Roller Coaster Tycoon was a big deal in my household growing up, and almost certainly lead to a few fights over who was allowed on the computer at any given time. The first three entries in the series were all fairly solid and if it weren’t for Atari’s woes the series might be in a totally different place today. You’re probably already familiar with the disastrous attempt to bring the series back from a decade long hiatus in 2014, but you might not have heard about what the folks over at Frontier have got cooking up in the form of Planet Coaster. The game is a spiritual successor to Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, the last decent title in the series, and even though I’m already pretty slammed with releases and things to cover I jumped at the chance to participate in the game’s ongoing alpha this weekend.
The game’s campaign is still in the works but I was able to spend some time both with a traditional free reign sandbox mode and a challenge mode that has you spending your money a little more wisely. I spent most of my hours in the game messing around in the sandbox, so I’ll focus on that, although from a content perspective both modes are pretty much the same. There are currently only two levels to play with. One is set in a desert while the other one features a tropical theme.
All the major staples to running your own theme park are back, you start off with a small stretch of path leading into your park and an entirely empty field in which to play. You can erect shops, thrill rides, and of course the all important roller coasters to delight your guests. In its current state buildings seem to fit into one of two themes: fairy tale, or pirate. There are of course no real rules to your decor and the game never had a problem with me mixing and matching its sets. The community components to the game are also already up and working in some capacity and a quick look at the Steam Workshop shows a number of user-made rides and decorations to download and use in your parks.
The coaster creator tool feels instantly familiar.
As you would expect for an alpha there are some areas that obviously still need a little work, starting with the game’s pathing system. Gone is the old grid based system, now paths have a much more fluid feel to them, allowing bends and generally just producing more realistic looking terrain in general. Of course it’s a double edged sword and in spite of helpful options in the path menu I was still often left frustrated by paths that wouldn’t connect for any obvious reason or areas where I desired symmetry and simply couldn’t achieve it. The biggest offenders are the new ticket booths that you have to place at the end of every ride’s queue. Getting those things to connect properly can be a challenge all by itself.
There’s also some noticeably absent things that I’m sure are just still gestating in the pipes. Most of the “Park Management” section is grayed out, meaning there’s currently no option to do things like close the park or set an overall entrance fee. There’s also currently no staff for hire beyond a collection of entertainers and the classic janitor. And of course the all-important tutorial is still in the works as well.
It was hard not to appreciate all the familiar moments I experienced in this game, things like building a beast of a roller coaster only to discover half of my guests were too terrified to ride it. A lot of the same keyboard shortcuts have carried over from RCT3, and things like the coaster builder feel like a natural evolution to the old models. In fact I was really impressed with how much more intuitive the coaster builder felt. A lot of the minor annoyances from past games are gone and you won’t ever find yourself accidentally burrowing your coaster into the ground before deleting the bad track and spending forever trying to repair the terrain you just tunneled into. I also found that it was a lot easier to wind the coaster through existing structures, making everything feel a lot more compact and realistic.
Overall it still feels early for Planet Coaster (maybe a little too early for a game set to release next month) but it’s obvious that Frontier still knows what made Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 so special all those years ago and I feel pretty confident that this is going to get where it needs to be for launch. I would absolutely keep my eye on this one if you’re an old fan of the series, and especially if you’ve been burned by just how badly Atari has mis-handled the once bulletproof franchise.
