Theme Park (PC, 1994)
Graphics-7 Sound-6 Control-6 Challenge-7.5? Story-?
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-9 Fun-6 Originality-7.5
Overall Score-6
+ Unique concept for the time (run a theme park business), can place orders while the game is paused (but not do anything else besides checking attraction sub menus - can't even use the main menu and time keeps going while checking any sub menu when it isn't paused), hotkeys for various submenus, some creative mechanics (can sell parks, can receive money rewards for being the best park in one or more areas at the end of a year, can place signs and have visitors follow them (expecting to find the shops/rides written on them), can see what visitors are thinking/feeling via cartoon thinking bubbles, can tweak the amount of certain ingredients in some food wares, salary negotiations (employees can also go on strike) - plays like a basic "rope pulling" mini-game though, manually set work zones and waypoints for some workers, stock market feature (simplified - major financial changes are performed at the end of each month), basic reputation and rivalry mechanics), difficulty+sim complexity options (sandbox=no research or restocking required (also no negotiations or stock market available), Sim=everything but restocking and stock market activated, easy-hard difficulty (determines starting money)+easy-hard default visitor moods (first 4 years only?)+easy-hard opponents, can change the complexity level at any point - this can be used with saving/reloading to your advantage for negotiations, easy mode automates some features like ordering supplies), rival parks (cpu-controlled), save anywhere (10+ slots but you can't name them and no stats are shown at all (just "game 00" etc.)), can rename attractions, some fun attractions (fireworks, roller coaster, ), can pick up and place employees if they wander off or get stuck (but only if they're idle?, icons in the top right let you cycle between employees), weather effects (entertainer employees hand out umbrellas to customers if it starts to rain - nice detail, different weather in each country), good selection of attractions and scenery (lakes for example) for the time, two zoom levels and a real-time map view, can open or close your park at any point (O), quick save/load (alt+s/l), number of CPU opponents option (0-10+, harder to win rewards in all categories with more competitors), inflation/interest/land tax mechanics are part of the game's economy (not sure if either changes over the course of the game), game speed options in-game (slow/medium/fast/ultra), get a subtle notification when someting new is researched, can build parks in ~10 locations across the world, tiny mode (shift+t - makes attractions and customers small to let you spot other things more easily),
+/- Not that challenging after you figure out the right layout+ride to "other" ratio and a few other strategies?, have to keep your park clean to keep customers happy, limited warehouse capacity for supply stock (can be upgraded), your park can attract bikers if there are a lot of litter+fast rides (negative visitors who'll beat up entertainers and break rides, need to hire guards if it happens), visitors don't pay to get on rides (they pay for admission and food/merch/games), basic tutorial via an advisor (pick Yes for first game, non-intrusive but also doesn't teach you much at all, the advisor does give basic advice about prices and customer feedback at least), can only buy a park in the UK when starting a new game, can place certain shops and scenery outside of the park's walls near the street (a street fair of sorts), changing music depending on what ride you're viewing (not dynamic though), can't sell buildings, no scenario mode (simcity 2000),
- The game is too fast even on slow and with the recommended cycles setting, advisor notifications for low shop stocks happen too late and sometimes not at all (not a concern in Sandbox mode), various interface/control/pathfinding issues (the game is too picky about where you put down a mechanic - have to place him just right to not have him start eating lunch instead (similar issues with handymen when trying to clean up puke), the end of year awards categories aren't descriptive enough, placing an order cancels the previous one, not enough of a warning when a ride is about to blow up and if it does there will be immovable debris taking up space in its place - sometimes even if you place a mechanic near a broken bouncy castle it can still blow up as well, no notification when an employee quits or goes on strike?, have to move the cursor to the top of the screen and right click to make the game's main menu appear (no hotkey either), annoying how the negotiations mini-game can pop up even if you're in a sub menu and doing something, very clunky research menu (hard to read what each category is, can't just type in exact numbers for how much you want to invest in a category or in total), quit to menu doesn't work (GOG version - alt-tabs the game instead), very icon-driven interface with few tooltips, can't ask the advisor about icons besides the main bottom ones on the main gameplay screen, can't automate restocking like you can for research, can't re-view previous advisor messages, setting a zone for a handyman can be annoying since the game's cursor VERY often switches to building paths or queues/setting sign posts/basically anything you DON'T want (see guide to avoid this below), too hard to select a visitor to see their mood (can't do it while paused), handymen can get stuck (happens more with more complex work zones and too many waypoints) and so can visitors (example: closely placed signposts that point towards each other might trap visitors between them who are interested in the objects of both signposts) - can't simply click the notification to scroll to this NPC and you also have to destroy and rebuild a ride if one is stuck on it, various quirks related to roller coaster construction, almost impossible to check your sales numbers at the beginning of the month - the positions of interest disappear too quickly and all you see is 160s and 5s (means you should turn off fireworks a few days before the end of a month for example), ), no music unless you're viewing certain rides and some sfx get annoying (can turn off either music or sfx but not individual sfx like the entry ticked price's "ka-ching" sfx which happens all the time and the puke sfx which repeats a lot when pukes start spreading), trial & error (the manual doesn't even explain "the drink/food is not satisfying enough", the tutorial explains little - how to place signs for example, not enough tooltips, hotkeys (manual?), research expenses are incurred per month rather than per year, visitor behavior is sometimes unintuitive - a balloon shop near and before a hambuger one will have a detrimental effect on the latter for example - ~third place from the entrance seems good, ), employee micromanagement heavy, some spelling and formatting errors for the advisor's tutorial text, no MP, can't rotate shops?
