RollerCoaster Tycoon is Making a Comeback in 2016!

The PC platform is home to a huge array of iconic simulation games including Theme Hospital and RollerCoaster Tycoon. During my childhood, the ability to open a hospital, and try to manage the budget while offering good healthcare was a fairly enticing proposition. Admittedly, I preferred it to the theme park titles, because I’ve never been overly fond of rollercoasters. Nevertheless, the formula for any simulation game is really enjoyable and recent examples like Cities: Skylines illustrates their popularity. Clearly, one of the most fondly remembered simulation games is RollerCoaster Tycoon which allows you to build thrilling rides, and create other amenities.

RollerCoaster Tycoon was originally released on March, 31st 1999, and starting to show its age. Thankfully, a sequel entitled, RollerCoaster Tycoon World is in production and scheduled for a 2016 release. Furthermore, the development studio has promised the latest instalment will be a completely different experience from the mobile version and without any microtransactions. According to Mashable, RollerCoaster Tycoon World adopts a similar focus which properly honours the previous game. Additionally, there’s endless potential for replayability as players can share custom created content and upload them directly to the Steam Community.

Sadly, it seems the current build isn’t a graphical masterpiece and doesn’t evoke the same kind of fidelity seen in Cities: Skylines. Atari also demoed the game on an Alienware laptop which just about hovered over the minimum requirements. This resulted in severe frame drops, slow loading times and various crashes to the desktop. Hopefully, this is an isolated incident and the final version will have a greater level of polish. Perhaps, the performance is improved on better hardware as the engine might not be well suited to mobile chipsets.

Even though rollercoaster simulators aren’t to my taste, it’s fantastic to see a classic being revived. Hopefully it lives up to people’s expectations and provides a fantastic experience.