The Buggy Facade of RollerCoaster Tycoon World

As I sat down to play RollerCoaster Tycoon World, my hopes were high after 12 years without a new game in the series. I had even gotten the chance to play an early version with the developers, Nvizzio Creations, at PAX Prime in 2015, and thought it looked promising there. However, as soon as I started playing, I was greeted with the largest portion of the main menu seemingly advertising its own lack of content. This oddity seemed like a minor issue, but things only got worse from there.

When I tried to click on the arrows left and right on this section, nothing happened at all. It was as if the game had forgotten how to function properly. But, I thought, maybe it's just a glitch, so I gave it another shot and finally made my way into sandbox mode, which loaded to zero percent almost immediately and then crashed to the desktop! Ugh. Despite my best efforts, the game continued to malfunction, refusing to let me continue with even the simplest of tasks.

I chalked it up to bad luck at first, but I pushed forward onto the sandbox mode, hoping that things would get better from there. However, as soon as I started building, I discovered that the game was still stuck in buggy territory. For some reason, it wouldn't allow me to place a single building across from another one, which left me confused and frustrated to such an extent that I had to go outside and take a walk. When I came back, I decided to ignore the weird feeling in the pit of my stomach and just start building again.

It was here that I discovered that RollerCoaster Tycoon World still retained the same basic gameplay mechanics underneath its buggy facade. This meant that I had a plot of land to develop, which was small at first but could be expanded by purchasing more later. My goal was to build an amusement park and make some cold hard cash doing so. However, I quickly realized that the game's lack of depth in terms of adversity or challenge was severe.

While the game did tick off a basic list of features that a park simulation should provide, such as building rides, constructing coasters, supplying food and drinks, plop down restrooms and souvenir shops, and hiring staff to make sure everything runs smoothly, there was nothing to stop me from doing so. People just kept coming in and buying up everything in sight, regardless of what I did. This lack of challenge made the game feel like a chore, rather than an engaging experience.

One thing that RollerCoaster Tycoon World did offer was VIPs visiting in the form of social media influencers. However, appeasing them was often as simple as dropping them onto the kind of building they wanted to visit and was done with ease. This lack of challenge made it feel like a joke rather than an engaging part of the game.

The game's progression was also different from previous games in the series and its competitors on the market. Remember how earlier I mentioned that you'd have to unlock more items through the story mode? Yes, that also meant that they had gotten rid of the research and development aspect that is a longtime staple of the series. You've either got stuff to build or you don't.

However, the game did come with quite a lot in terms of blueprints for coasters and buildings, and I was able to make my own decorative items piece by piece. This was sweet, but the fact that I couldn't unlock the rest without playing the glitched-out story mode just sucked. The game did have built-in Steam Workshop support, which allowed me to import my own 3D models and custom textures.

But this small ray of sunshine didn't last long. When I realized there was very little control over the finer details of my park, with the exception of roller coasters, which I'll get to soon, my excitement began to dwindle. The only thing that could be done was rename each building and ride. However, forget about things like adjusting the condiments and portions of food and beverages, looking at individual employee information, evaluating their performance, or even recoloring flat rides.

