Thrillville – XB – Review

For as long as I can remember I have
always enjoyed roller-coaster simulation games. I can still remember the very
first one I played and how basic it is in comparison to the games out now. In
that game you couldn’t even ride the coasters you built, and you only knew you
did a good job if the “test” crew was practically throwing up on the ride. Since
that time there has been many advancements in the simulation genre, least of
which is the graphics. Now once you design a coaster you can actually “get on
it” and take it for a spin yourself. It was only a matter of time before this
very popular simulation game was made available on console games and its name is
Thrillville.

This game starts off when your Uncle
Mortimer becomes so impressed with your coaster designs that he decides to put
you in charge of his latest theme park: Thrillville. It is up to you to prove to
him that you have what it takes to create the biggest, best, and most profitable
amusement park that the world has ever seen. Every decision that you make
affects what type of guest you will attract, from the food you serve to the
actual coaster designs. The thing that makes this game even better is that you
can actually go out and mingle with your customers and ride your own rides to
make sure that they are “up to snuff” to keep the customers coming back for
more.

In order to make your park
successful you will have to manage five different aspects of your park: building
your roller coaster rides and making sure they are fun, keep a nice selection of
games to play in your arcades, build relationships with your guests, make sure
all of your business-related things are correct (aka make sure you are making
money instead of bleeding the company dry), and most important is make sure that
everything is always kept up so as not to fall apart.

Building roller coasters is easy

To start off, let;s talk about the
most fun aspect of this game – and it is building and riding the roller
coasters. One thing that you will have to keep in mind is that you must build
coasters that not only you will like but your customers will enjoy and keep
coming back for more as well, as that means more money. The build menu in this
game is pretty simple and easy to navigate allowing you to create some great
roller coasters in no time.

When building a roller coaster you
will have many things to keep in mind. For instance you will want to make sure
your coasters are not overly expensive to construct, maintain, and have a low
operating cost. Also the better the ride, the higher the ticket sales will be as
well, so it is always a balancing act that you will have to maintain. Beware
that while the over-the-top rides are a very good addition to your park, never
neglect the “traditional rides” such as merry-go-rounds as they will also help
rack up the cash.  When building the park you will have to keep track of making
sure you have enough bathrooms, food stalls, and other things. You will want to
keep these in very easy-to-get-to places, such as a bathroom next to a ride that
seems to induce nausea.

The thing that makes this game so
much fun is that you can go in and ride the coasters yourself to see how you
like them. After you are finished with that you can also go interact with all of
the general public in your park. You can get various hints about your park to
help make it better such as finding out if people are bored, hungry, or even
have bladder problems. This is a good way to find out what is wrong with your
park and how to help correct it. Another really interesting feature is that you
can even flirt with people of the opposite sex in this game for some very decent
mini-games.

If you have ever wanted to know
about marketing then this game will give you a really good look at it as that is
just what you will be doing in order to ensure that your park remains popular.
You will do this by launching marketing campaigns, doing various demographics
about who is at your park and how to cater to their needs, and even getting
loans to make newer and better attractions. Then you must also spend money on
research, which will pay off in the end because it tells what people are wanting
and helps you set up a nice budget for the new rides.

The thing that all theme parks needs
is a staff to take care of the needs of the park and the public. Your first hire
should always be a mechanic which will help ensure that all of your rides are
kept in top condition so that they will continue to make you money. Next up
should be a good groundskeeper to make sure the mess left by the public will be
kept up as no one will want to go to a dirty park. Then you will want to always
have entertainment at your parks and dancers will help accomplish this by their
nice acts, which will help keep your consumers happy.

The thing that makes the maintenance
in this game less of a chore is that it is presented in more of a mini-game
fashion, so you will not be crying each time that you have to fix a broken
circuit board. Speaking of mini-games in Thrillville, they are very abundant and
help keep places from getting a feeling of repetition.  Any of the mini-games
that you build can be used in the games multiplayer mode entitled party play and
tourney mode. Party play allows you to select any mini-games and just directly
in the action. Tourney mode also you to set up various tournaments with any of
the mini-games.

The graphics for this game are not
its strong point, but it is not its weak point either. In other words the
graphics get the job done without trying too hard. The graphics for this game
give it a very cartoony look and feel to it, without going over the top to keep
your attention. The character models also have a very nice look and feel to
them; the characters are not overly detailed but at the same time they are not
sparse either. Like everything in the graphics category, it gets the job done..

The voice acting for Thrillville is
really good. Hearing the announcer tell you things while you are going through
the park is a really nice touch. When you are interacting with the various
customers you will hear a wide variety of lines so you will not hear the same
thing over and over again. The soundtrack and the sound effects really
compliment the type of game that you are playing and fit well within the game’s
universe. I wish there was more tracks to listen to but what is given is
palatable.

Thrillville is rated everyone 10+
and contains fantasy violence, mild lyrics, and mild suggestive themes.

Gameplay: 8.0
This game will bring you many hours of enjoyment
as you are building and interacting with all of your creations. The creation
system is really easy to use and you will be creating roller coasters in no
time.

Graphics: 7.8
The graphics for this game are not spectacular, but they are not bad
either. They get the job done and really compliment the game style.

Sound: 8.2
One of the best things that this game has going for it is that it has
really good voice acting. The music is pretty decent but not outstanding.

Difficulty: Medium
Getting used to the controls and business aspect to the game will take
some time, but the more you play this game the easier it will become for you.

Concept: 8.2
Creating any simulation game for a console is a daunting task, since
you have a limited amount of buttons to work with in comparison to a PC
keyboard. The developers of Thrillville did a really good job with this game and
many people will have a ton of fun messing around with the controls and creating
their own theme park.

Multiplayer 7.9
The multiplayer portion of this game is limited to the party play and
tourney mode. Your friends and you will be able to play in any of the mini-games
that are available.

Overall: 8.1
I have always enjoyed the Roller Coaster Tycoon games on the PC and was
pretty excited when I heard about Thrillville for the Xbox. Getting used to the
controls for this game might take a little bit, but once you do and see
everything in action you will really enjoy all that this game has to offer.