This game truly has staying power
This game has been in constant rotation in my Now Playing list for years - no other game I have can keep my attention like RCT does, and I have innumerable games, easily several hundred for all of my various platforms and PCs.
The graphics are simplistic but work well here, for the most part. At times you'll have a problem situating an object or a person but a quick quarter-turn of the map resolves any camera issue.
The sounds can get repetitive, but that's entirely up to you as you have control of the in-game songs from the various rides so you can tailor it to suit your taste. The child giggling is a good sound - that means someone [hopefully a lot of people] like the ride they just got off of. When you hear a child cough, that's not such a good sound as you now have a pile of puke somewhere that needs attending to. The ride sounds are fairly accurate and at the least very appropriate.
Finding the perfect balance of employees, advertising, pricing, rides, food and bathrooms is quite difficult and almost always in need of adjustment or some other form of your attention. Altering pre-made rides when you build them is the simplest way to increase the rider capacity [longer trains or more cars on each train] and therefore increase your profits, but it's all temporary and you will be adjusting your pricing very soon. If a ride happens to fail and results in the death of some riders, practically no one will ride it any longer and you will need to demolish the ride and put something else there. The good news is that you get back all or most of your cost of building the original ride when you knock it down.
Some of the scenarios are quite challenging to expand upon, due to limitations of the environment you're working with. Once you have your own proven formula for success, you can jump right into a campaign and usually come out shining when that scenario ends.
This game has spoiled me for sims, I suppose...whenever I try to play other sims [the only positive exceptions being The Sims and the Diablo, WarCraft and StarCraft franchises], I come away feeling like the interface is clunky and too much of a distraction, simply because I've been spoiled by the incredible ease-of-use of the GUI in the RCT & RCT2 games and their expansion packs. One game in particular, FastFood Tycoon, makes me want to jump out a window and it comes from Activision of all places! It's difficult to find such a good sim GUI as RCT has. Even the new 3D RCT3 GUI isn't as easy to navigate as is RCT & RCT2.
If you like sim gaming and have become bored with virtually spanking aliens, annhilating the evil possed or dating your next door neighbor, then check out the original RCT games if you haven't already done so. The gameplay holds up well over time providing you're not spoiled by the graphic capabilities of today's video cards and consoles, plus you can get RCT and RCT2 and their expansions usually bundled together for very little money, making it much more worth the investment.