Editor’s note- Because Davey’s a recent convert to the Xbox community, we noticed he’d never played certain Xbox games. Our resident grump is in Lockdown, and thus, we couldn’t film his reactions. We hope you keep safe, wherever you are in this crazy year. This is his reactions, playing Planet Coaster on the Xbox One X, in written format. Expect snarky jokes at your mum, and a funny read.
Overview
Planet coaster is a theme park simulator, developed by Frontier Developments for Microsoft Windows and their consoles. It was released in November 2016, and got lots of accolades, including Nominations for the 13th British Academy Games Awards. The success of this game cannot be ignored, and GameSpot gave this game a solid 9/10. It’s the spiritual successor to games like Thrillville and Rollercoaster Tycoon. Finally, in 2020, this mad year in which we live, the game got released for the PlayStation 5. However, during the group conversations between myself, your mum and all the writers (that’s the obligatory joke for you all), they realised I hadn’t played it.
Playability
In Planet Coaster, you play as an unnamed protagonist, as you attempt to build the best theme park possible. There are really two modes of play here: Sandbox mode, which I’ll give its own section, and career mode. Career mode involves you getting guided by four characters, including one Scottish character who’s accent is surprisingly not grating. The one bugbear I have with being from the UK and hearing a Scottish accent is usually that they’re not very good, but this one was. Anyway, rant aside, they help you in four key areas of the game to help you progress.
The creation systems involved with the gameplay are surprisingly easy, with it being jam-packed with different options. For example, it’s not just rollercoasters you can build, but pretty much everything your parks will need. From Ferris wheels to go karts, to even a Disneyland-esque castle, pretty much everything is possible to build here. Bit of advice though, don’t go “iron man” mode on this, instead put up with the bullshit tutorials, or you’ll be left to put up with a tricky control system that takes a lot to master.
Graphics
This is where Planet Coaster truly comes into its own, as the graphics on this game are outstanding. From zooming ALL the way out to see the landscape to zooming in on customers, the world is your oyster! The hair colours might be weird and reminds me of The Sims, but don’t be disheartened. The mode that made this game famous is where you can ride your creations, and it’s not just the coasters. Want to go go-karting? Done. Feel like seeing your park from the top of a ferris wheel? Done. Admittedly, there’s a drawback to this, and I’ll get to it, but graphically, this game is simply exquisite!
The Coasters
This is the part where I really recommend that you download this game if you’re using Game Pass. The Rollercoasters available come in all conceivable shapes, lengths and sizes, and yes, you can ride on all of them. (I’ve already used my “your mum” joke in this article). Want to recreate Oblivion from Alton Towers? You can, and I did during my go at the Sandbox mode. You can even edit the rollercoasters to put more loops, more rises and spirals into it, but be careful! During career mode in the game, there’s a mechanic to judge how well-built your custom coaster really is, and you don’t want to ignore it. It’s called “nausea”, and it measures how unwell your guests are after keaving your coaster, with one disgusting addition. Frontier Development genuinely paid someone to animate customers vomiting. I guess that’s the price you pay for building a kick-ass coaster and I certainly paid it, more than once.
So, using sandbox mode, you’ve built an awesome coaster and you want to share it? Great, Planet Coaster has you covered. There’s an optino available, which lets you save your design, and lets you pass it on to your friends. The wider community of gamers can see it as well, but a word of warning. For a family-friendly game, some of the feedback I got for one particular design was decidedly not family-friendly. So, please, if you’re giving feedback, be aware that little Michael might not want to read the feedback, and unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to disable this.
The Verdict
I don’t believe this game should have got the high accolades and praise it did, but saying that, there’s a lot to like in this game. The Coaster building options are free-flowing, the tutorials are okay, and the graphics are beautiful. Enjoy this game whilst it’s on the game pass, but I don’t think this is a game I’m buying for a stocking filler this Christmas.
So, that’s my first thoughts, with a further deep-dive due next week. Did you agree with me? Do you think I’m wrong? Well, if either is true, and you want to talk to me about this, I can be found on Twitter at @heresdaibhi.
Til next time,
Davey
