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Late to the Thrills: RollerCoaster Tycoon 3

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Roller Coaster Tycoon was my first and only Tycoon series so far, so unfortunately I don't know if this game in particular implements any advances others in the genre may have come up with. I also know Chris Sawyer had almost no affiliation with this game.



With that out of the way, I can get on to slavishly praising it. The original Roller Coaster Tycoon (or RCT) was one of my first computer, sim, and turn-based games (along with Alpha Centauri), and I loved it. I spent endless hours micro-managing everything to the smallest possible details; employee paths, employee uniform colors, path patterns (trash bin, then bench, then lamp post, then trash bin, ad infinitum), and more. I then moved on to RCT2, and loved it as well. I played around some with 2's expansions, but I was never a big expansion buyer.



Flash forward to yesterday. At my local Walsmart I was looking around for a few things to stave off boredom (and found Buffy seasons 2, 3, and 4 to my luck, at $15 each), when I happened upon Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Platinum, which includes the two expansions "Soaked!" and "Wild". I was in the bundle-buying mood as evidenced by my Buffy purchases and the price was right- $30 for three games, not bad.



Wow. The series' transition to 3D could not have gone any smoother. It retains all the micro-management facets of the first two and brings it to life in full 3D, complete with godly camera controls and all.



In addition, RCT3 boasts possibly the single greatest game-to-game user interface redesign ever. In game, you're given a top-bar that functions like the old games (except that updates appear in an Android-like drag-down menu, neat); on the left are a column of circular icons with which you're able to play the game; and depending on the context, two controls appear at the bottom corners of the screen. The left corner is the control for creating things like paths and rides, while the right corner displays the control for whatever you clicked on with the left mouse button. It's really fluid.



But the biggest thing I've found is the CoasterCam. I never really played around with making my own coasters unless I had spacial issues, but with CoasterCam, I'm definitely am going to be building my own for hours on end. CoasterCam is a feature in RCT3 that plops you square in the seat of almost any ride you've made- from coasters to carousels to go-karts. I understand this wasn't possible with the isometric games, but I have to say, RCT3 is worth it for this feature alone.



The graphics are actually pretty OK considering all the stuff that has to be rendered in full 3D; definitely low-poly, but you usually won't be staring at things up-close anyways. While the framerate occassionally dips when you're panning around, I have yet to have it cause serious issues (and it never stutters during CoasterCam.) It's actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be, although that's just because I've been unlucky with PC games before. No glitches or errors to speak of, either. One more thing I have to mention is this game goes even further into customization than I thought- you can load up your own images to display as in-game banners (useless, but fun), and you can customize both the background music while playing as well as the music that plays during rides.

I really can't wait for RCT4 (and also hope Atari does a Sim City-like port of it or this to Wii.)



Thoughts on 3? The series as whole?

Images can be embiggened, though I did save them in JPG so forgive any poor qualities.
 

Ranger X

Member
It's easier to make pathways in RCT2. There's also some menus i did like more back then. All in all not a bad sequel but it did never grab me like the second one. The second one is quite... perfect.
 
I liked 1 and loved 2, I don't know why but 3 just never pulled me in. It's been years since I played it but I recall it not seeming like anything special so it got deleted when my hard drive was filling up. I don't know about my interest in a 4th one. Thanks to the combination of Paradox's Europa Universalis engined games, the Wii/DS, and less time I think I'll have to pass on amusement park management games.
 

D-Pad

Member
RCT 2 is better than 3, imo, if only for the simple fact that people actually ride the rides. RCT 3 uses programming to limit the number of guest that enter your park, based on the number of rides you have contructed. The lines never get filled like in the previous games because of it. Also my computer sucks, so my parks always have to stay closed (campaine mode is nearly impossible for me). :(

That said, I still play RCT 3 regularly because of all of the things you mentioned above. It's an awesome game that gives you the ability to customize almost everything in your park (firework shows, animal shows -- you can make your own frickin' SeaWorld, man!!) and it had two of the greatest expansion packs of the whole series (Wild! and Soaked!).

Of course, Atari screwed things up and went on the verge of bankrupt. The expansions/patches stopped coming, Chris Sawyer sued for unpaid royalties, Atari sued Frontier (RCT 3 developers) for using the game's graphics in Thrillville (published by Lucas Arts) -- Don't see RCT 4 happening any time soon.

