| RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Frontier Developments |
| Publisher(s) | Atari, Inc. |
| Composer(s) | Alistair Lindsay |
| Platform(s) | Mac OS X, Windows (98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7) |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Construction and management simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | CD-ROM, Steam |
| System requirements
Intel Pentium III 1GHz CPU 256MB RAM, 800MB hard disk space, Any ATI Radeon or NVIDIA GeForce GPU with 32 MB (NVidia Geforce 2 or equivalent ATI or above recommended |
|
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is a construction and management simulation computer game. It is the third installment in the RollerCoaster Tycoon series, first released on October 26, 2004 in North America. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 places players in charge of managing amusement parks; rides can be built or demolished, terrain and scenery can be adjusted, and prices can be controlled to keep visitors or "peeps" happy.[1]
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 features two methods of gameplay. In career mode, players must complete predetermined objectives in predesigned scenarios. In the new sandbox mode, players have unlimited time and money to create their own custom parks.[2] New features include the ability to import and export custom attractions, design custom scenarios and peeps, as well as design an in-game recorder and a fully three dimensional world players can view from all angles. In March 2012, a portable sequel, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D, will be released.
Contents |
Like the previous games in the series, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is a strategy and simulation game in which players manage all aspects of an amusement park by building or removing rides, scenery and amenities, adjusting the park's finances, hiring staff, and keeping the park visitors, known as "peeps", happy. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 features two main game modes. The career mode features scenarios where players must accomplish goals, such as impressing a visiting celebrity or attaining a certain park rating. Each scenario has three levels of objectives, which are ranked as Apprentice, Entrepreneur, and Tycoon; the higher the level, the more challenging the goal is to complete. A third of the scenarios are playable from the start, with the rest unlocked when the player completes the objectives at each level. The second mode of play is the sandbox mode. Players are given a large, empty plot of land and unlimited funds with which to build their own custom and dream parks.[1]
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 includes new gameplay features such as the CoasterCam, which allows players to "ride" roller coasters and other rides,[1] and the MixMaster, which allows the player to coordinate firework shows and time them to in-game music.[1] Unlike the two previous versions of the game, RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, the guests, called "peeps", arrive in groups and show variation in gender and age, including children, teenagers and adults. A day/night cycle changes the demographics of the park's peeps; rides at night appeal to teenagers, while the daytime attracts families with children. Peeps can be harmed and injured by crashing vehicles, but will never die as they did in the previous titles, nor will they drown when placed in water. This change was most likely for issues of user-friendlyness. Furthermore, a new feature was added in which, after a cheat code was entered, people could utilize the Peep Cam from which they could see the park through a peeps' eyes.[3] Parks now have opening and closing times, and the time of day is displayed. Scenery is divided into themes to customize parks, with western-, spooky-, science fiction-, prehistoric-, tropic (Paradise Island)- atlantis- and adventure-themed pieces.[4] Another feature is the ability to import coasters from previous games in the series into RCT3.
The game uses full 3D graphics instead of the isometric viewpoint of the previous games; this means that players can rotate and zoom the view of the park to any degree. However, there is an option to fix the camera's rotation to a preset angle, as in the previous games. 3D land shaping is also available for creating mountains and hills inside the park.
When cars derail from the tracks, they explode after a short period, wheras in the older games, they exploded on contact.
Although the core features of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 are based on the previous games, Chris Sawyer, the developer of the first two games, acted only as a consultant, as the game was developed by Frontier Developments instead, and published and advertised by Atari.
Two expansion packs for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 were released - Soaked! and Wild!. A bundle, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Gold, was also released, including the original game and the Soaked! expansion pack; this was followed by RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum (Deluxe for the EU version of the game), including both expansion packs and the original game. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum is available for Windows and Mac OS X.
Soaked!, the first expansion, allows the player to build water parks, including swimming pools, water slides and underwater aquarium, and adds more ride types and scenery to the original game, along with the ability to add waterfalls. From the expansion pack, players can also make their own water jet displays and co-ordinate them to music, similar to the MixMaster.
Wild!, the second expansion, allows the player to build zoos and safari rides, similar to Zoo Tycoon in an amusement park setting, in which animals can be placed, and adds more ride types and scenery to the original game. Additionally, it addressed several criticisms of the first game, such as the inability to build underground, which is available without the expansion pack in the form of an update patch.
RCT3 has the ability to make Custom Scenery (CS), Custom Flat Rides (CFR), and Custom Tracked Rides (CTR), with a collection of these, individuals and groups can now make "custom" expansion packs. These can be obtained through internet downloads. Among most downloaded custom scenery downloads are Moby's Steel Jungle (for customized supports), ATH Catwalks (for roller coaster catwalks), and Old Spices Trees (An alternative to the in-game trees). As of now there are numerous User Created Expansion Packs (UCEPs). The most popular of these is the NetOn series, which has a 1.0 and a 2.0 version. Custom Tracks have also been made, however the number of tracks available for download are limited.
| RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 84%[5] |
| Metacritic | 81%[6] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | A[7] |
| GameSpot | 7.8[8] |
| GameSpy | 3/5[9] |
| IGN | 8.5/10[10] |
Overall, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 was well-received. The game has an average rating of 81% at Metacritic and 84% at Game Rankings.[6][5] Publications such as GameSpot and Computer Gaming World judged RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 as the true sequel to the original game, stating that the second game was merely a retread, but that RCT3 broke new ground and offered a substantial graphical overhaul.[7] However, there had been many criticisms about the game because of it having too many bugs,[8][10] such as the game crashing, the camera freezing, staff getting stuck on railings, and graphical glitches mainly caused when adjusting the landscape.[10][11]
On August 14, 2010, Atari posted up on their message boards what fans would like to see in the 4th game. This has led to heavy speculation about the chances of a sequel.[12] Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 was also spotted on IGN.[13] It's been 7 years since Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 hit the market. But due to copyright/legal issues, Chris Sawyer would not likely be included in the making of any future RollerCoaster Tycoon creations. On August 27, 2011, a portable version for the Nintendo 3DS was announced called RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D, scheduled for release in Q1 2012 and the game was given an official website including a teaser trailer on September 7, 2011.
|
|
|||||