Jamesoo7's Full Review: Sim Theme Park for PlayStation 1
Face it - sim games suck on PlayStation. The one halfway respectable title, Theme Park, is now so old and crusty it should have a beard and incontinence pants. What we need's a spanking new full-on sim with rotating 3D looks and the depth and addictive gameplay of Bullfrog's Theme series. Which is exactly what's coming. It's called, erm, Theme Park World and it's from, umm, Bullfrog. There's progress for you...
Games that improve on the original PC game when they appear on PlayStation are rarer than dogs that don't lick their nuts, but that's exactly what TPW does - and it's a real pleasure to play. A whole bunch of the irritations that dragged the PC version down to a 3-star CVG score have been sorted and a bunch of cool new stuff added too. The reason being because TPW on PlayStation was created especially for PlayStation, and is not a simple conversion of PC code.
Some of the depth and stats of the PC version have been sacrified for ease of play but it's retained much of the guts of a proper sim under the cutsey surface. And it's all wrapped up in a genuinely intuitive interface that lacks the slightest hint of cursor action. Now that's impressive.
Where PlayStation's version really scores is it's a far more structured affair - none of that freeform PC that left players wondering what the hell to do next to progress. Golden keys have been scrapped and the golden tickets ramped up - there's now three main ways to blag those golden goodies to access the park islands, which have been increased to eight but are still based on the same four themes from PC. You have three clearly stated goals - which help you get tickets - to fulfill at the start of each new park, while there are also a few logical 'hidden' tickets that come with awards for showing good park management initiative - like putting bins by burger stands.
Far and away the best new feature that also nets you tickets are the subgames. Once you've earned enough dosh to buy the camcorder, you can play some of your sideshows and the first time you win you get a ticket. The games themselves are excellent - there's some Track & Field-inspired button-bashers that are well worth a play in their own right. You have to stop yourself pouring all your research efforts into stalls just to see what game you can play next.
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