RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 | |
|---|---|
 RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Box Art |
|
| Developer(s) | Frontier Developments |
| Publisher(s) | Atari |
| Release date(s) | October 26, 2004 (NA)
November 5, 2004 (EU) |
| Genre(s) | Strategy/Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single Player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone PEGI: 3+ |
| Platform(s) | Mac OS X, Windows |
| Media | CD-ROM |
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is a simulation and strategy computer game that simulates amusement park management. Developed by Frontier Developments and published by Atari, it was released in November 2004. It is the sequel to RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 and is the third game in the RollerCoaster Tycoon series. Although RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is based primarily on the previous two games, Chris Sawyer, the developer of the series' first 2 releases, was only involved at a 'consulting' level and was not one of the programmers.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
Like the other games in the series, the object of the game is to complete a series of preset scenarios by successfully building, owning, and maintaining amusement parks. Players can choose from dozens of roller coaster types and can also build merry-go-rounds, chairswings, bumper cars, swinging inverter ships, gravitrons, log flumes, and ferris wheels, among other rides. Players can also build their own roller coasters, laying out individual track pieces, choosing direction, height, and steepness, and adding elements such as corkscrews, loops, and even on-ride photos. Furthermore, the player can modify the foliage, landscaping and themeing of the park. Players must also balance the needs of the park's visitors by placing concession stands and facilities. The player also must manage the park's budget in the costs of their staff, ride construction and operations, and the income from rides, concessions, and the park entry fee.
The game marks the series' shift to fully 3D graphics, doing away with the isometric viewpoint of the previous two games. For the first time in the series, players can rotate the view of the park 360 degrees, as well as zoom in and out to any degree. There are enhanced day-night cycles as well, so lights have a new purpose in RCT3. One of the most notable additions to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is the ability for players to 'ride' their own creations. Firework shows are new to the game, allowing the player to make shows and time them to in-game music. You can also use the Advanced Fireworks Editor to create your own custom fireworks.(activated through cheaat) Another feature was the ability to import coasters from the previous games into RCT3. The dashboard and build menu were also both redesigned.
In RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, guests are called "peeps". The guests have been significantly improved on those from RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, with enhanced AI, appearance variation, and the ability of guests to be grouped together into families, dates, and other types of groups. In some scenarios there are also VIPeeps (Very Important Peeps) that need to be satisfied to complete the scenario. Should the player fail to impress the VIPeep, the VIPeep will always return to the park several months later and will keep returning until they are satisfied. There is also a new peep designer, allowing the player to design family and friends to visit their amusement parks. The player can change the hair style, hair color, clothing, and ride intensity preference of the peeps they create, as well as choosing the leader of their custom group, but the computer randomly chooses the custom group members' nausea tolerance. Custom groups behave like normal groups in the park.
Returning to the third game in the series is the "career" mode. Many of the career mode parks are themed to one of five themes. Without expansions they are: Adventure, Spooky, Western, Sci-Fi, and Generic. There are a total of eighteen scenarios, but only six scenarios are available for selection at the start. The player must complete scenarios to unlock additional ones, but this time there are 3 sets of goals (or difficulties); apprentice, entrepreneur and tycoon. The player only has to complete the apprentice level to unlock the next scenario. The final two scenarios are unlocked by completing every other scenario on both entrepreneur and tycoon levels. In this game, as requested by fans for years, a new sandbox mode has been added. It allows players to create their own amusement park without any money, restrictions, or objectives. Players can also design custom scenarios and coasters, as in RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, and also buildings, a new feature to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.
[edit] Expansion packs
The first expansion, Soaked!, adds the ability to create water parks with swimming pools. Besides pools, the player can add other amenities to pools including hot tubs, lounge chairs, diving boards, and more. There are also new pool rides and non-water rides. Sunburn is another concept new to Soaked!. Also included are dolphin and orca whale water show arenas. In this expansion pack are new themes: "Atlantis" (an underwater kingdom) and "Paradise Island" (a tropical island).
The second expansion, Wild!, features animal enclosures and safari-like attractions. It also includes two new themes, "Safari" (with giant arthropods and Egyptian architecture) and "Prehistoric" (with various species of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals). This expansion pack also contains twelve new safari scenarios, new stalls, new rides including safari SUVs, paddle steamer boats, and lion and tiger show arenas, as well as custom billboards. A new "DartCam" is used when animals escape from their exhibits. Some people are also attempting to create a User Created Expansion Set(UCES)
[edit] Criticism
Many members of the RollerCoaster Tycoon community were not happy with Frontier Developments taking over for Chris Sawyer for this version. Many people felt that the game was sub-par compared to the first two, even with the addition of 3D graphics and many new gameplay features. Many were also unhappy with the amount of bugs in the game, which included workers getting stuck on railings and the game crashing. Patches are available on a number of sites that fix the number of bugs found in the first release.
There have also been complaints about the high-end graphic cards, computers and processors that are needed to run the game smoothly. Powerful machines are needed to render the parks in full detail without graphical slowdown or a reduction in frames per second. Especially large parks will put a significant amount of strain on even the fastest computers and processors. Some players cannot see water because their graphics cards cannot render it. The other games didn't need high end graphics cards, which made them accessible to more people.
Nevertheless, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 received praising scores on many gaming websites.
[edit] External links
- RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Official Website
- RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 for Mac OS X
- RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 at GameSpot
| RollerCoaster Tycoon games | |
|---|---|
| RollerCoaster Tycoon | RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 | RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 | |
