A classic restored to its former glory. This works well on the DS and is great fun.
We had hours of fun building the most ridiculously large theme parks with all the rides and shops you could possibly imagine, then we'd maintain the whole thing while watching thousands of those little pixel people rush around the screen. Now Theme Park has been revived for the DS and, despite the serious reduction in the size of the console and cartridge, the whole game is in there, every last meticulously in-depth part of it.
That's the thing though - this might look like a cartoonish barrel of laughs but there's so much in here it will have even the most money-trained adult's brain spinning at the amount of things that need thinking about to run your park. This is no kid's game - Theme Park is a hardcore management sim and really hard work.
You start off with nothing more than an entrance gate leading into an empty field. Then you start building, with a few simple pathways, a couple of basic rides and a few snack shops. Once you have that, you can open the park and let people in. As they rush around, you keep building, expanding your park into a colossal Alton Towers-beater with the ultimate aim of earning profit then selling the park on for enough money to buy land in the next country. Easy, right?
Business Before Pleasure
No, that's the simple side of things. This game is all about financial management - making a profit, not a loss - and everything you do costs money. Every ride, every shop and every section of paving eats away at your bank account. You've got to design a fun and well-laid-out park so that you get lots of happy punters; and then you must make sure your pricing is right.
You don't just slap rides and shops down at random and hope for the best; there are factors to think about. You have to make sure there are sufficient paths for easy access to everything. Shops need to be positioned near the most popular rides to get lots of customers. You've got to space out rides and shops evenly so there's variety everywhere. Our heads hurt...
Happy Customers
There's also a selection of trees, lakes, flowers and other environmental decorations that can be used to make the people happier. You even have to think about details like not putting rollercoasters near food shops so that people don't get on with a belly-full and throw up.
Then you need to hire staff. No-one likes a dirty park so you need handymen to pick up the litter and cut the grass. You'll need mechanics too - without them the rides are prone to break down, and if you leave them operating too long without repair they'll explode. You'll also need random clowns, magicians and entertainers to keep people amused between rides.
Then there's the financial management. First you set the entrance fee. Then you can set the price of the goods in every shop in your park, tweak the wages you pay each member of your staff, and set how much to spend on developing new types of rides. There are so many figures to think about it'd have the world's best financial advisor pulling their hair out.
If anything, there's too much to think about. You won't be able to move your stylus fast enough to keep everything running perfectly - there's always something to improve.
Theme Park has to be admired for its astonishing amount of depth. There's something so rewarding about seeing the whole thing in action. But there's so much to do that it'll give you a headache and suck up hours of your time. If you're good under pressure you'll love this, but if you're expecting a walk in the park you'll be in for a shock.