RollerCoaster Tycoon (Xbox)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.0 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Brad Shoemaker
• Reviewed on: 04/22/2003
• Released on: 03/25/2003
• Originally published on GameSpot: RollerCoaster Tycoon (Xbox) Review

RollerCoaster Tycoon on the Xbox is a quick-and-dirty port of the best-selling PC strategy game of the same name, which was originally released in 1999. Like the many other 'Tycoon' games that since have followed its lead, RollerCoaster Tycoon hands you control of a vast entrepreneurial enterprise--in this case, you're in the theme park biz--and lets you exercise a huge number of construction and control options as you build your fortune. The Xbox version includes the original PC game and its two expansions, Corkscrew Follies and Loopy Landscapes, so hard-core strategy fans will find a lot of value in this $30 package. However, the game's visuals are incredibly dated, and there's no real action to speak of, so those in the market for a more modern-looking and quick-playing game will want to pass this one over.

To begin playing RollerCoaster Tycoon, you select from a large number of premade landscapes and attempt to build a theme park, either from the ground up or by adding onto an existing layout, and then fill it with as many paying customers as you can. You're given a goal in each scenario that basically consists of "have X patrons by month Y, year Z, with a park rating of A." As you build your park, you'll notice the incredible amount of control you have over nearly every variable involved in the construction and upkeep of your operation. You could spend countless hours in RollerCoaster Tycoon just tweaking minor details to see how they affect the attendance rate and happiness of your customers.

Each scenario starts you out with a number of rides, smaller buildings, and decorations that you can construct, and you can divert more money to research and development to make new rides available more quickly. Once you've built something, be it a roller coaster, merry-go-round, or hamburger stand, you can configure it precisely to your own standards. With a roller coaster, for instance, you can set the price of the ride, the number of times the cars go around, the minimum load of the cars before they'll take off, the frequency of mechanical servicing...the list goes on and on. As if that weren't enough, you can hire different service workers, such as maintenance technicians, dancing mascots, and security guards, to enhance the atmosphere of your park. When building the larger rides, such as various roller coasters or a log flume, you can either construct preset rides or build your own by laying out the tracks piece by piece, adding as little or as much complexity as you want. You can even form the land to your liking, flattening it out to accommodate more rides or creating hills and valleys as you see fit. The upshot of all this, of course, is that the meat of RollerCoaster Tycoon's gameplay is in customizing everything--layout, colors, prices--until you've got a winning formula and you're turning a tidy profit.

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