... And if an RCT 4 does get made, I pray Atari's no where NEAR it and EA can take it's Sim ThemePark shit and shove it. :mad: [/hate]
 

Chris R

Member
Loved RCT1 (as in beat every single scenario including the expansions) and kinda liked RCT2, but couldn't stand RCT3, even though riding the ride was cool. Maybe because it was so buggy and didn't really play like I wanted it to?
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
D-Pad said:
Of course, Atari screwed things up and went on the verge of bankrupt. The expansions/patches stopped coming, Chris Sawyer sued for unpaid royalties, Atari sued Frontier (RCT 3 developers) for using the game's graphics in Thrillville (published by Lucas Arts) -- Don't see RCT 4 happening any time soon.[/hate]

Oh, damn. :/
 
Ahh RC Tycoon. I was a big fan of Transport Tycoon back in 'The Day' and Sawyer's next project didn't disappoint. I always found it pretty difficult to build coasters that people enjoyed riding, I'd build the biggest, most expensive coaster ever seen and it would end up having a fun rating of 1 and a nausea rating of 17 or something silly. I got there in the end, but they never looker that much fun to ride.

Shockgamer said:

:lol :lol :lol
That was awesome!
 

Munin

Member
D-Pad said:
RCT 2 is better than 3, imo, if only for the simple fact that people actually ride the rides. RCT 3 uses programming to limit the number of guest that enter your park, based on the number of rides you have contructed. The lines never get filled like in the previous games because of it. Also my computer sucks, so my parks always have to stay closed (campaine mode is nearly impossible for me). :(

You have to cut them some slack though - RCT3 looked AMAZING when it first came out and still looks fine today, for the kind of game it is.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Shockgamer said:

:lol CoasterCam strikes again! :) Now I want to go look up a bunch of RCT3 machinations on YouTube. :lol

Munin said:
You have to cut them some slack though - RCT3 looked AMAZING when it first came out and still looks fine today, for the kind of game it is.

Pretty much. As I said, the framerate is pretty good and although everything is low-poly, it still looks good (especially when you're doing your "job" and not staring close to the people...)

I'm both surprised and unsurprised at the 3 hate. I agree with Drkirby that 2 definitely felt like more of an expansion pack (and compared with 1 and 2's piddly expansions, that's what it should have been), while 3 definitely feels like the real sequel.
 
Bending_Unit_22 said:
I liked 1 and loved 2, I don't know why but 3 just never pulled me in. It's been years since I played it but I recall it not seeming like anything special so it got deleted when my hard drive was filling up.
THIS
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
This is what I bought the other day...



All on one disc and one program, I was impressed with how smoothly it was all integrated together- it's like a single game now. Amazon reviews actually hold up well too, as does GameRankings (83.5%, second in RCT games only to the original). In fact, RCT3's two expansions are highly acclaimed as well with Soaked being 78.8% and Wild being 71.9%, with 2's being much worse and 1's being rated slightly better.

<3 this game.
 

iceatcs

Junior Member
I dunno if you remember my same nickname which I was the creator for mods for RCT3.
You can make the own 3D building pieces with special importer.

About 6 months left, I have heard now you can able to make own custom ride. Might think going to back to bit of mod when free time.

There are some pictures I made
Slide-Support.jpg


IceatcsHalloweenTimber.jpg


LOTR-MiddleEarthStart.jpg
 

ultron87

Member
The ability to combine fireworks and lasers and whatnot together to make awesome light shows is by far RCT3's best feature. I think I prefer 2 for actually building rides and messing with terrain.
 
Andrex said:
But the biggest thing I've found is the CoasterCam. I never really played around with making my own coasters unless I had spacial issues, but with CoasterCam, I'm definitely am going to be building my own for hours on end.

what? that's like the point of the game, building rollercoasters!!
 
I friggin love this game, but it doesn't get much exposure around here for sure.

All in all I think it was a fine transition to 3d for the series. And the coaster cam is awesome. It also runs very well on todays hardware. I have 3000+ peeps in my park, tons of rides and custom coasters and it runs @ 1920x1080 with almost no slowdown. It's so much more fun to ride your coasters with no slowdown or framerate drops.

The game is what, like $20 at wal-mart? Buy it people!

Ten-Song said:

:lol :lol :lol
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
iceatcs said:
I dunno if you remember my same nickname which I was the creator for mods for RCT3.
You can make the own 3D building pieces with special importer.

About 6 months left, I have heard now you can able to make own custom ride. Might think going to back to bit of mod when free time.

There are some pictures I made
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/iceatcs/Slide-Support.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/iceatcs/IceatcsHalloweenTimber.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/iceatcs/LOTR-MiddleEarthStart.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

Wow, those are really impressive. Can you point me to a guide on the mods and also your Halloween mod? Thanks!

