2019-03-01_PC_Gamer___40_US_Edition

The game negotiates a pleasing

balance between building and

maintaining your theme park.

Beyond the constraints of budget and

available rides, you are free to create

your park however you like. You can

fill your park with

standard rides and

user-created coasters,

or get hands-on with

every detail, sculpting

terrain, tweaking the

turns and loops of

every coaster, and

constructing your

own facades and

decorations out of geometric shapes.

Creatively, Parkitect is sufficiently

robust, although less powerful than

the toolset of Planet Coaster. Paths

can only be built in straight lines,

while terrain cannot be manipulated

with much fidelity. Where Parkitect

has the edge on its rivals, however, is

in how it challenges you to think

harder about the layout and upkeep

of your park.

Parkitect boasts a similar system

to Megaquarium, whereby your

visitors don’t enjoy seeing how the

sausage is made. Your park’s overall

rating partly comes down to its

‘immersion’ factor, which is damaged

when John and Jane Middleclass see

some poorly paid laborer stuffing

boxes of frankfurters into the back of

your $7 hot-dog stand.

You can avoid visitors witnessing

the horror of capitalist exploitation

by careful placement of special

‘Employee’ paths, which can be

concealed with decorations like

hedges and fences. Alternatively, you

can build a network of supply depots

connected by underground tubes to

ferry stock around the park, then use

haulers to transport the stock from

depot to the stalls. It’s more efficient,

but also more expensive.

These hints of strategy are

complemented by a robust simulation

where everything that happens in the

game has a tangible impact on the

status of your park. If

your park is accosted

by vandals, you can see

them running around

kicking over bins and

benches, and this will

impact your park’s

‘dirtiness’ rating.

Meanwhile, if a storm

passes over your park,

rides will be shut down and your

profits will start to tumble.

Parkitect isn’t short of stuff to do.

Alongside the sandbox mode, the

campaign includes 26 different parks

to build, each of which has its own

unique set of challenges. There are

also dozens of rides to unlock,

and the coaster selection is

particularly impressive, ranging

from simple junior coasters to log

flumes, flying coasters, and even a

bobsled run.

You can’t fault Parkitect for its

generosity, or for its cleanly designed

simulation. Nonetheless, it does

exhibit a few issues. Most prominent

is the UI, which is poorly designed.

There’s no undo button, so any

mistakenly placed objects have to be

manually demolished. Meanwhile,

Parkitect’s coaster building feels

positively Neolithic compared to

dragging and pulling out rides in

Planet Coaster.

FUN FARE?

More generally, though, Parkitect’s

presentation is staid. I’m particularly

nonplussed by the bobbleheaded

characters, which makes your park

look like it’s populated by Funko

Pops. Parkitect does take on more

personality at night, when your rides

are suddenly illuminated by

hundreds of tiny lights, but these

moments are fleeting.

Parkitect is the most well-rounded

theme-park simulator of recent years.

But if you look at the management

sim genre more broadly, there’s stiff

competition. From the quirky and

characterful Two Point Hospital, to

Megaquarium, which has a similar

structure (and visual style) to

Parkitect, but applies it to a very

different setting. Both those games

bring something interesting and

memorable to the genre. Parkitect,

for all of its quality, is content to be

a fairground attraction, fun, and

mechanically sound, but not

something that you’re going to want

to queue up hours for.

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT?

A by-the-numbers

theme park simulator

with robust systems

and plentiful content.

EXPECT TO PAY

$30

DEVELOPER

Texel Raptor

PUBLISHER

In-house

REVIEWED ON

Core i5-3570K, GTX

Titan, 16GB DDR3 RAM

MULTIPLAYER

None

LINK

http://www.theme

parkitect.com

77

Parkitect offers a

well-constructed

attraction, although it’s a

familiar ride and has

been bettered elsewhere.

VERDICT

Parkitect’s

coaster

building feels

positively

Neolithic

P

arkitect is pleasant to the point where it turns into a problem.

Its gentle pace and inoffensive aesthetic makes it easy to get

sucked into and spend a good amount of time with, but its

desire to please also makes Parkitect rather risk averse. In a

year that has witnessed some bold and innovative

management sims, Parkitect plays too safe to stand out from the likes of

modern hits such as Megaquarium.

COASTING

PARKITECT is a worthy successor to Rollercoaster Tycoon,

but never emerges from its shadow. By Rick Lane

PARK BENCHMARK

How does Parkitect compare to its rivals

Presentation

Creative

To o ls et

Simulation

Campaign

UI

Coaster

Construction

Available

Rides

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Parkitect Planet Coaster Rollercoaster Tycoon World

REVIEW