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Abe Sargent · 01-18-2020, 01:52 PM

#6. Planet Coaster
2016
PC
Frontier Development
Strategy/Sim – Tycoon Game

So let’s get started with my back-to-back. I had already talked of the context of RCT vs Theme Park in my Cities review above. Roller Coaster Tycoon was a big, giant, unexpected hit. It put the Tycoon genre on the map in a major way. Sure, you did have some things prior like Theme Park, Railroad Tycoon, and Transport Tycoon. Chris Sawyer had made Transport Tycoon himself and published with MicroProse. He had developed a reputation for solo-games, and he made RCT in 1999 and broke everyone’s face with how massively popular and surprise of a hit it was. It was a big casual hit with kids, families, moms, etc. It was the best selling PC game of 1999, and it came out in the middle of the year. In 2000? It was the second best selling game after The Sims, which also blew the door off of who began buying games. Before RCT2’s release it had more than 6 million sales. 2 was an iteration of 1, not a true sequel.

Then came the first iteration of RCT,, 3. Developed by Frontier, not Chris Sawyer. It wanted to invest you in a full, rich, 3d experience, that was pretty, but had some bugs under the scenes, like path making, and similar aspects that were common issues in the early game of 3d design in 2004 when it was released. 16 years ago. But the game was well done, and showed that Frontier knew how to make this style of game. They had done the expansion packs for RCT2 as well. They also did Thrill Ville while folks were waiting for another RCT. They also began publishing their title as well, as things slowed down.

Then Roller Coaster World was released in 2016 to disastrous ramifications. Metacritic? 43/100. User score? 25/100.

Yuck. It was a disaster.

Know what wasn’t? The spiritual successor of the franchise, Planet Coaster. They had a love and established connection to this going back to RCT2’s expansions. Them coming in and stepping up to the plate showed what Atari in their mad scramble for cash had forgotten, despite early negative press. They could have pushed the game back. Figured out the issues. NOPE!

Boom when RCT’s name and cachet, at least for the moment.

And Planet Coaster has stepped into that gap willingly without pausing to look behind. It is an amazing game. Smooth, good economics, fun décor, and more. The entire engine purrs like a gentle snow kitty. It’s the first major modern gaming experience from a theme park angle. Much like Colossal Order had only made city-builders prior to Cities Skylines, they had made RCTs expansions, RCT3, it’s expansions Thrillville, Jurassic Park Evolution, ScreamRide, and loads more. This was their passion and bread and butter, and they stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park when RCT World failed.

Another powerful aspect here? This is a big game for Millennials, who love creative games. By giving theme park builders the raw tools to make things, they have the ability to make……..lots of things. They have amazing roller coasters that are epic in size and scale, and more. As of right now, there are 286,597 items on their workshop page alone.

Take a look at just some of the designs here on a random youtube video series I’ve linked you too.

And my final question from C:S above; where does this hit, if at all? RCT is currently at 35 in my list. Where does Planco fall?

And now, #5. And then I’ll see you tomorrow!

01-18-2020, 01:52 PM	#31
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	#6. Planet Coaster 2016 PC Frontier Development Strategy/Sim – Tycoon Game So let’s get started with my back-to-back. I had already talked of the context of RCT vs Theme Park in my Cities review above. Roller Coaster Tycoon was a big, giant, unexpected hit. It put the Tycoon genre on the map in a major way. Sure, you did have some things prior like Theme Park, Railroad Tycoon, and Transport Tycoon. Chris Sawyer had made Transport Tycoon himself and published with MicroProse. He had developed a reputation for solo-games, and he made RCT in 1999 and broke everyone’s face with how massively popular and surprise of a hit it was. It was a big casual hit with kids, families, moms, etc. It was the best selling PC game of 1999, and it came out in the middle of the year. In 2000? It was the second best selling game after The Sims, which also blew the door off of who began buying games. Before RCT2’s release it had more than 6 million sales. 2 was an iteration of 1, not a true sequel. Then came the first iteration of RCT,, 3. Developed by Frontier, not Chris Sawyer. It wanted to invest you in a full, rich, 3d experience, that was pretty, but had some bugs under the scenes, like path making, and similar aspects that were common issues in the early game of 3d design in 2004 when it was released. 16 years ago. But the game was well done, and showed that Frontier knew how to make this style of game. They had done the expansion packs for RCT2 as well. They also did Thrill Ville while folks were waiting for another RCT. They also began publishing their title as well, as things slowed down. Then Roller Coaster World was released in 2016 to disastrous ramifications. Metacritic? 43/100. User score? 25/100. Yuck. It was a disaster. Know what wasn’t? The spiritual successor of the franchise, Planet Coaster. They had a love and established connection to this going back to RCT2’s expansions. Them coming in and stepping up to the plate showed what Atari in their mad scramble for cash had forgotten, despite early negative press. They could have pushed the game back. Figured out the issues. NOPE! Boom when RCT’s name and cachet, at least for the moment. And Planet Coaster has stepped into that gap willingly without pausing to look behind. It is an amazing game. Smooth, good economics, fun décor, and more. The entire engine purrs like a gentle snow kitty. It’s the first major modern gaming experience from a theme park angle. Much like Colossal Order had only made city-builders prior to Cities Skylines, they had made RCTs expansions, RCT3, it’s expansions Thrillville, Jurassic Park Evolution, ScreamRide, and loads more. This was their passion and bread and butter, and they stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park when RCT World failed. Another powerful aspect here? This is a big game for Millennials, who love creative games. By giving theme park builders the raw tools to make things, they have the ability to make……..lots of things. They have amazing roller coasters that are epic in size and scale, and more. As of right now, there are 286,597 items on their workshop page alone. Take a look at just some of the designs here on a random youtube video series I’ve linked you too. And my final question from C:S above; where does this hit, if at all? RCT is currently at 35 in my list. Where does Planco fall? And now, #5. And then I’ll see you tomorrow! __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 09-21-2020 at 02:37 PM.