Link to my reviewLately, I have been playing the old PC games in my collection. While I’m highly enjoying myself. Some thought is actually popping up here and there. It’s a feeling that the Tycoon games could have been so much better. But when I played Zoo Tycoon, it actually hit me. RollerCoaster Tycoon spoiled me with features so that I start to enjoy myself less and less in other tycoon games. And in this article, I’m going to try and explain why. Why do I enjoy the original RollerCoaster Tycoon that much and why don’t I enjoy other tycoon games? Also, fair warning, I haven’t played a lot of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, and I bought the expansion packs years later. So yeah, I always played the vanilla version of the game. Feel free to leave a comment on the content and/or your opinion on this article. Do you have a similar thing with Tycoon games and/or with a different game & genre? I’m curious to know. In any case, enough stalling. Time to put these thoughts on paper.
What are tycoon games?
I haven’t, to be honest, played a lot of Tycoon games throughout the years. But before we continue, we have to agree with a tycoon game actually is. Even the Wikipedia article on Tycoon games gives a pretty vague definition.
So, let me be clear for this article. With tycoon games, I mean games where you are an owner of a company where you need to run it. So, for example: in Game Dev Tycoon, you are the owner of a game development studio and you need to make games and manage the finances.
A few games I have played that it that played that fit that bill are RollerCoaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, Game Dev Studio, Game Dev Tycoon, SimCity 3000 and Lemonade Tycoon. And honestly, I don’t think I have played other Tycoon games. The genre honestly interests me, but why don’t I play a lot of it? I blame the excellent game RollerCoaster Tycoon.
Addicted to RCT
So, I have been playing a lot of RollerCoaster Tycoon lately. I have finished 7 missions so far. I’m playing with the two expansion packs installed. Something I wasn’t able to do when I played this game in my childhood.
I have rarely played the sequel RollerCoaster Tycoon 2. I remember one time picking up an expansion pack by accident before I knew how expansion packs worked. Yeah, I didn’t know that I had to own the base game. I have played the game recently, but I was let down by the interface. The interface of the original was more accessible than the sequel. But, that’s an article for another time.
After RollerCoaster Tycoon, I played RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. But that game interests me less than the original game. But the game has a ton of features I would love to have in RCT 1, but I enjoy myself a lot more with the original.
Why is RCT so good in my eyes?
Why do I love RollerCoaster Tycoon so much? Maybe it’s because it’s the first game that introduced me to the Tycoon genre. And let’s be honest, it’s one of the best games created in the Tycoon genre.
I remember playing Zoo Tycoon and always comparing it to RollerCoaster Tycoon. “Oh, you can do research in this game too.” That’s one of the sentences that went through my head. Other similar things did as well.
I was also disappointed with the fact that your guests were able to go off the paths and walk to other animal cages/exhibits.
The building system is the best system I have seen in tycoon games. There a lot of things you can’t do with it, like curved paths. And that’s the charm of it, it’s simple and easy to use. You don’t need a lot of buttons to create something amazing. I rarely had to struggle with the controls. Something I had to do with the recent games in the franchise.
The biggest reason why I enjoy RCT so much, I think, is the simplicity of everything. Most things are just one click away and/or one button press away. The interface has all the options you could wish for and I love to use it. Also, the game is easy to play but difficult to master. The game has just enough depth to be challenging & fun and to avoid being overwhelming.
In the more modern Tycoon games I played, there are way too many little things that I can do and/or have to pay attention too, I rarely remember checking them. And that makes the game more difficult for me and less enjoyable.
I have only two complaints with the game. And that is that some missions are ridiculously difficult and some better mod support would be great. You can add custom scenarios but it’s difficult to create your own custom scenario. Thankfully, there are a lot of tools floating around on the internet to aid with this.
In conclusion
Writing this article has been interesting. I honestly can’t explain why I compare the tycoon games I have played with the original RollerCoaster Tycoon. Possible factors are nostalgia and the gameplay, but I can’t pinpoint it.
I also considered the fact that I don’t really like tycoon games and that RCT is just an exception. It was a rather interesting question to think about. And this article was the best way I could explain it.
In any case, thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day!
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