Theme Hospital
Description official descriptions
Theme Hospital is a level-based hospital management simulation where players have to start on an empty building, and then assemble rooms with all kinds of material, from desks and file cabinets for the general diagnosis to the expensive ultra-scanners and X-rays to diagnose such bizarre diseases as Bloaty Head, Slack Songue or Alien DNA, and treat them with even more bizarre machines like an Head Inflator or a DNA fixer. There are several additional rooms, such as a staff room for your employees to rest, a toilet so that patients don't have to relieve themselves in the corridors, a research department to get the most advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies and a training room where consultants can teach a thing or two to rookies, making them capable doctors. The size and layout of each room can be set by the player, according to the available space. In addition to rooms, the player must provide radiators, seating for patients and drink machines.
However, rooms don't run by themselves. Most diagnostic and clinics can work with regular doctors, but others like the operating theater and the research room require specialized staff while the ward, pharmacy and the fracture clinic require an attending nurse. At the same time, the hospital can't run without handymen cruising around the hospital to water up dry plants, clean up litter and vomit (after all, people go there because they are sick) and fix machines, while receptionists direct patients to the proper rooms.
As levels advance, the player faces increasingly harder situations: VIP visits, emergencies, epidemics and earthquakes, which can either take a toll on reputation or on the bank account. On the other hand, as more and more equipment is required, additional plots of land are available for purchase in later maps.
Spellings
- Π§Π°ΡΡΠ½Π°Ρ ΠΊΠ»ΠΈΠ½ΠΈΠΊΠ° - Russian spelling
- δΈ»ι’ε»ι’ - Simplified Chinese spelling
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Credits (DOS version)
101 People (95 developers, 6 thanks) · View all
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Additional Programming | |
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[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 80% (based on 39 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 162 ratings with 9 reviews)
well, what can you say really?
The Good
Absolutely everything. This game is a masterpiece and stands out in my games collection as one of my top 10 of all time. It's in the top 5 even.
You are given an empty building, and build a hospital. Starts off small, with a few doctors, general diagnostic, reception, pharmacy and a few other necessities. Then you get up in the levels and wow - that becomes one huge hospital. You buy more land and buildings and before you know it, you own a hospital empire.
I liked the challenge of this game, it wasn't just what it appeared to be - building hospitals. It was much more, as you had to research illnesses, keep the hospital clean, plants alive, patients happy, staff happy and the bank manager too.
The Bad
Not much really. It was excellent. I think it was probably that I had no manual and took a while to get used to it. But once you learn about everything you need, you can pretty much own it - easier said than done ;)
The Bottom Line
Such an original idea, a totally classic game - I adore it. Playing it on the 19' screen with a Playstation is another added bonus.
Get your hands on this game, its addictive and you'll love it.
DOS · by Michelle (176) · 2002
One of the best management sims out there
The Good
This game is really well balanced to be just challenging enough. It's a great casual game. I've reinstalled and restarted this game several times over the last decade and never quite put in the hours to make it to the very end before the end of the life of that particular PC, but its lasting appeal always has me coming back for another go.
The Bad
There are a few glitches. There's little more frustrating than nearing the end of a level to have the whole thing crash out because a little person has merged with a door. Doesn't happen often though, what with all these fangled modern patches.
The Bottom Line
A cheeky, tightly designed and extremely well executed management sim. I'm not mad on this genre but this one, though a little dated, stands the test of time in replay value.
Well worth five quid... though due to mine being plenty played over the years, I think I'm onto my third copy now.
Windows · by Mike Hanson (311) · 2009
Great Game Play...annoying sounds
The Good
Playing theme hospital was a lot of fun for quite a while, although slightly repetitive there were always new and strange diseases for your disgruntled employees to cure. It is a great feeling when your hospital is crammed full of patients and everything is running smoothly with only minor details to deal with, where you can sit back a little and see what you have created. The diseases in this game are very creative. Patients come in complaining of bloated heads and even invisibility (how you would 'catch' invisibility i never know).
The Bad
The major problem with this game is that ANNOYING nurse over the intercom (especially when using the cheats). It is only possible to put up with her for 5 minutes before getting really irritated and turning off the sound.
The Bottom Line
This game allows you to get the feeling of being in charge of everything, if there is a problem it will be solvable eventually. This isn't a game to buy if your looking for hundreds of hours of gameplay, its just a game you play on the side for a rainy day.
Windows · by Horny-Bullant (49) · 2003
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Free on Origin | Rwolf (22823) | Mar 4, 2015 |
Theme Hospital Classic | Indra was here (20755) | Jul 26, 2007 |
Trivia
Cheats
Like Theme Park, if a player cheats the game makes a point on telling everyone that, but instead of just displaying a pop-up box, the announcer can be heard saying "Warning: a cheat is running the hospital" and "Hospital administrator is cheating", among others.
Custom music
It's possible to play custom midi files in Theme Hospital's jukebox using the executable sound\midi\hospmidi.exe under the installation directory. Look for more information in the readme file located in the same directory.
Diseases
According to producer Mark Webley, originally the game was going to use real ailments and diseases. However, it was pointed out that this would mean dealing with a serious subject, with the potential to offend someone, so the design switched to include the comical diseases.
References
In the intro, some characters from other Bullfrog games can be spotted; a Horned Reaper from Dungeon Keeper and a Eurocorp Agent from the Syndicate series. A doctor can also be seen playing Dungeon Keeper on his PC.
If these Bullfrog product tie-ins aren't enough, the arcade cabinet placed at the staff room plays no other than Hi-Octane.
Information also contributed by Accatone, Luis Silva, Yeah No, and Zovni
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Theme Hospital clinic
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by robotriot.
PS Vita added by Fred VT. PSP, PlayStation 3 added by karttu. PlayStation added by Kartanym. Macintosh added by Sciere.
Additional contributors: Accatone, Andrew Hartnett, Klaster_1, CaesarZX, Cantillon.
Game added January 5, 2000. Last modified April 19, 2024.