RollerCoaster Tycoon World First Impressions

Adding back in the original style of coaster builder is a huge improvement. It allows gamers to quickly and easily create a great ride while more advanced users have the power and opportunity to tweak and customize to their heart’s content. A similar process needs to be added for the current chore that is path placement. The ability to create incredible looking parks with intricate, curved walkways is possible but making a simple straight, right-angled queue is nigh on impossible. At this time you can enjoy creating an incredible coaster only to get annoyed by the exasperating experience of building the entrance and exit paths.

In previous installments placing stalls selling food, drink and park merchandise was problem free. Choose the stall you want, decide where you want to place it and it slotted perfectly adjacent to the path. Not only did this work perfectly well, it was simple. Place it, open the stall and reap the rewards. In RollerCoaster Tycoon World after spinning the stall around you then have to use the frustrating path tool to connect the stall to the closest path. This results in an unnatural branching look to stall and makes a food and drink area look plain ridiculous. It is a small issue but it is the small things which, if improved, could help the game shine.

These points hit home the key underlying issue of RollerCoaster Tycoon World. The developers have gone all out to give players almost unlimited freedom, with modern curves and non-uniformity. Alas, in this effort they have overlooked those creating the ultimate park for the first time. Having the ability to fully customize something is brilliant but players should have the option to take it a step at a time: utilizing easy piece by piece building before using the complex build systems.

Disappointment with a hint of promise. It is the best way to describe RollerCoaster Tycoon World. Put in plain English, simplicity has been lost. Sections which should be easy are now overly complex and result in a frustrating experience. Having already changed a core mechanic for the coaster builder to include a simple step by step builder, the team would be wise to continue down this vein. Minor tweaks and improvements will massively help the game be enjoyable: until then I can only recommend the game to hardcore RollerCoaster Tycoon fans and those that want to help the developers by testing content.