium, and Six Flags Holland. Along with these new parks are the rides found at these parks. Sweeeeeeet! Now you, too, can have X, the only multi-dimension coaster in the world, at your very own park. Not to mention Colossus, Judge Roy Scream, Great American Scream Machine... and tons of other Six Flags rides.

Also new in Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 are various concession stands, like the First Aid booth which helps those pansies getting off of Scream Machine. It lessens the messes your park staff have to clean up...grin. There's now more food, like the addition of submarine sandwiches and Tea stands.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 also made the parks bigger in free-build... 4 times bigger than in the original Rollercoaster Tycoon in fact. Trust me, you will still end up with your park jammed full of the best rides in the world. I often have Coasters looping through other Coasters. Very cool, that.

Also, now there is a new separate Coaster Design program so you can build your coaster outside of the game and just plop it in later, as opposed to the old way of having to spend your too-little funds and time building them in-game while your guests wait impatiently.

The new Vertical Scenery Construction lets you build all manner of cool things: tunnels for your coasters to zip through and more buildings for your guests to snap pictures of. In other words, you are no longer limited to just the scenery theme objects. You can go wild designing your own. Speaking of themes though, you also now get a Pirate theme, Wild West, and a Giant Garden complete with moving insects such as a giant butterfly that flaps it's wings.

Increased Customization Options for Rides and Attractions : This lets you change just about everything on the pre-designed rides, from the color of individual cars to an increased music selection.

The best part is the building enhancements in Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, which make rides easier to build. For example, You no longer have to remove every single stinking tree to put in that new Giga Coaster, it's automatic now. YES!

As always, there are a myriad of scenarios you can play. Some require reaching a certain park value, others a minimum park score plus visitor number. All these give you a different park in various stages of construction and/or decay to start with. Personally, I like starting from scratch and building my own park on my own terms... like, unlimited funds!

Which brings me to the new scenario editor. Awesome! You can go into the editor and choose your layout, build paths and themes, pick which rides you want and when you want them developed, level land and put in water... all sorts of stuff.

The graphics in Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 are the same as Rollercoaster Tycoon...which is to say fantastic. You can zoom out to see the whole park at once, or zoom way in and watch individual guests and see how they are reacting to your park. It isn't absolutely perfect, but it's as close as any game I've ever played has gotten so far.

The music is also very nice: crisp and clean. Crowd noises are realistic and must have been recorded at an actual park. I play with my speakers turned up fairly good, and have no distortion what so ever.

The Nitty Gritty Guy Stuff....
Operating System: Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP
Processor: Pentium® II 300 MHz or equivalent
Memory: 64 MB RAM (128 MB recommended)
Hard Disk Space: 120 MB free (200 MB recommended)
CD-ROM Drive: 4X or higher (8X Recommended)
Video: Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible video card*
Sound: Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible sound card*
DirectX®: DirectX® version 8.1 (included) or higher

* Indicates device should be compatible with DirectX® version 8.1 (included) or higher.

The PC I played On:
Operating System: Windows 2000
Processor: P3 800MHz
Memory: half a Gig of RAM
CD-ROM: 52x
Video: Er is this my Gforce?
Sound: No freaking clue
Direct X: ehhh 8.1 or higher.

The game ran extremely smooth for me, with no lag issues whatsoever. There was a small problem with getting kicked to the desktop occasionally... but that is quickly fixed with a small downloaded patch at the website...speaking of the website, they now have a Coaster Exchange there so you can upload your own creations for others, or grab theirs! Sweet. You can find this exchange at: http://www.rollercoastertycoon2.com

Lets see..what have I missed here? This is a stand-alone game, you do NOT need the original Rollercoaster Tycoon or any of the expansions to play Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, because all of that is included in Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 plus all the extras I just told you about.

The learning curve was minimal for me, popped it in and off I went... but I had been playing Rollercoaster Tycoon for a year already, so the adjustment was mainly playing with the new toys. If you've never played Rollercoaster Tycoon, you may want to browse the manual... the whole thing really is pretty self explanatory though so it shouldn't take you long at all to get the hang of it, and that's part of the fun, innit?

This game has infinite replayability. Yes, I get bored now and then and go off to another game, such as Tropico for awhile, but I always end up coming back to Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 and getting embroiled yet again for weeks in it. It's highly addicting!

The only thing that irritates me, and it's mild, is that even in the scenario editor, you still have goals. You can't make it completely free play... you will always, no matter what, have to maintain a Park Score of over 700. Sometimes this is very irksome in the very beginning of each park. Come on Guys! Toss me an expansion that will do away with all that!

I highly recommend Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 for everybody. No adult themes here so it's just fine for kids, and you can make it complicated enough to keep adults (I'm 50) interested for years. With the Scenario editor, there are just so many possibilities, you won't get bored quickly. Now I need to find me a version for my new iMac...