Through my use of Kazaa, I had the opportunity to download Roller Coaster Tycoon and play a trial game. I loved what I saw so much that I went out and bought the game and brought it home to play. I actually bought the Roller Coaster Tycoon Gold Edition 3 CD set, which contains this, Loopy Landscapes and Corkscrew Follies, but I haven't made it through the original sets yet!

The good

This game starts you out with a park, some cash, a lending bank and in some cases some pre-built rides. Your job is different on each setting; sometimes you are to make 600 guests into your park by end of year 1; sometimes it is to have a certain net worth by the end of year 4. In any and all cases, it is very fun and exciting to play!

I really enjoy the fact that the rides are set up such that you can either utilize a pre-specified and designed ride or you can build your own. For the starter set I utilized the pre-built rides, but the further I got into it the more I began to build my own.

I enjoy the fact that the computer gives you little 'hints' as you go. They will let you know that you need to build food stalls, for instance, or that you need to eliminate dead end paths. The customers are not too bright; dead end paths get them lost, and getting them lost gets them mad. They tend to break things, like lights and benches, when they are mad!

I really enjoy the user interface, as it is very intuitive and easy to use. There are graphical buttons that are easy to understand.

The bad

I haven't found too much bad about this game yet. I really enjoy playing it, although my family is a little upset with how much time I have spent on it lately!

A few tips

A few tips to help the novice get started.

First and foremost, always have a variety of thrill and non-thrill rides. You will have several types of people come into your park, and some will like the rides that are high-intensity while others will not. Also, if you have rides like Scrambled Eggs next to your Super Zipper Coaster, someone who did not want to go on the coaster as it was 'Too intense' will want to go right to it after the relatively mild Scrambled eggs!

Second, always try your hand at building your own coasters. When you do, always use the feature of online photo booth. You can charge for the pictures, and people buy them, and like them! One caution, it is neat to see how intense of a ride you can create, but don't get too maniacal. If you make your ride too intense, it will sit unused and cost you money rather than raking in the dough. You can tell if your ride is too intense by clicking on the people's thoughts about the ride.

Third, build food stalls and drink stalls as the computer tells you to, and not before. The computer will tell you that customers are getting hungry or thirsty and cannot find a place to buy something to eat or drink. If you build the stalls before this, you will lose money on them. Wait for the computer!

Fourth, periodically check on the profitability of the rides. You will find that over time customers determine that they do not want to pay as much for the rides. If you drop the price, you will increase the volume of customers and invariably raise your profit!

Finally, hire many, many handymen and mechanics. They keep the paths clean and the rides running. Without them customers will begin to complain, and you do not want that! Always keep in mind what the goal is, and that is determined by the game for each set!

These ought to be enough to get you started, so good luck, and I hope you enjoy this game as much as I do!

System Requirements

This is not a high intensity game by any means, but you still need a fairly new computer to run it. The requirements are as follows:

Minimum System Requirements:
Pentium 90 CPU: Windows 95/98
16 MB RAM
4x CD-ROM Drive
50 MB Free hard drive
1 MB SVGA Card
Windows 95/98 compatible Sound Card
DirectX 5.0 (included on CD)
Mouse


Recommended: Yes