RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (PC)

The aim remains to build up a winning theme park, with a special emphasis on building and designing its premium rides. And this is where the game's most obvious improvement kicks in. Whilst its predecessors were undoubtedly engrossing and enjoyable strategy games in their own right, neither was graphically anything special. Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 however features significantly improved visuals, that make a surprising difference to the game itself. That's because you're now able to get virtual first-hand experience of your creations, and can zoom in on any part of your park, and the overall effect is one of added depth.

Elsewhere, the challenges have been tweaked and refined, and are just as much fun as they always were. Whilst you can play at different levels, the long-term test lies with the career mode, where you must beat the numerous scenarios the game has to offer. Suffice to say, to succeed at that you need to be fully versed in resource management, park design and, crucially, keeping your customers happy. It's not easy, but it is tremendously immersive, and given the game's steady and cultured learning curve, you never feel out of your depth.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 is ultimately a steady evolution of a formula that works exceptionally well, and it does so here again. Sure, the mechanics have evolved at a slower rate than the visuals, but that doesn't stop the game being that rarest of things--a strategy game that the whole family can enjoy.--Simon Brew

For the first time in a game of its type, we have a fully-fledged 3D engine, and Frontier have put it to very good use. The first time you go into Coastercam and ride the 'coasters yourself (or any other ride you build), a stupid great grin spreads across your face as the sheer brilliance of the feature hits home. It certainly makes the hours you have spent painstakingly putting your rollercoaster together worthwhile. There are also plenty of lighting and water effects, birds flying overhead, fully animated peeps (your customers), a camera that pans, tilts and zooms in and out, full terrain deformation, night & day effects and even weather. Brilliant stuff.

As with the previous games in the series, RCT3 is a theme park management game. It's core is the scenario-based career mode, in which you are placed in charge of an already up and running park and charged with meeting certain objectives of increasing difficulty. These can involve earning so much money from shop sales, increasing the number of visitors, building certain rides and many more. They are quite varied from park to park. Successful completion of an objective opens up access to new scenarios, rides and the like.

The brief tutorials get you going, but time spent with the manual and with game guides and forums for the game is time well spent. RCT3 is, under the shiny and happy surface, a complicated game and all the better for it. As well as the easy satisfaction of placing great rides and making people happy, you also have to turn a profit and keep improving in all areas. Hours can just slip away without even noticing as this delicate balancing act requires a lot of dedication.

RCT3 is not too hard on the player though. You are often given plenty of warning of upcoming problems, so if you want to spend most of your time designing great park layouts, with beautiful scenery and thrilling rides, you can. The business side is always there as you need to make money to invest, but it doesn't keep bashing you over the head in the way of older games such as Theme Park. It's not a cynical game, it is keen to place the emphasis on keeping peeps happy rather than fleecing money from them. Apart from the brilliant ATMs you can put in there when they run low on cash...!

The Sandbox mode gives you the opportunity to build a park with no financial constraints, you can even attempt to re-create real-life parks. This is good fun, although personally I find the lack of pressure on you to keep the park successful takes some of the edge off.

Rollercoaster design is one of the game's coolest features, but it can also be hard work. Hours can be spent putting together the perfect 'coaster. If you are in a hurry, happily there are a lot of pre-designed 'coasters you can plonk into your park with ease.

Other great features include the Peep Designer, where you can create your own groups of peeps who will visit your parks. Place photo spots on paths and rollercoasters and they will even take pictures, which are stored as JPEGs on your PC. You can even use the included Photo Story 3 application to produce a form of slideshow of your peeps' visit. You can import your own music to play on rides and items of scenery or even rides themselves that other players have designed.

There are a few problems: sometimes you cannot place a path or ride and there is no clear reason until you fiddle with scenery or terrain for some time to get it level and clear enough; some of the pre-built 'coasters do not work properly without tinkering and finally make sure you download the latest patches as they fix some pretty fundamental issues.

There is always so much to do and plan ahead for, that RCT3 has loads of playability. The fact that it looks and sounds great too makes it a fantastic package. It does require a reasonably powerful PC to see in all its glory, but it is well, well worth it.


brilliant!!!!!   November 7, 2004
38 out of 46 found this review helpful

In my opinion, I think the producers of the roller coaster tycoon series have out-done themsevles this time. I've played the demo of this game and the game play is brill!! The controls are almost exactly the same as in the other roller coaster tycoon games (for those who have played them) but there are loads more new features. You can create stunning fireworks displays with a new fireworks designer and sequences them to the music. You can now ride your rides that you have built in your own park, you can even zoom right down to ground level and walk through your park as if you were a guest at it. For those of you that have not played any roller coaster tycoon games before, this game is about building your own theme park. You can build your own roller coasters or build a ready made one. You have to hire staff like cleaneers, mechanics, security guards and entertainers to keep your park spick and span. There are also many other rides to choose from such as a swinging ship, ferris wheels and even jet skiis!! And you can build food, drink and souvenier stands so your guests don't die of thirst or hunger. So I hope you have fun playing this game if you buy it.