The lack of music options was also a major disappointment. There were no custom music files available from these menus, and only five basic ditties being available, one of which was tragically titled "Merry-Go-Round". This lack of depth in terms of gameplay mechanics made RollerCoaster Tycoon World feel like a shallow experience rather than the engaging and challenging game that I had hoped for.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en...SIIIIIIIGHHHH...RollerCoaster Tycoon World is here and I am sad.It's been twelve years since the lastfull RollerCoaster Tycoon Game on PC,so my hopes were quite high.I even got to play an early version with the developers, Nvizzio Creations, at PAX Prime in 2015,and thought that it looked promising there.But alas, such sadness.Let me tell you the tale...It starts off with the main menuwith the largest portion seeminglyadvertising its own lack of content.And when you try to click thearrows left and right on this,nothing happens at all.A bit odd, but... okay.Next, I got the option to start a sandboxgame or play through the story mode,the former of which is self-explanatoryand the latter is just the tutorial,plus a collection of challenge maps.It's also where you unlockthe rest of the game's contentbecause there's a slew of park itemsthat can't be used until you buy them hereusing in-game currency.More on that later.Anyway, I figured, whatever, I'll just play through thisif only to familiarize myself withthe controls and unlock everything.but I was only able to get a fewmaps in before it bugged outand refused to let me continue.I tried to play through this map THREE times,and each time it screwed up andrefused to let me in the scenario,meaning that I could not move on.I chalked it up to bad luck andpushed forward onto the sandbox mode,which loaded to zero percent almost immediatelyand then crashed to the desktop!Ugh. Alright, maybe it's just shy,so I gave it another shotand finally I was on my way tobuilding my very own theme park.At least I would have been,had I been able to place just a singlebuilding across from another one,which, for whatever reason, it didn'twant to allow me to do whatsoever,confounding me to such a degreethat I had to go outside and take a walk.When I came back,I decided to ignore the weirdfeeling in the pit of my stomachand just start building,and it was here that I discovered that it's stillthe same basic RollerCoaster Tycoon ideaunderneath that buggy facade.That means you've got a plot of land to develop,which is small at first, but can beexpanded by purchasing more later.And it's up to you to build an amusement parkand make some cold hard cash doing so.You build rides, construct coasters,supply food and drinks,plop down some restrooms and souvenir shops,and hire enough staff to make sure it all runs smoothly.But while it ticks off a small listof the most basic things a park sim should provide,there's a severe lack of any real adversity or challenge.And I've complained about a lack ofdepth in similar games before, yes,but here it really is just non-existent.I never once went bankrupt or had to take out a loan,or even felt the need to tweakride wait times or line cues.People just kept piling in andbuying up everything in sight,regardless of what I did.Now I'm not saying every simulationneeds to be super tough or challenging,but I at least expect it to keep mementally engaged on some level,instead of like here, where I never got past the pointof being technically not bored.One thing you do at least getis VIPs visiting in the form of social media influencers,but appeasing them is often as simple asdropping them onto the kindof building they want to visit,and that's it.There are also some key -and sometimes disappointing - differencesin RollerCoaster Tycoon World's progression,compared to earlier games in the seriesand indeed competitors that areout there on the market right now.Remember how earlier I mentioned thatyou'd have to unlock moreitems through the story mode?Yeah, that also means they've gotten ridof the research and development aspectthat's a longtime staple of the series.So you've either got stuff to buildor you don't.Thankfully, it comes with quite a lotin terms of blueprints for coasters and buildings,and you can make your owndecorative items piece by piece,which is sweet.But the fact that you can't unlock the restwithout playing the glitched-out story mode just sucks.It does at least have built-in Steam Workshop support,and it even lets you import yourown 3D models and custom textures,so that's a small ray of sunshine.Which doesn't last long.The clouds return when yourealize there's very little controlover the finer details of your park,with the exception of roller coasters,which I'll get to soon.About the only thing you could dois rename each building and ride.But forget about things like adjusting the condimentsand portions of food and beverages,looking at individual employee informationand evaluating their performance,or even recoloring flat rides,like tilt-a-whirls and merry-go-rounds.There's also a shocking lack of music options,with no custom music files from these menusand only five basic ditties being available,one of which is tragically titled \"General.\"How exciting.Heck, not even this ride signcan be customized as I'd hoped.It just says \"Under Construction\" - forever -as if to signify the state of the game itself.And yes, I know that if youmove it on top of a cue for a ride,it takes the name of the ride,but why is this restriction there at all?Another change is the point-to-point pathway systemwhich lets you more easily constructpaths and line cues that earlier games,and I really like this when it works as it should.But as mentioned before with the buildings not placing,it has some issues where things just refuseto plop down or connect how you'd like.This also gets in the way ofrotating objects for some reason,like this light pole that I just wanted tospin around using the rotate function,but was locked in place for unknown reasons.The other big change is the roller coaster creation itself,which is what got my attention the mostback when I played an early build at PAX.It's a spline-based system now,and similar to pathwaysyou just click a couple spots and itfills in the stuff between those points.After this, you can click anddrag to move the track around,use the mouse wheel to applybanking and height adjustments,and add nodes to split up the track for sectionswith boosters, stops and chains.It's a supremely easy-to-use system,although it lacks some precision,and if you don't like it, you can use the traditionalpiece-by-piece system from games past,letting you more preciselyconstruct to your heart's content.It's not without its issues,and sometimes it can be hard to decipherwhat it wants you to do in orderto make a coaster that doesn't suck.But it's good for quickly tossing coasterdesigns at the wall and seeing what sticks.You can also customize the colors of the entire coaster,including control over the lookand design of each individual car,which is awesome!However,it's not long before you start crashing coastersand are quickly reminded of thesevere lack of polish going on here.Just... how did this get through?How did any of this get through?Why is it so easyto get pathways to clip through the terrainthat looks like it would be flat?Why don't VIP visits workand instead just go into negative numbers for eternity?Who looked at this art directionand said, \"Yep! That looks good!\"How is it that no one in the parkcares if the whole place is completely flooded?Why does basic terrain editing slowthe frame rate down into single digits?Why is the dirt so hungry for cacti and rocks?What's with the stop-motion peeps in the background?Could they not afford a few more frames of animation?Questions and annoyances likethese just go on the longer I play.And it only makes me ask, sincerely,What the hell happened here?This is a mainline RollerCoaster Tycoon game, right?Not some half-hearted ripoff,found in a bargain bin at Walmart in 2005?Right?Because, dude, the entirety ofRollerCoaster Tycoon Worldhas that air of cheapness about it.Or perhaps more accurately,a feeling of being incomplete,which makes a bit of sense,knowing it went through development trouble for years.Whenever a title blows through at leastthree different development studiosover a two-year lifespan andgets rushed out of early accessjust 24 hours before its biggestcompetitor hits the market,a sense of things feeling offis not unexpected.It's just... really sad.I gotta feel some sympathy for the people involved here,because there's no waythey set out trying to make aRollerCoaster Tycoon gamebe this subpar.I don't know if it's the publisher,Atari, to blame here or what,but this game has the unmistakablestench of quality control gone awry.Or maybe it was just the lack of time and resourcesTO control any quality in the first place.I don't know,but this is the result, and ugh.They're asking $35 for this,$40 for the deluxe edition with barely anything added.Yeah, how 'bout no?I am totally bummedto say that RollerCoaster Tycoon Worldis the single-most disappointing game of 2016 for me.And if you like this take on this game from me,then perhaps you'd like to see some of my others here,including the excellent Planet Coaster,which released just a day afterthis game did, so that's a thing.Click on these if you'd like.And as always, thank you very much for watching LGR.\n"