Notes:
-With current machines it is better to run the game at 6000 cycles (Dosbox starts with 10000-12000! Use CRTL+F11/F12 to de-/increase cycles)
-No manual for the GOG release
-Guides: https://www.gog.com/forum/theme_park/theme_park_strategy_guide/page1, https://www.cheatcc.com/pc/sg/theme_park.html, https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/564716-theme-park/faqs/1950
Bugs:
-Can freeze (GOG ver.)
-When starting a new game for the first time, scrolling doesn't work at first (not sure what made it start working)
-The game auto-clicks when hovering the mouse cursor over icons to the right in a shop's sub menu - GOG ver. only? (can fix it by going into the name edit menu and exiting it)
-Do not run development at too high a cycle speed (.i.e. ~20 000+ DosBox cycles). If the speed is too high the game might skip some upgrades!
-The cross/close button in the editing box for an attraction doesn't seem to work
-Check: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/564716-theme-park/faqs/1950
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-9 Fun-6 Originality-7.5
Overall Score-6
+ Unique concept for the time (run a theme park business), can place orders while the game is paused (but not do anything else besides checking attraction sub menus - can't even use the main menu and time keeps going while checking any sub menu when it isn't paused), hotkeys for various submenus, some creative mechanics (can sell parks, can receive money rewards for being the best park in one or more areas at the end of a year, can place signs and have visitors follow them (expecting to find the shops/rides written on them), can see what visitors are thinking/feeling via cartoon thinking bubbles, can tweak the amount of certain ingredients in some food wares, salary negotiations (employees can also go on strike) - plays like a basic "rope pulling" mini-game though, manually set work zones and waypoints for some workers, stock market feature (simplified - major financial changes are performed at the end of each month), basic reputation and rivalry mechanics), difficulty+sim complexity options (sandbox=no research or restocking required (also no negotiations or stock market available), Sim=everything but restocking and stock market activated, easy-hard difficulty (determines starting money)+easy-hard default visitor moods (first 4 years only?)+easy-hard opponents, can change the complexity level at any point - this can be used with saving/reloading to your advantage for negotiations, easy mode automates some features like ordering supplies), rival parks (cpu-controlled), save anywhere (10+ slots but you can't name them and no stats are shown at all (just "game 00" etc.)), can rename attractions, some fun attractions (fireworks, roller coaster, ), can pick up and place employees if they wander off or get stuck (but only if they're idle?, icons in the top right let you cycle between employees), weather effects (entertainer employees hand out umbrellas to customers if it starts to rain - nice detail, different weather in each country), good selection of attractions and scenery (lakes for example) for the time, two zoom levels and a real-time map view, can open or close your park at any point (O), quick save/load (alt+s/l), number of CPU opponents option (0-10+, harder to win rewards in all categories with more competitors), inflation/interest/land tax mechanics are part of the game's economy (not sure if either changes over the course of the game), game speed options in-game (slow/medium/fast/ultra), get a subtle notification when someting new is researched, can build parks in ~10 locations across the world, tiny mode (shift+t - makes attractions and customers small to let you spot other things more easily),
+/- Not that challenging after you figure out the right layout+ride to "other" ratio and a few other strategies?, have to keep your park clean to keep customers happy, limited warehouse capacity for supply stock (can be upgraded), your park can attract bikers if there are a lot of litter+fast rides (negative visitors who'll beat up entertainers and break rides, need to hire guards if it happens), visitors don't pay to get on rides (they pay for admission and food/merch/games), basic tutorial via an advisor (pick Yes for first game, non-intrusive but also doesn't teach you much at all, the advisor does give basic advice about prices and customer feedback at least), can only buy a park in the UK when starting a new game, can place certain shops and scenery outside of the park's walls near the street (a street fair of sorts), changing music depending on what ride you're viewing (not dynamic though), can't sell buildings, no scenario mode (simcity 2000),
