Games Review: Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic

Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic is an IOS and android port of Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 the second game in the RCT series of games. It is full of parks that players of the first two incarnations of the series will remember.

It was created using OpenRCT2, an open source version of the original Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 game. This allows the RCT franchise to go back to its roots and allow players more creative freedom then what Rollercoaster Tycoon 4 gave its players.

It is a pay to own game at a cost of £5.99 for the main game. It also has the option to purchase the tool kit for creating your own rides and parks at a cost of £5.99 as well as two expansion packs, Time Twister and Wacky Worlds at a cost of £1.99 each. The full game will set you back just under £16.00. This may seem like a lot but when you think how much you payed for the PC version all those years ago its not much different.

Parks

RCT Classic features most of the parks from the early games. These include:-

Forest Frontiers

A nice easy park with an easy to achieve objective. A decent size park with no rides to start with, so a blank canvas to work with.

Dynamite Dunes

A park with one coaster already.

Leafy Lake

A park where the majority is covered by water.

Diamond Hights

White Water Park

The above list is just a small selection of the park scenarios on offer in game.

Rides

From gentle rides like the Ferris Wheel and the Merry-Go-Round to thrill rides like Enterprise as well as all the different coasters from the Woodies to the metal Hypercoaster, all the rides from the early games are here.

The gameplay is the same as with the old RCT games the only real difference being the use of the phone or tablet touchscreen.

The Basics

The aim of the game is to complete scenarios by completing set tasks. These tasks are things like:-

Given Number of Guests at a Given Date

Repaying loan

Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic stays true to the original RCT games making it a great game for those looking to play classic PC games on the go. It is simple to pick up and play yet challenging enough to keep you coming back. However its cost does let it down as OpenTTD the open source version of Transport Tycoon Deluxe is free to download and play and has lots of great free downloadable content. Although there is the option of downloading user created scenarios in RCT Classic the fact that it costs £16 to buy all the main content will make people think twice before buying it. Yes it is worth the money but not everyone will be able to afford it.

My advice is if you can afford to by even just the basic part of the game then do it. However if you are looking for a free game then stick with RCT4 or if you want classic Chris Sawyer on you phone or tablet then go for OpenTTD