[QUOTE=sixthsubset]what? that's like the point of the game, building rollercoasters!![/QUOTE]

Maybe, but I didn't see the need in 1 and 2- the defaults were good enough for me, and were built in 1 second, leaving me free to manage the rest of my park.

[QUOTE=SuperEnemyCrab]I friggin love this game, but it doesn't get much exposure around here for sure.

All in all I think it was a fine transition to 3d for the series. And the coaster cam is awesome. It also runs very well on todays hardware. I have 3000+ peeps in my park, tons of rides and custom coasters and it runs @ 1920x1080 with almost no slowdown. It's so much more fun to ride your coasters with no slowdown or framerate drops.

The game is what, like $20 at wal-mart? Buy it people![/QUOTE]

Pretty much the point I was making. It runs remarkably well, even on my admittedly not-for-gaming PC.

And it's $30, with both expansions. :D
 
Did anyone use to make a "naughty" pit where you throw in the angriest customers into a really deep hole to give them some time to think?

Not saying I did but... >_>
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
iceatcs said:

Thank you! You are a god among Peeps! (Then again, we all are...)

Grimm Fandango said:
Did anyone use to make a "naughty" pit where you throw in the angriest customers into a really deep hole to give them some time to think?

Not saying I did but... >_>

I had a "naughty plateau", where I'd take a single block of ground and push it up really high, then drop the person onto it. >_>
 
Problem with RCT3 was that you need(ed) a beastly rig in order to make a park that can cover the entire map. I played the original + the expansions to death. Had a knack for trying to recreate actual coasters into the game, right down to top speeds.
 

NekoFever

Member
I actually tried to install Windows 98 on Parallels a little while ago specifically so I could play the first Rollercoaster Tycoon. I loved that game so much.
 

whitehawk

Banned
I love RCT 1 and 2, but..

ROLLER COASTER TYCOON 3 SUCKS BALLS!

It's ridiculous. It's the same game basically in 3D which is fine, but the framerate isn't amazing, even on my good rig. Plus I can't even build rollercoasters because they don't render properly. From one angle it looked like the track was connected with the station, but from another it's completely different.
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is good, but it doesn't hold a candle to the first or second. I love those games so much. I really think a lot of its appeal came from the simple graphics. I don't like the 3D engine...
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
whitehawk said:
I love RCT 1 and 2, but..

ROLLER COASTER TYCOON 3 SUCKS BALLS!

It's ridiculous. It's the same game basically in 3D which is fine, but the framerate isn't amazing, even on my good rig. Plus I can't even build rollercoasters because they don't render properly. From one angle it looked like the track was connected with the station, but from another it's completely different.

Bah, haters. >:/

And that's the point of movable camera; so that, you know, you can pan around.

And it does have a good framerate, maybe they optimized some things for Platinum?
 

Willy Wanka

my god this avatar owns
Funnily enough, I just bought this for £10:

51GVRR4QK2L._SL500_AA280_.jpg


It contains Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 & 3 and the expansion packs for both games. I've not opened it yet but by the sounds of it, it might be worthwhile starting with RC2.

:lol at those videos. I wish I could have done that to the guests in Thrillville.
 

D-Pad

Member
Munin said:
You have to cut them some slack though - RCT3 looked AMAZING when it first came out and still looks fine today, for the kind of game it is.

Oh, yes. Don't get me wrong; The coasters and rides and scenery and landscapes -- The game is gorgeous. Players can and have made some beautiful parks using vanilla and custom made scenery, which are a blast to play, but only if your computer can handle it.

The jump from RCT 2 to RCT 3 was huge. Too great, in fact. It alienated a lot of fans. RCT 3 brought the RCT series up to times (3D), but I still think it was the wrong way to go. There should, imo, have been an RCT 2.5D to transition fans into RCT 3.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
D-Pad said:
Oh, yes. Don't get me wrong; The coasters and rides and scenery and landscapes -- The game is gorgeous. Players can and have made some beautiful parks using vanilla and custom made scenery, which are a blast to play, but only if your computer can handle it.

The jump from RCT 2 to RCT 3 was huge. Too great, in fact. It alienated a lot of fans. RCT 3 brought the RCT series up to times (3D), but I still think it was the wrong way to go. There should, imo, have been an RCT 2.5D to transition fans into RCT 3.

That's what RCT2 should have been, instead we got a rebranded expansion to fill the gap...

But I really think RCT3 was the right way to go. Full 3D, looks good, runs reasonably well, offers tons of customizations*, had a hugely improved user-interface, and had CoasterCam. There's not much more you could have asked for a 3D sequel. In addition, 3's two expansions actually altered gameplay and weren't merely more missions on a disc.

*Case in point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QCPXfJbAeQ
 
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