RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D

Genre: Management Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D is a Management Simulation released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012. This game is based on the hit series of PC games that has players managing the various elements of operating a theme park, including the ability to create your own custom roller coasters. With the formula already a rousing success of PC, the question isn’t whether this style of game works, but how well it can work on Nintendo 3DS.

The first sign that things are not quite right here is the presentation. While the sound is more or less okay, featuring relaxed tunes and the noise of crowds full of squealing kids (regardless of how busy your park actually is), the graphics are another story, with simple 3D that suffers from some nasty slowdown and pop-in so bad that it affects the gameplay by making it impossible to zoom out to see more of the park without details, people, and entire park attractions disappearing when you do so. This is not a graphically-impressive game, so the fact that it also runs so poorly is extremely disappointing.

At least nominally, the management side of running the park works well enough here, though it is sadly very simplified compared to the PC version. You can no longer set prices, for one thing. What’s more, building roller coasters in this game is an extremely frustrating experience. Simply designing them in a way so that your coaster doesn’t double back into itself and getting its end to meet up with the beginning is an ordeal in and of itself.

A part of the issue here is due to the game’s lackluster use of the Nintendo 3DS’s touchscreen controls, which is largely delegated to pressing on-screen buttons rather than interacting with elements of the park directly. And heaven forbid you have to change a part early into a roller coaster’s construction after almost completing it – not only will this require moving the cursor back over the entire track, but in all likelihood you’ll have to just trash your work and remake the whole thing again rather than just editing the one part, because after you do, things likely won’t match up.

I really do feel like a game like RollerCoaster Tycoon could have been brilliant on Nintendo 3DS, and if the game ran well, kept the same depth and variety of options, and made proper use of the touchscreen, this could have been a phenomenal handheld Management Simulation. Unfortunately, it does none of those things properly, resulting in a horribly compromised and deeply frustrating experience that I can’t recommend even to fans of the series. At least for now, you’re probably better off continuing to do your theme park management on PC.

tl;dr – RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D is a Management Simulation where players manage their own theme park, including designing its roller coasters. Unfortunately, just about every element of this game is poorly done – the performance is terrible, the use of the touchscreen is inadequate, the management elements are dumbed-down, and trying to design your dream roller coaster is a nightmare of frustrations. This game is just an incredibly poor attempt at bringing this great PC franchise to Nintendo 3DS.

Grade: D

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