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System:
PlayStation
Genre:
Music
Publisher:
Konami
Developer:
Konami
Players:
-
Release date/year:
04/26/2002
Other systems:
-
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- Sim Theme Park
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2000 Bullfrog - Electronic Arts - PSX
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The sim series has always been one that I have liked. Somehow I enjoy the ability to create, and control, and HAVE WORLD DOMINAT—wait, scratch that last part. Anyway, this game is much like the other Sim games, bit in this one, you are creating a theme park. Unlike some of the other games like this one out of the market, in this one you have control over every little aspect of your park. Quite an enjoyable game for me, and most anyone who may come across it in my humble opinion.
- {~~Main Scores~~}
BREAKDOWN
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Enjoyability: 10
- Gameplay
The gameplay in this, and any of the other sim games you may come across is different than most games. In these you aren’t racing, you aren’t fighting, you aren’t on a quest, you aren’t performing any of the ‘normal’ game tasks. In these games, you are creating something from nothing, specifically in this game, you are creating a theme park.
When you start off you are asked to choose a land to play on, there are 6 different islands, divided into 3 major categories, these categories are: the grasslands, the space lands, and the Halloween land. When you first start you can only choose one island, in order to build on another island you need gold tickets.
Once you choose an island, you are placed into the island, at which point you meet up with the most annoying and most helpful thing ever, the dot. He is a big black dot who alerts you of different conditions in the park, such as uncleanness, or lack of rides. Occasionally he will say things multiple times, and become very annoying, but also the things he says can be necessary to you.
Now, there are seven different types of structures you can build once you get into the park, one is the path, which doesn’t really count. The others are the rides, the track rides, the roller coasters, the sideshows, the shops, and the features. When you start out you are only given a small inventory of rides, you need to hire researchers to try and figure out new idea for structures, one in a category at a time. The first one is the rides, they are basic rides that provide a small thrill for your customers. They include things such as crazy ape, and jaw dropper.
The next type of structure is the track rides. These are like racing tracks and such. When you build these you build the entrance first, then from there you build the track of the racing ride, square by square. Then, the really fun part comes, with this ride you are actually allowed to ride it, and race it. It is called a sub-game. Another ride done just like this one, are roller coasters, the biggest and hardest to construct of them all.
The next type are the sideshows. These are games for the kids, little fun places for you to spend all of your cash. They are also playable, and create a fun distraction while you park gains some revenue or something like that.
The final two are the shops and features. The shops are places like restaurants, and the features are things like bathrooms. Both are just as much of a necessity as the rides in your park. But with these, you can’t enter them.
In this game you get special things for your park too, they are gold tickets and awards. Gold tickets are things you get for completing your parks goals, or other things. They have important uses, the first one is the camcorder, once you get 5 gold tickets you can get the camcorder, with it you can enter the park and do anything in it. The other things are the awards, they are really irrelevant, but are an accomplishment to get. Overall the gameplay really comes together to make one of the most enjoyable sim games yet.
- Graphics
The graphics in this game were also very well done. They used a combination of 3 dimensional and 2 dimensional images to create an illusion of a park below you. Quite an interesting idea.
They used the 3 dimensional images on things such as certain rides, and most easily recognizably, the roller casters. These things had the illusion of sticking up off of the ground, as was wanted my the creators. The other images are the 2 dimensional images. They were used on things such as the different land features and some small structures. The combination of these two types of images created depth and perspective in the land features. A very good job, and a very inventive idea.
- Sound
The sound in this game is the kind of sound I like in a game. Orchestral, not obvious repetitiveness, and a nice flow to it. The music was a perfect example, it used a wide array of different instruments, and it blended them in a way that the music didn’t need to be in your face, or too load to be proper. The music also fit nicely with the level you are in. For example, while in the Halloween island you will hear a sort of dark, haunting tune, and in the space island you will hear upbeat, futuristic music. This sort of combination helps to set the mood, and different themes of the parks.
The other aspect is the sound effects. These were nice as well. Your basic sound effects are the crowd noises. These range from the cheer of people finding something they like, to the screams of people on the scary rides, to the disappointment after heading into low quality area. All. of the different sound effects are not to load in relation to the music at default, which is something I really liked. The other thing I liked about them is the fact that even with many sounds at once they all still stand out, but in a non-intrusive way. Very good job.
- Enjoyability
This game is one of the most enjoyable in the sim series, and a very enjoyable game in the whole scheme of any game. The gameplay is enough to keep you occupied. The ability to create so many different parks, and have so much diversity between them is a very fun thing. Then the fact that you can even go into the parks and ride the rides, and play the mini-games is really great. The gameplay and all of it’s factors are what make this game enjoyable, the other aspects are taking a back seat, helping to boost the overall fun of the gameplay, and whole game in general.
- {~~Other Important Scores~~}
Replay Value: Very High
The replay value is sky high in this game. The premise of the game itself give it a huge backing to be played again, then again, then many times again. First you will want to keep continuing with your first park until it is the most perfect park ever, then from there you will move into your other parks doing the same thing. By the time you have gone through all the parks and made them perfect, you will be another year older, and you will e ready to start some of the old ones over again. Take my word for it, a game to play many times.
- Challenge: Medium
The challenge is medium. The reasoning for this is that the parks aren’t really hard to make, but they can be very difficult at times. Say some of your customers file complaints, and you don’t know what to do about it, you will get a little stressed trying to figure out what to do from there. All of the different scenarios and eventualities make this game occasionally easy, and occasionally hard.
- Buy or Rent: Buy
This is definitely a game to buy. The replay value, the challenge, and, well, every other factor in this game make it one that is definitely worth a buy.
- GOOD POINTS
-variables
-soft sound
-good graphics
-many parks
-fitting music
-part of the sim series
- BAD POINTS
-occasionally high challenge
-the little dot that gives you instructions
-no natural disasters
SCORE: 9.1
This game gets a ‘seifer guarantee!’
9/10
//Seifer psx
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