Bullfrog are responsible for Populous and Theme Park, 2 very popular and note-worhy games. Note-worthy, because Theme Hospital is an extension to all that made those games great, while injesting it's own unique style. The game has thrust you into the chair of the Director of an initial small hospital. Leaving it up to you to design and maintain, as well as staff and cure, all of the decisions are in your hands. The game will have you looking after patients, while building rooms such as General Diagnosis and X-Ray. This may sound boring, and for some it may be. With Bullfrog's previous game being Theme Park, many will be likely looking for something similar, as well as fast paced and exciting. This will most likely not be the game for you. There are patients coming in, and you have to cure them. And these aren't you're usual ailments as well, with people coming in with diseases like Bloaty Head and Radiation Poisioning (and no, I'm not making this up). A great deal of immersion has come from this, as the Hospital set up and Staff and Patients emotional well-being must be looked after and tended to, and if left alone, can turn the game around. The various rooms to be built, as well as the equipment, right down to the changing the heat on the thermostat so you can get more people to buy your drinks make this game seem very real. However this game falls flat upon control. It isn't easy to transcend control from a PC to Playstation Controller, Bullfrog have done a good job, but sometimes you may find yourself looking for a certain screen and not knowing which sub menu to open. An on screen menu would have helped with this, and sadly wasn't included. Sound is really rather good, especially in effects. Looking and sounding like a hospital is no mean feat, but Bullfrog have done an amicable job and while there is little speech, the game has the sound right. Graphics are on the right side of good, however, some more detail would have helped. The Playstation was just not designed to push the amount of sprites that this game does and unfortunately that can hit the games speed. However, it looks good enough, and gives a decent impression of a fully running Hospital. Gameplay is fun, although limiting and unfortunately repetitive. Some more ailments and some more variation in the look of the game would have helped. This is where the graphics are really maked down as once you begin playing, you'll notice that the game just begins to look too samish. While giving a good impression of a Hospital, the developers forgot that we want variation in our environments. Thene Hospital is a game I recommend, but I urge people to rent it first. This will not appeal to everyone and although a fun game, is limited to the Playstation and it's controller, unfortunately holding this back from what could have been a far superior game. Slightly disappointing.
This game is very addictive though it's missing some features. The game has good graphics, good gameplay, okay music. The gameplay is very good. The player(you or me) tries to cure as much patients as we can. But there a... Read Full Review
Theme Hospital is a great game for all ages and is just fun to play. Good Points-- For a Playstation 1 game Theme Hospital looks very good and also has very addictive gameplay. The characters that are in it are just h... Read Full Review
