Space World 2001 Hands-on: Universal Studios: Theme Park Creation

Kemco's Universal Studios: Theme Park Creation puts you in the role of a child set loose in the Universal Studios theme park. From there, you can run around from attraction to attraction playing minigames based on each one.

The beginning of the version shown here at Space World 2001 is fairly automatic. You get on a Back to the Future-style hoverboard, Woody Woodpecker tells you a thing or two about the park, and then you're off to your first attraction. The first level is a Hogan's Alley-style gunfight, where you must shoot various targets and silhouettes as they pop out from behind Western-themed obstacles. The difference here is that you're competing against a computer-controlled gunman to see who can hit the most targets. While this game is set up like a gun game, it uses the controller, and an onscreen cursor helps you aim. The R trigger fires and the A button reloads. Once finished with the gun stage, your attraction passport is stamped and you move on to Back to the Future: The Ride. At Universal Studios, the Back to the Future ride is a motion simulator that puts a group of people into a large car that shakes around in relation to the onscreen action, in this case showing Doc Brown's flying Delorean racing through time against an opposing Delorean. In the Universal Studios game, you'll take control of the Delorean and pilot it in a race against that opposing Delorean. A accelerates, B brakes, and the top triggers are used for controlled slides around sharp turns. The effects here look quite nice, and the early portions of the ride are re-created pretty faithfully, complete with movie landmarks such as the famous Hill Valley clock tower.

Once the race is completed, it's back to visit Woody Woodpecker at the front gate of the park, who takes your hoverboard and lets you run around the park on your own. The park is bustling with people, and hidden letters that form the words Universal Studios can be found and collected.

Kemco's Universal Studios: Theme Park Creation is scheduled to be released in Japan this December.