![]() This was the first time in the series you could properly jump into the rides you designed, and it’s a fun break to ride a coaster. It’s been 16 years since RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 was first released and it’s clear how much graphics have improved. I definitely prefer the approach of the first RCT instead, but more imaginative players will find this very liberating. I’m not the most creative player, so I didn’t embrace the wide possibilities. While that is pretty appealing, it means that RCT 3 is very much a “make your own fun” game alongside the tycoon aspects you know and love. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 has more of a toybox vibe compared to previous games in the franchise. Hell, you can even make your own missions if you want to create your own challenges. This is doubly true for the sandbox mode, a feature that wasn’t in previous RCT games. It’s still fun to manage a theme park, and it’s pretty chill to design a coaster and make some money. Once you get used to the UI and the dry tutorial, there’s a game that’s still pleasant to dive into. One thing that’s surprising about playing RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 in 2020 is that it has a meditative quality to it. It’s not perfect, but it helps those moments where you can’t figure out how to get the track to properly snap. This is helped by an autocomplete feature that can finish a track for you if you’re close enough to the end. If it doesn’t bother you, it’s fun to figure out a track. It gives you plenty of freedom to make a track how you’d want, but that tiny user interface rears its head here. Many rides have the option to build your own track. There’s something freeing about making a park in RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 the way you want it, and the huge amount of customization is still a joy (though I used this limitless potential to just name my rides things like “I Miss My Wife”). I’m not that type of player, I will color-coordinate nothing and make everything look as tacky as can be. Once you get that settled, it’s time to build your park’s rides, stalls, even scenery and landscaping if you’re someone who likes to detail your parks. Since you have to load into each section of the tutorial, it has the perfect mix of long and unengaging. However, the tutorial itself is pretty dry. Thanks to the additional mechanics from the Wild and Soaked expansions that give you the options for water-based rides and zoo-esque features, it’s got a lot to learn and plenty to do. This is a game that you’ll need to do the tutorial for. You can unlock most levels on the easiest goal, but additional levels are unlocked by finishing every level’s more difficult challenges. ![]() Each level has three goals: Apprentice, Entrepreneur, and Tycoon. ![]() Since this version comes with the previously released expansion packs, there is a ton of variety in both level types and in goals. Maybe that could be a positive park rating, plenty of customers (or peeps) in your park, or making some very good roller coasters, or all of the above. If you haven’t played a RollerCoaster Tycoon game, it’s a straightforward premise: each level gives you a task to beat in a separate sort of theme park. Luckily, there’s a reason why people loved this game back in 2004. No matter how you feel about the game, it is more important than ever to make sure gaming’s past is accessible for future generations. So when the re-release of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 was announced to allow the game to work on modern hardware, I was curious how it would be to jump back into that trilogy after it was pulled from digital storefronts in 2018. There are ways to do it, but it will take some time and plenty of Googling. Try running the original Sims with your current rig, or the PC port of Manhunt. With tech getting newer, older games are going to get harder to run on modern systems. My most mundane crusade regards game preservation. Every game critic out there has something they focus on in the industry.
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