Sit back, relax and feel refreshed with the wonders of Soaked.
This expansion pack adds all those water rides that we were missing in the transition from RCT2 to RCT3, which means the return of log flumes, river rapids and water slides among many new attractions.
As usual, starting from the beginning proves to be very useful. Soaked! comes equipped with a series of 8 tutorials to teach you the basics: it covers everything from building a simple swimming pool to creating a custom image laser show, how to create waterfalls (although it's lacking on the explanation about how to prepare the terrain) and tunnels, plus the essential mechanics of dolphin and whale shows. I recommend you play through them first, since there are a lot of new concepts to learn, especially concerning the pool complexes.
Oh, the pool complexes… I don't have enough words to express how much I love them! Pools can be built in levels and you can connect them with spiral staircases, ramps or small sets of stairs. From the upper levels, you can build water slides heading to the lower levels, and you can even ride them when you're done. You can also place diving boards on the upper levels (or on platforms built for that purpose) so peeps can dive down to the lower level pools.
If you have a little stall selling floats, you will see peeps walk around carrying them under an arm, and jump in the pool with them. The floats are different for each age group.
The pool complex has exclusive rides for itself: water slides, inflatable slides, a sort of river rapids where peeps can jump in and swim or take their floats with them and let the current take them. They must be connected to the pools by paths so everyone can enter and exit the rides, including your mechanics.
With simple click and drag mouse movements, you can create a series of waves or a whirlpool, and watch while your guests have fun spinning around and sinking, going "whee!" or "oh, no!"
It wasn't after a few hours that I realized my staff was complaining or quitting and the rest of my park wasn't doing so well, but the pool complex is actually a microcosm of the amusement park itself. It's so easy to completely forget about the rest of the park and concentrate on the pools, watching how everyone reacts to the different facilities or amusements. I just kept zooming in on everything, changing camera angles and watching peeps' super-happy faces while they lounged in the sun or came down the water slides screaming "woo-hoo".
But there is much more to Soaked! than just the pool complexes (although it is my favorite thing in the game).
Like in RCT2, you can now build rides through land by tunneling through mountains, which adds a lot to the excitement, and no one has to be in complete darkness since you can add lights to the track pieces.
A new transportation ride makes a special appearance, so now you can create a series of rivers and lakes, and take your park visitors on spectacular boat rides while they get from one point to another.
Swan boats, canoes, rowing boats and the like have a new family member: windsurfing boards.
Aquariums, killer whale and dolphin shows are fantastic attractions that you can stare at for quite a while. Watching them from a first-person point of view can be nearly breathtaking as a manta floats by, dolphins take a tail walk or a whale takes the trainer for a ride.
The new landscaping and scenery themes are just the right complement to the theme of this expansion, with jumping water sprouts, several fountains, Atlantis-related décor (vases and fish-men included), animated mermaids and a ton of artifacts belonging in a lost paradisiac island.
It's been constantly over 30 Celsius where I am, and has been for the last month, and I've been wanting to go to a real theme park. But who needs a real theme park in this heat when I can just sit back, relax and feel refreshed with the wonders of Soaked!
Review text part of Grrlgamer.com
http://www.grrlgamer.com/review.php?g=rct3soaked