Unique and standalone is this classic business strategy game boasting decent visuals and addicting gameplay.
Coming out in 1997, Bullfrog merges a business strategy genre with comical and childish elements; which they carry along with them to the later strategy game Theme Park World (1999).
The gameplay of Theme Hospital is rather simple, just as most business strategy games were around this time. A player is able to create a functional hospital complete with doctors, psychiatrists, researchers, nurses, and janitors. The player manages the patient experience with plants, heating, vending machines, and washrooms, and must also keep the staff happy with suitable lounges and setting a work-break ratio. The gameplay is fun and quirky, although does not offer a significant depth in micromanagement. Placing rooms, filling them with equipment, and managing patient flow outside is fun and entertaining while offering the typical Bullfrog humor in ways of credulous disease names, mouse hunts, and comical cartoon visuals. As a downside, the need for a ridiculous amount of caretakers to look after equipment is rather annoying, considering when equipment breaks down the room is thereafter a chunk of wasted, unusable space. Furthermore, the awkward layout of the pre-designed hospital exterior walls can be a bother to a player who wishes to make a nice-looking and easily-traversed hospital layout. Coordinating the two required surgeons to be in the same room at the same time to cure a patient can also be aggravating, as they always seem to prioritize tasks that can be completed by non-specialized doctors; making the player have to often pick up and drop the surgeons to the operating theater.
The controls of the game are fairly simple. Basic pointing and clicking makes up the most of the normal activities; with a number of hotkeys available for various menus that are accessible also by mouse.
One may find themselves turning off the announcements shortly after beginning the game. This will come after the player has noticed the same 5 to 10 messages being broadcasted aloud in one session. Aside from the annoying announcements, which are supposed to act like a hospital P.A. system, the sounds are generally well-done for a DOS game. The two or three music tracks go well with the game, but are likely to also be muted eventually.
Considering how old this game is, it truly has very well-done graphics. Although cartoony, the models and items work well with the player-created layout and I've rarely notices glitches or bugs with the models. This is one of the main reasons why I believe this game can still be popular today. During its time, it was not trying to pull off a realistic graphical setting, and so its cartoon-styled atmospheres appears now just as they were intended to over 15 years ago.
A typical tycoon game with endless choices for layout and management. Although the game will become monotonous by the end, having to start in the exact same state in each different level, there is a charm in creating a full-functioning hospital from the ground up that will surely come back a few months after the game has been milked dry. Although there are no differences in the story or bonus missions, there is the possibility of working on different styles and approaching challenges from different angles; as in many sim and tycoon games.
By comparison to similar games of this time, I believe that Theme Hospital is right on par with the business strategy genre. Being that the game is over 15 years old, it holds a number of shortcomings when comparing to the modern business strategy games of today, but I believe that it is certainly worth a play and still holds a certain charm that will keep in tucked away in a collection to be played for a month or so each year.