US Saturn Release #025 - Theme Park
Played on a real American Sega Saturn with the Fenrir ODE
For a simulation/strategy PC port on the Sega Saturn, Theme Park is rather exceptional. The developers were able to cram a mouse controlled game onto the Saturn without it feeling gimped in any way. They were able to present good looking graphics and great performance when others struggled. The strategy vs. sandbox ratio can be altered to your liking, and the financial strategy is actually really fun.
That ratio is probably the most important part to me. You can dive into a full simulation and use every bit of your brain on either treating or exploiting your little visitors or you can dump that all behind and just make the theme park you want to see. You can even split the difference and have a much more forgiving strategy game with enough of the sandbox elements to keep your creative juices flowing. Even having a difficulty select is much appreciated. Even when I struggled to understand certain things, I had fun with it because I knew I could change anything at any time to make the experience more palatable for whatever I desired.
I think the biggest thing is that this is a PC port that runs really well on Saturn, which is really worth noting after Sim City 2000's sluggish performance (great game just not fully optimized for the Saturn). I was starting to feel like these PC ports were just not going to work perfectly for the Saturn, but this is setting that notion in the opposite direction. Definitely give the game a shot. It's not as creatively in depth as something like Roller Coaster Tycoon, but it would be a bit foolish to expect something like that in 1995 on a Saturn. This is the kind of game you'll eventually lose hours in, and I certainly will once I get the hang of it.
7/10
Played on a real American Sega Saturn with the Fenrir ODE
For a simulation/strategy PC port on the Sega Saturn, Theme Park is rather exceptional. The developers were able to cram a mouse controlled game onto the Saturn without it feeling gimped in any way. They were able to present good looking graphics and great performance when others struggled. The strategy vs. sandbox ratio can be altered to your liking, and the financial strategy is actually really fun.
That ratio is probably the most important part to me. You can dive into a full simulation and use every bit of your brain on either treating or exploiting your little visitors or you can dump that all behind and just make the theme park you want to see. You can even split the difference and have a much more forgiving strategy game with enough of the sandbox elements to keep your creative juices flowing. Even having a difficulty select is much appreciated. Even when I struggled to understand certain things, I had fun with it because I knew I could change anything at any time to make the experience more palatable for whatever I desired.
I think the biggest thing is that this is a PC port that runs really well on Saturn, which is really worth noting after Sim City 2000's sluggish performance (great game just not fully optimized for the Saturn). I was starting to feel like these PC ports were just not going to work perfectly for the Saturn, but this is setting that notion in the opposite direction. Definitely give the game a shot. It's not as creatively in depth as something like Roller Coaster Tycoon, but it would be a bit foolish to expect something like that in 1995 on a Saturn. This is the kind of game you'll eventually lose hours in, and I certainly will once I get the hang of it.
7/10