- The game is too fast even on slow and with the recommended cycles setting, advisor notifications for low shop stocks happen too late and sometimes not at all (not a concern in Sandbox mode), various interface/control/pathfinding issues (the game is too picky about where you put down a mechanic - have to place him just right to not have him start eating lunch instead (similar issues with handymen when trying to clean up puke), the end of year awards categories aren't descriptive enough, placing an order cancels the previous one, not enough of a warning when a ride is about to blow up and if it does there will be immovable debris taking up space in its place - sometimes even if you place a mechanic near a broken bouncy castle it can still blow up as well, no notification when an employee quits or goes on strike?, have to move the cursor to the top of the screen and right click to make the game's main menu appear (no hotkey either), annoying how the negotiations mini-game can pop up even if you're in a sub menu and doing something, very clunky research menu (hard to read what each category is, can't just type in exact numbers for how much you want to invest in a category or in total), quit to menu doesn't work (GOG version - alt-tabs the game instead), very icon-driven interface with few tooltips, can't ask the advisor about icons besides the main bottom ones on the main gameplay screen, can't automate restocking like you can for research, can't re-view previous advisor messages, setting a zone for a handyman can be annoying since the game's cursor VERY often switches to building paths or queues/setting sign posts/basically anything you DON'T want (see guide to avoid this below), too hard to select a visitor to see their mood (can't do it while paused), handymen can get stuck (happens more with more complex work zones and too many waypoints) and so can visitors (example: closely placed signposts that point towards each other might trap visitors between them who are interested in the objects of both signposts) - can't simply click the notification to scroll to this NPC and you also have to destroy and rebuild a ride if one is stuck on it, various quirks related to roller coaster construction, almost impossible to check your sales numbers at the beginning of the month - the positions of interest disappear too quickly and all you see is 160s and 5s (means you should turn off fireworks a few days before the end of a month for example), ), no music unless you're viewing certain rides and some sfx get annoying (can turn off either music or sfx but not individual sfx like the entry ticked price's "ka-ching" sfx which happens all the time and the puke sfx which repeats a lot when pukes start spreading), trial & error (the manual doesn't even explain "the drink/food is not satisfying enough", the tutorial explains little - how to place signs for example, not enough tooltips, hotkeys (manual?), research expenses are incurred per month rather than per year, visitor behavior is sometimes unintuitive - a balloon shop near and before a hambuger one will have a detrimental effect on the latter for example - ~third place from the entrance seems good, ), employee micromanagement heavy, some spelling and formatting errors for the advisor's tutorial text, no MP, can't rotate shops?
Notes:
-With current machines it is better to run the game at 6000 cycles (Dosbox starts with 10000-12000! Use CRTL+F11/F12 to de-/increase cycles)
-No manual for the GOG release
-Guides: https://www.gog.com/forum/theme_park/theme_park_strategy_guide/page1, https://www.cheatcc.com/pc/sg/theme_park.html, https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/564716-theme-park/faqs/1950
Bugs:
-Can freeze (GOG ver.)
-When starting a new game for the first time, scrolling doesn't work at first (not sure what made it start working)
-The game auto-clicks when hovering the mouse cursor over icons to the right in a shop's sub menu - GOG ver. only? (can fix it by going into the name edit menu and exiting it)
-Do not run development at too high a cycle speed (.i.e. ~20 000+ DosBox cycles). If the speed is too high the game might skip some upgrades!
-The cross/close button in the editing box for an attraction doesn't seem to work
-Check: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/564716-theme-park/faqs/1950