RollerCoaster Tycoon World
Cover art
Developer(s)Nvizzio Creations
Publisher(s)
Composer(s)Maxime Goulet
SeriesRollerCoaster Tycoon
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release16 November 2016
Genre(s)Construction and management simulation
Mode(s)Single-player

RollerCoaster Tycoon World is a theme park construction and management simulation video game developed by Nvizzio Creations and published by Atari for Microsoft Windows. It is the fourth major installment in the RollerCoaster Tycoon series. The game was released on 16 November 2016 to largely negative reviews.

Gameplay

Players are able to build rides, shops and roller coasters, while monitoring elements such as budget, visitor happiness and technology research. Unlike RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile, the game does not include any micro-transactions.[1] Similar to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, the game features 3D graphics instead of the 2D isometric style of the first two installments in the series. When building roller coasters, the game makes use of a spline system instead of the old style of laying individual pieces. Players are also allowed to "ride" the roller coasters they have created, and other rides they have placed in their park in the game, in either a first or third-person view. A new 'Park Pulse' mechanic was also introduced, allowing players to quickly find out how their park is doing and the customers' thoughts, similar to Zoo Tycoon titles.[2]

The game contains several scenery and ride themes at launch, with more in development that will be released via free updates and paid expansion packs.[3][4] The game also introduces an "Architect mode", allowing players to plan and layout the coaster's model before constructing the coasters. Similar to the past installments, there are four different types of coasters available to build: steel, inverted, wooden, and launch-track coasters. In addition, there are ten roller coasters per type. Coasters can be built freeform or the player can place pre-made designs into their park.[5] Unlike in the previous games, the roller coaster train may fly off the tracks if the roller coaster is built incorrectly. As a result, a new "safety-rating" option and medical staff has been added. User-generated content (including custom scenery) was available from release, as well as Steam Workshop support.[6] While terrain and environments are randomly generated in a map, players can still gain access to a terrain editor.[7]

Development

When Atari announced RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile, they also promised that a title for Windows was also being developed.[8] The game was officially announced during Gamescom 2014 with a teaser trailer, subtitled World.[9] The first screenshots and details of the game were revealed during PAX Prime 2014. Part way through development, Area 52 Games took over as the developer of the game from Pipeworks Software. The reasoning behind this has not yet been published by Atari, who announced the change along with the relaunch of the RollerCoaster Tycoon website. The game was due for release in early 2015, although it was revealed that they would not announce an official launch date until closer to the release of the game.[10] A closed alpha was also in development.[7] A new trailer showing gameplay was uploaded on 5 March 2015, showing an intro featuring real life POV footage of Goliath and Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain.[11]

Atari later revealed that a third developer had taken over from Area 52 Games, later confirmed to be Nvizzio Creations.[12] At the NVIDIA booth on PAX Prime 2015, Atari unveiled interactive gameplay for the game showing off their development build that featured coaster building and sandbox mode. On 29 September 2015, it was announced the release date would be 10 December 2015.[13][14] Two beta weekends preceded the release of the game. The first beta weekend was the last weekend of October and this beta was focused on the new spline-based Coaster Builder.[15] The first beta weekend took place as planned. However, feedback from this beta weekend led to Atari deciding to delay the game's release to early 2016.[16] The developer noted the additional development time would allow them to add requested items and features such as "predefined piece" coaster building, additional coaster test feedback, a robust fencing tool, improved on-demand grid, and various smaller improvements."[citation needed] Consequently, the second beta weekend was also delayed from November to December.[17]

Release

Atari had decided that its theme park game, RollerCoaster Tycoon World, would be launched into Early Access on 30 March, instead of going with a full release. The early access release was met with negative reviews, mostly complaining about the poor graphics, coaster builder, lack of detail, and ride animations.[18] In November 2016, Atari announced that the game would be released on November 16, 2016, one day before the release of Planet Coaster, a spiritual successor to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 developed and published by the same studio that made the latter, Frontier Developments.[19]

The game was available for both standard and deluxe editions. The deluxe edition contained two additional maps, terrain texture additions, a digital art book, a gold park entrance, and the panda mascot from the previous games.[20][21]

