Roller Coaster Tycoon 3
We tap into our inner animal with the Wild! expansion pack
Tags: Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Categories: Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Dec 9th, 2005
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Simulation | No | ||
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Wild! Is the second expansion to Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, and where the frist was based around the water park theme, this one takes on animals. Sure enough, there are new coasters and scenarios to play through just as in the previous entry and main game, and just like Soaked!’s dolphin and killer whale shows, players have some animals at their disposal to entertain the guests (such as with lion and tiger shows).
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Players are tasked with building enclosures for their animals and the players are allowed to interact with them (to a limited extent). There aren’t a lot of animals to choose from and the enclosure options are somewhat limited. What we have though is enough to keep the park guests happy and entertained. Bringing about a bit of excitement are the animal escapes that happen from time to time. Nothing happens though since this is a rather tame scenario, but it can affect the bottom line as people usually don’t’ spend money when trying to escape from a rampaging elephant.
The animal portions of Wild! are not as deep as one would initially expect. Then again, this isn’t Zoo Tycoon 2, it is an expansion pack. The animals will breed, which is pretty cool, but the level on interaction required to keep the animals happy and entertaining guests is fairly low. Just like the coaster cam, players can get in on the action and view things from the perspective of the animals.
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Some of the fixes and additions that came along with Soaked! are here, so players aren’t required to have the first expansion to take advantage of some of the new environmental item (such as waterfalls and passport stations). In addition to fixing the tunneling situation in Soaked!, Wild! tweaks the tunneling to make it even more useful. This is particularly useful in the Sandbox Mode.
There are two major themes included in the expansion for players to give their park (or just a section) a… well … theme. Prehistoric and Safari are now available for players wanting a theme park that is tied together. There’s a new VIP to visit the park and a new mascot. There’s even a feature to allow billboards creating in-game advertising that the player can create.
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Many people may be disappointed when they find that the major portion of the expansion had to do with adding animals to the park, not just animal elements. There are some new rides (actually, a few of the coasters are fairly impressive) but unlike Soaked!, the emphasis here doesn’t seem to be placed on expanding the park with thrills, but with an interaction with the natural world. That wouldn’t be so bad if the animal tending was more extensive.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Better tunneling + Soaked! expansino not required for bug fixes + Some really cool new coasters |
8.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Animal portion is a bit shallow - Still some interface problems |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| A decent expansion that seems to not live up to its own potential. | |
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Tags: Roller Coaster Tycoon 3
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Dec 9th, 2005 and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
