Skateboard Park Tycoon (Mobile)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 5.4 (2.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Jeff Gerstmann
• Reviewed on: 07/15/2004
• Originally published on GameSpot: Skateboard Park Tycoon (Mobile) Review

If you believe the world of tycoon games, you can be a tycoon in almost any industry. There have been games devoted to becoming a mall tycoon, a roller coaster tycoon, a pizza tycoon, and much, much more. Now, Airborne Entertainment has delivered Skateboard Park Tycoon to mobile phones. If you've ever wanted to handle the business side of a skate park, now's your chance. However, a general lack of depth makes this business strategy pretty transparent.

Skateboard Park Tycoon is broken up into two modes: The action mode lacks a spending limit, letting you go as far into the red as you like in order to build the ultimate skate park; career mode makes you spend a little more responsibly. If you have a negative amount of cash on hand for three days of game time, your game ends. This difference essentially makes the career mode slower, since you'll have to build your park in increments and wait for some more money to roll in before you can expand. The in-game documentation also claims that your parks in career mode will be saved between sessions, but on the LG VX6000 that we used to test the game, this feature didn't work.

Skateboard Park Tycoon gives you the basics when it comes to building a park and managing your various resources. You can place park pieces, like various ramps and rails, as well as a half-pipe, around your park. Once you place your first piece, you'll start getting a skater or two in your park. You can continue to place park pieces in real time, so you won't have to close the park to make adjustments. There are also a lot of facilities that you can add to your park, such as a food or drink stand, a pro shop, first aid, bathrooms, and so on. These facilities, which help keep skaters in the park once they're in, don't need to be placed around the park; you either have them or you don't. As you add to your park, the game rates the quality of your park. This number also doubles as the amount you can safely charge for admission. This number fluctuates from time to time, so you'll constantly have to manage your admission price to make sure you're charging the maximum amount without charging too much.

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