RollerCoaster Tycoon® Deluxe

When RCT came out in '99 I was 13. I wasn't much of a PC gamer (was into the Civilization series) but after reading about RCT it sounded awesome and right up my alley. I was into building and managing pixels so I figured I'd give it a try...once I got the money from my parents of course :). I figured if I was able to conquer the world in Civ I was able to build sweet parks in RCT. Now I don't remember too much specifics from back in the day, but I know I instantly became addicted to the original. One of my favorite things to do was to build cool entrances that typically involved water, statues, bridges, trees, and gardens. It wasn't necessary but that was my thing. When I found out about GOG nearly two years ago the first game I looked up was RCT. Not only was it available but it was the Deluxe version. The original AND the two expansions. Sold! So here we are, a 30-something year-old playing RCT. Yea I ain't embarrassed to admit it. I might not play it as much as a 13-year old, but the game still lives up to the hype and is a classic. When I first got back into playing I would flip between the original and expansions. At first I was not into creating my own coasters but slowly gained an interest. It can be time consuming but I've become a big fan. I took a break from the game and just recently got back into the swing of things. The interface and functionality of the game has always been very simple. Working underground can be difficult at times and is something I personally don't bother with, despite it being helpful when crammed into small spaces. The Power Launch and Reverse Incline coasters are a staple to just about every park I build. There is nearly an endless of options you have to influence. Pricing, marketing, construction, employee tasks, landscaping, it's all fascinating. I really enjoy being hands on in all that good stuff. Sometimes, however, the length of your goal hinders that. Still, though, it's a gem of a game.

I (and my sisters) played this game like crazy when we were kids. When I found out that it was available for download I was super excited to play it again. The download process was pretty easy with only one hiccup that I was able to troubleshoot and solve through this site. It was as addicting as I remembered. The sounds, the coasters, even the opening game music all came rushing back to my delight. BUT After having this game for months, in the past few weeks the Loopy Landscapes portion of parks are not being remembered as completed. I complete a park and the game records it for a few days and opens a new park. THEN, it forgets and resets everything. So I am stuck with only the starting opened parks for that section of play and am unable to advance into new parks. The complete parks are even still saved games that I can go back into but the game itself forgets that I have completed them somehow. So until I somewhere somehow have a solution--the game remains awesome but . . . .

So this is a review of the soundtrack which I bought along with the game! Don't get me wrong; RCT is an amazing game. I played it extensively; the first time, my progress through the scenarios would be obstructed by the release of RCT2. The second and third times, by getting a new OS which it didn't run on. Now there are several alternative coaster games, successors, which I might play instead. But what's even more amazing is the soundtrack of "fairground" style music. The main RCT theme is probably the greatest work of Allister Brimble, and quite likely the most famous. I used to load the game and leave the title screen running just to listen to it. I kept wanting to quit out of the gameplay just to hear the theme music again. The other tracks by Allister Brimble (with different themes to go with different theme park "concepts" like Space, Spooky, etc.,) are also so lovely that I would build rides and watch them just to listen to the music. The 11 Merry-Go-Round tunes are equally excellent. No other rollercoaster game has ever approached the quality of this music. Although I've bought the game at least twice before, this time I wanted a nice clean "album" copy of the soundtrack, to listen to while doing other things. The price is cheap for a music album, so I bought the GOG copy just for the clean copy of the *gorgeous* Allister Brimble soundtrack, which does not seem to be sold elsewhere (and I certainly want to give the creators royalties for it). I recommend buying the game for the soundtrack even if you don't have time to play the game! :-)

THE best sim/city/park builder ever made. For me, that is. It has never been surpassed, not even with several sequels. I always enjoyed the 2D style, before the half-assed 3D entries in the series. This is just pure park-building bliss, and if you enjoy any kind of building-sim game (CMS), you will very likely enjoy this. It's not overly complicated like SimCity, but absolutely not without depth or strategy. I always found this to be the perfect balance for me.

This game is probably one of the best games ever made. The intense financial management is the most complicated of any game I have ever played. The ability to build your own parks and rides makes for some a fun, entertaining, and challenging gameplay, as well as countless memories. The graphics might put some people off, but I find them charming and nostalgic. Chris Sawyer is a genius. This game is a must have for any simulation fan.