SimCoaster

aka: Theme Park Inc., Theme Park Manager
Moby ID: 3397

Description

SimCoaster is the third and final game in the Theme Park series. It uses the same graphic engine as the previous game Theme Park World. It is a theme park management game where players build their own theme park and attract as much visitors as possible. This time there are also grandparents of the little visitors who need to be entertained.

This version focuses more on the management side of running a park. It contains various types of business related to campaigns and objectives, such as bringing in a certain number of guests to a ride. By completing these challenges, promotions can be gained. As with the previous game in the series, players can walk around in their park in a first-person mode and go on the rides.

Spellings

  • 主题公园公司 - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Windows version)

203 People (183 developers, 20 thanks) · View all

Voice Recording
Documentation Localisation Coordination
Localisation Manager
Product Manager
Documentation Layout
Localisation Project Manager
Marketing Lead
PR
Translation
Voice Test Lead
Voice Test
Quality Assurance Lead
Quality Assurance
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 72% (based on 25 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 8 ratings with 2 reviews)

Whadd'ya mean, annoying?!

The Good
I love the challenge of keeping the park up, running and popular. It helps kids like me learn how to manage money and staff management. I also think that the advisor is actually a big help. Sure, sometimes it can tell you things you already know, and it can be a pain sometimes, but overrall, it's help is vital to the park.

The Bad
The only thing I don't like is the time it takes for the game to load when you go to a different park and when you first start the game.

The Bottom Line
A great game for people who like to learn how to manage money.

Windows · by Nick Johnston (3) · 2002

Who knew having fun could be so annoying?

The Good
In this pseudo-sequel to Theme Park World, Bullfrog has shifted the focus of play to achieving goals rather than the open-endedness of its predecessors. In each of the three worlds available, there are blocked-off sections of park and latent attractions that are waiting to be activated. To do this you must meet different challenges such as keeping a certain level of happiness in the park for a certain amount of time, or prevent a certain ride from dropping below a certain level of repair. By doing this, you earn golden tickets which you can put towards activating the hidden elements of the park, as long as you have trained the needed personnel to do the job. This new way of playing adds more incentive to keep going, and some of the challenges are surprisingly tough to accomplish. You can tackle these assignments in any order and at any time you like, so it never seems to hold you back from enjoying the other part of the game, which is building rides, concession stands and sideshows to make your park the greatest one around.

The Bad
I call this a pseudo-sequel, because the whole thing really comes off more like an add-on pack to TPW. The graphics engine is the same, and the AI is still as frustratingly annoying with your workers blatantly ignoring your orders, and wandering around one section of their patrol route while the other part goes all to Hell. I'm not sure what the gardener is good for, but it sure isn't for landscape care as you can have three of them with overlapping patrol routes and your fauna will still perish left and right. The on-screen announcements by your helper just add to the confusion, doing things like telling you to put your scientists to work even though there's nothing currently for them to research. And you can tell that this current incarnation of Bullfrog is only a pale shadow of the former great Molyneux days by simply listening to the sound. It is oddly sterile, doing absolutely nothing to draw you into the game. And this version carries on the great travesty that it's predecessor did, that of the horrible technique of building coasters. While arch-rival Rollercoaster Tycoon really put forward the feeling that one was wraughting wooden and metal giants out of cold lumber and steel, with SimCoaster you merely stretch paper-thin textures like taffy over hollow pylons, an entirely unsatisfying experience and totally defeating what's probably the main draw for people buying a game with 'Coaster' in the title...building coasters.

The Bottom Line
However, I'd still recommend picking up SimCoaster, even if you already have Theme Park World. The new challenge system adds quite a lot of fun to the game, and will keep you playing to see what's next. Now get out there and create a park that would make Walt's cryogenically frozen head proud!

Windows · by Ummagumma (74) · 2001

Trivia

Just like it's prequel, this game comes with 2 different titles, one for the US (SimCoaster) and one of the rest of the world (Theme Park INC.)

I still see no decent reason why they might have done this, maybe because the 'sim-' games are more popular in the States than in the rest of the world.

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 3397
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Erwin Bergervoet.

Additional contributors: nullnullnull, Alexander Schaefer, Unicorn Lynx.

Game added February 26, 2001. Last modified January 27, 2024.