Planet Coaster 2 Review

I was excited as soon as I saw the announcement that Planet Coaster 2 would be released on consoles simultaneously with the PC release. It is hard to believe that Frontier Development’s first outing in this franchise was eight years ago. I recall being in the audience of a panel at EGX Eurogamer in Birmingham in 2016 and being so blown away by the overall presentation of the original game. It may seem a while between titles but we have had the excellent Planet Zoo also grace PC and Consoles over the past year, so the team have been jam-packed with work. After attending a panel yet again for this release a few weeks ago in London as part of the MCM Comic-Con/EGX expo, I just knew I had to get back to some theme park action with this one.

Career Mode Is A Great Starting Point

If you have never indulged in the Planet Coaster greatness then the first few scenarios of the Campaign serve as a deep and progressive tutorial. Some people dislike tutorials but I especially love them as I always want to become familiar with everything on offer. Newcomers will want to start here as there is a steep learning curve when it comes to the more delicate moments of the game, such as carving out tunnels for a roller-coaster or ensuring electricity coverage across the park. Oswald B. Thompson returns with his witty and humourous dialogue as he guides you through your introductory tasks.

There were some moments where I wish it went a little deeper with an explanation. I got stuck on the power coverage section and also where I place water pumps and filtration and there were areas where I was a little lost. This is all part of the learning process though and if you have the patience to fine-tune certain aspects, you’ll get there. I found creating paths a bit of a bugbear at first and I can’t recall whether they have changed this process from the original, but again it is something that could be explained in a bit more detail, even if it’s just talking you through the plethora of in-game menus and options. There are so many that you’ll often have to tinker with everything to see what works for you.

Check The Weather Forecast

The hospitality and entertainment industry generally relies on good weather and when this doesn’t happen it can throw a range of logistical problems your way as a business. As a theme park, you’re hoping for sunny days galore, but then you need to think of your guests. If it is scorching, that is when the water park will come in handy as a way for people to cool off. Straight away I noticed my swimming pools were rammed to the point I was short on changing rooms and I needed to think about making my basic water park section a bit more exciting for guests. People want shade, sun loungers, and drinks to avoid dehydration and dreaded sunburn kicking in. Equally, you have challenges when the heavens open up and revenue potentially declines due to wet weather, capitalise on sales and stock those brollies up!

Get The Business Side Right!

What I love about Planet Coaster 2 is not only do you have the enjoyment factor of building everything, but watching it all come together is wonderful to watch. You also have the added extra of managing your business. Everything from staffing, to how you research for future rides, advertising, right down to the price of a drink. When playing out the scenarios, you’ll have the tasks to achieve but you’ll always want to be mindful of money and stay afloat so that your business doesn’t fail. Heatmaps come in handy to see what areas of the park have thirsty/hungry individuals, so it becomes attractive to build a food complex in multiple areas so that people don’t have a long walk to become fed and hydrated.

It is a juggling act that becomes very addictive and I love the management aspect, always being cautious of what to build, and where to build it. Staffing rotas and ensuring maintenance team members are in the right place at the right time for minimum downtime on rides and so on. This game goes right down to the deepest points of business strategy and it is remarkable. However, if this isn’t your bag and you just want to go mad and build the park of your dreams with no financial responsibilities, then the sandbox mode is for you. Here you can go nuts, build what you want and have fun with zero stress!

Visually Stunning

Performance on Xbox Series X was tremendous and Frontier Developments have stubbed out the early niggling issues the original had. I did extensive testing to push the boundaries to see if the console could handle it. Even with 4-5000 guests in my park, zooming in and out of the park map and clicking on random people to see their stats was a breeze. On-ride cameras were great and buttery smooth at all angles. My little lad especially loved seeing guests screaming and their facial expressions on rides and throughout the park environment, we both ended up having some joyous moments of laughter together which felt special.

What makes Planet Coaster 2 though is how you can assemble your park in your way. If you take hours to absorb all the crafting elements of the game and customise the terrain, the look and feel of areas and suchlike, it becomes a compelling obsession. One example I can give of this is spending almost 90 minutes just theming the surroundings of my prized rollercoaster. Not only did I want it to look amazing, but I was thinking about what I’d like walking around my park and reflecting that towards my guests.

Sublime Audio

The audio is sublime with the atmosphere of a theme park felt through the screams, and giggles of guests. The clicking of chain lifts on roller-coasters, in queue-music and more just gives you a sense of enjoyment and happiness that you have created. The audio compliments the overall presentation of the game and the early in-game narration during tutorials and help is well-voiced and written. You just end up relaxed with a beaming smile on your face the entire time, great work from the whole design team across the board.

Final Thoughts

Planet Coaster 2 doesn’t stride leaps and bounds ahead of the original, but what it does do is bring more goodies to tailoring your dream theme parks to exactly how you want them. The introduction to water rides and blending these into your entertainment world is a whole new layer of fun and excitement for your park guests. For newcomers, there are some steep learning curves along the way and whilst some aspects are super fiddly with a controller in hand, eventually it all clicks into place for your comfort. This type of game will always play better with a mouse and keyboard but it functions well enough and Frontier Developments do a great job of transitioning the experience to consoles.

A Reasonably Priced Splash Of Greatness

I won’t lie, I become invested for countless hours in creative games like Planet Coaster 2 and it retains the qualities from 2016 and then some. As someone who pretended to be ill in my school days so I could stay at home and plough extra hours into adventures like Theme Park and Rollercoaster Tycoon in the 90s, this sends me back to that headspace. What we have here is a joyful, addictive and rich park builder which will no doubt become more fruitful with updates over time. The real draw though is how reasonably priced the game is. At just £39.99 for the base edition and £49.99 for the deluxe version, it is well worth the money and your time investment if you adore this genre like I do.