
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is a park management game where you play as a manager for several different parks, guiding them to success (or failure!) and meeting certain objectives on the way.

This is the classic premier RollerCoaster Tycoon experience. But if you want to see Planet Coasters’ roots, and play the last (and arguable greatest) RollerCoaster Tycoon game, it’s back on Steam-and has made its way over to Nintendo Switch as well. Instead, it's a perfectly functional, but ultimately boring, take on a classic series.The RollerCoaster Tycoon name may have been tarnished by more recent releases-I’m looking at you RollerCoaster Tycoon 4, RollerCoaster Tycoon World and RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures-but Planet Coaster seems to be the true successor to the RollerCoaster Tycoon series, as Atari just can’t be trusted to put out good games using the IP anymore. It could have been a wonderful management simulation on a console which desperately needs one. RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures feels like a wasted opportunity. And, criminally, you can't screenshot the game at any point, meaning that even if you do create the ultimate death maze, none of your friends can see it. There's almost no consequence for doing completely idiotic things, making progress a snap so long as you place enough items on the map. Which all leads to one simple question - what is the point of RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures? It lacks the depth and freedom of the original games, replacing them instead of mobile game design which doesn't quite fit playing on the Switch. It's where you're likely to have the most fun as you build ridiculous parks stupidly large coasters, and ultimately try and kill everyone (you can't) with your designs. Scenario mode at least offers some variety in its missions, but they're not hugely interesting. It claims to have a story to follow, but this just boils down to having to make binary choices in dialogue boxes every so often and receiving a reward if you pick the right one. This lack of consequences for your idiotic management makes the Campaign mode almost entirely pointless. You can create a theme park which consists of one toilet, one burger stand, and 100 Whack-A-Mole attractions and visitors will exclaim "this is the most fun I've ever had!" every other minute. You're unlikely to ever run out of money for long, and you can't go into debt or have to lay off staff to keep your business afloat.Īnd customers are stupidly easy to please. Achieving goals is super easy - just keep throwing stuff down and raising the meters. These can be as simple or complex as you like, and a lot of attention has been paid to the finer details of coaster-building, which will likely please the fans of the series.īut when all's said and done, the whole game feels a little lacking. You'll also need to drop decorations around the place to make your rides more attractive to go on, and research new attractions as you level up to keep things fresh.Īnd, of course, you can build your own rollercoaster.

You need to keep an eye on the fun factor, cleanliness of your park, and amount of food stalls on offer to make sure your customers are happy, as well as adjusting prices accordingly to either please the punters or increase your profit margins.


You place rides, attractions, shops, food stalls, services, paths, and whatever else you need around the place, before opening the gates and raking in the cash. You've got three modes to choose from in RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures - Campaign, which gives you a blank canvas and a little cash to grow your park Scenario, which offers specific tasks in pre-built parks and Sandbox, which is, well, a Sandbox.Įach mode has the same basic set of rules. But it still feels like a mobile game designed to be played in short bursts before locking off your time, instead of a deep sim that you can sink hours of your life into in the pursuit of the perfect theme park. RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures is the latest rehashing of the franchise, this time taking its cues from mobile entry RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch, but without any of the free-to-play gubbins involved to impede your park-building.Īnd it's fine.
Rollercoaster tycoon 3 vs adventures switch series#
Every few years the series gets wheeled out for another run around the block to see if there's any life left in it before it shuffles off for some much-needed rest once more. RollerCoaster Tycoon, like Michael Myers or Freddie Kruger, refuses to stay dead.
