This charming little sim game is surprisingly addictive and fun yet at the same time you wish it wasnt so damn hectic.

User Rating: 8 | Sim Theme Park PC
I recall purchasing this game at PC World way back in 1999 and being a fan of strategy games I thought i'd give this a try. The basic premise of this game is that you must build and manage your own amusement park. Of course with the help of your heavy-Scottish-accented adviser who is more than willing to give you some tips and hints to make your park a success. You start with a certain amount of cash and a little head start, but of course you have been put in charge to turn this sorry excuse for a theme park into a sprawling success. The interface is fairly simple and it will take no more than an hour or so to get the basics of how to run your own park respectively. Your essential goal of course is to attract as many vistors as possible into your park and watch your money grow and grow which you can later use to upgrade your park and of course gain those valuable Golden Tickets. You gain these in many different ways like for example: getting a certain amount of vistors in your park to gaining a certain amount of income.

The gameplay is fun once you begin to expand your park and bring the dosh in which will grant you access to purchase new rides, shops and other features needed to pimp your park up. There is a decent amount of content to be had here and although you dont get a ton of different stuff, it all adds to become a fun experience for anyone. Once you get the hang of managing a large park it does begin to get quite hectic to put it bluntly. With rides constantly breaking down, vistors puking everywhere, your employers going on strike etc. sometimes you feel as if your not in control and maybe thats the emphasis of the game. Your inbox will become flooded with messages once your park grows and you sometimes wish that Scottish announcer would shut up (although of course you do have the option to turn the little bugger off, *phew*). As you gain Golden Tickets you will unlock new parks to experiment with each with a different theme (my personal favorite, Halloween World). In order for your park to grow you must keep your vistors happy and this can become a daunting challenge, especially when your park is chocker. You must do a little customization and a little brainwork in order for your guests to be happy whether there on a ride, having some grub, playing on the sideshows or whatever. If there happy and then so will you of course even if you have a bunch of smiley faces that dont mean some punk wont let off the occasional stink bomb to ruin the whole show. Thats where your employers come in and you can hire: secruity guards (keeping your park in order), cleaners (keeping your park clean & tidy), scientists ( for inventing new rides and other features for your park), mechanics (to fix and upgrade your rides) and entertainers (to keep your guests amused and happy). Of course your got to keep your employers happy also if you wish to be successful. When you have successfully created and managed a large park you can of course move on to the next park and begin your little journey all over again. It does though do a good job of keeping things quite fresh although the objective is still to earn more Golden Tickets. You should have a good idea of what to expect on the other parks if you have done the Lost Kingdoms Park. There is plenty of play to be had and although there is only four parks, if you spend a certain enough time on each one and not rush ahead it does feel like quite a large game. The variety of features keeps you coming back to jazz up your park to the point of covering the whole mass of land. Although I advise not to go over the top since the more you have, the harder it will be to manage and keep in check. If your loaded then it wont be such a big deal since you can buy anything and give your employers a salary they wont ever dare turn away. Overall this is just a fun and an addictive game in its own right, although at times things can get pretty hectic and messy and may give you quite a different experience. However despite this there is plenty of fun and inventive gameplay to be had here so I say give it a try!