Reception

Pre-release

A trailer released by Atari containing gameplay of RollerCoaster Tycoon World was received poorly by critics and fans.[24][25][26] Some critics noted that the game appears graphically worse than 2004's RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and that it "looks little better than a basic mobile game."[27] Atari later issued a statement that the game was still in "pre-alpha" stages, and that the graphics were not yet coded to their full resolution and would also receive a major overhaul when the game's engine is upgraded from Unity 4.6 to Unity 5.0. They also promised that the new visuals would be of higher definition and higher level of realism.[28]

Release

The release of RollerCoaster Tycoon World was met with negative reactions by critics. According to review aggregator Metacritic, the game holds a score of 43 out of 100, based on seven reviews.[22]

Eurogamer suggested to avoid the game, calling the game a "machine designed to fleece your pockets and offer the bare minimum in return."[23]

TechRaptor rated the game a 1/10, citing the large interface and variety of bugs and glitches within the game.[29]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rollercoaster Tycoon World coming to PC in 2015". CVG. 12 August 2014. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  2. ^ "RollerCoaster Tycoon World in-game screenshots revealed". Eurogamer. 2 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2 September 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  3. ^ Hayden Dingman (13 September 2014). "RollerCoaster Tycoon World preview: The ride never ends". PC World. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  4. ^ Mattlab. "RollerCoaster Tycoon World Production Blog Post #2". Atari. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  5. ^ Mattlab. "RollerCoaster Tycoon World Production Blog Post #3". Atari. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  6. ^ "RollerCoaster Tycoon World Production Blog #13". Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  7. ^ a b Mattlab. "RollerCoaster Tycoon World Production Blog Post #1". Atari. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  8. ^ "RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile out now, PC version to be introduced holiday 2014". Gamespot. 2 September 2014. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  9. ^ "RollerCoaster Tycoon World Reveal Trailer". IGN. 2014. Archived from the original on 16 August 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  10. ^ David Scammell (15 December 2014). "RollerCoaster Tycoon World has a new developer". VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  11. ^ "RollerCoaster Tycoon World™ Gameplay Reveal Teaser". YouTube. Atari, Inc. 5 March 2015. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  12. ^ Grub, Jeff (13 May 2015). "Roller Coaster Tycoon World is still in development — but it's under a new studio". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  13. ^ Hayden Dingman (30 August 2015). "RollerCoaster Tycoon World preview: A wild(ly easy to get into) ride". PC World. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  14. ^ Pr Newswire (20 August 2015). "Atari® Rides into PAX Prime 2015, Unveils RollerCoaster Tycoon World™". Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  15. ^ "Buy - RollerCoaster Tycoon World". 18 September 2015. Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  16. ^ "RCTW – Blog #23 – RollerCoaster Tycoon World Releasing in Early 2016 | RollerCoaster Tycoon World". www.rollercoastertycoon.com. 12 November 2015. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  17. ^ Pereira, Chris (13 November 2015). "RollerCoaster Tycoon World Delayed Following First Beta". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  18. ^ Falcon, Jonah (25 March 2016). "RollerCoaster Tycoon World coming to Steam Early Access on March 30th". GameWatcher. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  19. ^ Livingston, Christopher (11 November 2016). "RollerCoaster Tycoon World release date announced, and it's one day before Planet Coaster's launch". pcgamer. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  20. ^ "RollerCoaster Tycoon World preorders now available at Steam & GMG". Venture Beat. 30 September 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  21. ^ "RollerCoaster Tycoon World™: Deluxe Edition". Steam. Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  22. ^ a b "RollerCoaster Tycoon World". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  23. ^ a b Lane, Rick (22 November 2016). "RollerCoaster Tycoon World Review". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  24. ^ Plunkett, Luke (5 March 2015). "New RollerCoaster Tycoon Game Looks Like Shit". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 6 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  25. ^ Leack, Jonathan (5 March 2015). "RollerCoaster Tycoon World's Gameplay Trailer is Tragically Bad". Crave Online. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  26. ^ George, Daniel (5 March 2015). "RollerCoaster Tycoon World Gameplay Trailer Is... Something". Fansided. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  27. ^ Wesley Yin-Poole (6 March 2015). "Puke! RollerCoaster Tycoon World looks..." Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  28. ^ Owen S. Good (21 March 2015). "RollerCoaster Tycoon promises graphics overhaul after gameplay trailer raises complaints". Polygon. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  29. ^ Blouin, Alec (12 December 2016). "Roller Coaster Tycoon World Review – How to Destroy a Franchise". TechRaptor. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2017.

External links

RollerCoaster Tycoon series
Categories