Theme Hospital

GOG just read my mind. I was reminiscing about this gem the other day with my friends. That wierd sense of humor, that management, that EMERGENCY. Could be a "you had to be there" kind of thing, but all of us "who were there" know perfectly how fun this game was. Nice graphics, catchy music, and hours of game ahead. Completely recommended.

I have played so many hours to this game back when it was released that it is difficult for me to stay objective, but I must say that I decided to complete it once again and enjoyed it, though the repetitiveness of the game has become irritating in an era where games are short and must always be "refreshing". On the pro's side: - Graphics are stil relevant, funny, dynamic. It's a pleasure to look at your hospital, even with the repetitive sprites - This game strikes a good balance between micro-managing and planning - The game is quite easy, which allows you to be "creative" in your way of solving issues, and have fun designing an hosital that you like instead of trying to maximize efficiency On the con's side: - If most of the game breaking bugs that were present in the original release have been fixed, I have encounter a few of them, whcih can be frustrating when you need to restart an hospital on which you've already spend some hours - Let's be honest, the few last missions where no new mechanism/illness are introduced are a bit boring. Also, some missions last for way too long. In short, the game gets repetitive at some point. If you would rather play this game in a modern game engine and with way larger possibility to personalize your hospital, Two Point Hospitals is a great spiritual successor to this game. But honestly, you get about the same pleasure with this 166MB gem from 1997!

Having owned and played the original disc-version since 1997, I am so pleased to see it on GoG for a new generation or haven't played it before or for those who want a nostalgia rush. The game itself is perhaps one of THE best simulation, or "theme", games out there and could still come out trumps to the more modern and recent sim/business games due to its very simple design, eye-candy/bright visuals & graphics and a mixture of casual/deep micromanagement gameplay. This review wouldn't be worthwhile without a mention to Corsix-TH. The brilliant people of CorsixTH have kept the game alive by supporting it through various platforms, adjusting the game to run on any resolution, fix an array of bugs and issues and overhaul the gameplay mechanics while still keeping the true Bullfrog-Theme Hospital elements. I have high hopes for the future of this awesome game, especially now that CorsixTH has reached a pinnacle stage in development (time of this review, it's version release is 0.10). While CorsixTH still have various elements to re-add due to the overhaul (Epidemics and Rats being the main), the core game remains untouched yet updated.

Theme Hospital is the first and best hospital builder sim ever made. There have been others that have tried to re-do this game and they've all failed. The humour, simplicity and flow are just top-notch. Modern game devs could take note of how this game is built and how it plays. I'd happily pay $5 for games like this WITHOUT any in game purchases on my phone or PC.

People need to understand; GoG literally stands by its name "Good Old Games" , and that some will have imperfections, and some on some systems, may not run at all - that's why customer service exists, and it's a waste of time for glitches and failures belonging to a review? I think it's more efficient to go there first. The game plays as I have always known it to. Amazing how, an old simple game brings laughter, frantic fun, and comprehensive. It's a bit like a city sim, only it's a Hospital. Last point ; I have tried apps I use PC and never a phone so I have used all 4 popular emulators. These apps are a money ink hole, whereas these games, even the new ones old by GoG, are aa great investment . I used to have steam long ago, and ran back to GoG , it's jut not the same. Also I own over 90 games, I get free game every so often which GoG graciously gives freebies to long time players (Thanks GoG!). Worst part of apps? try playing any of the elite or good pvp games, and you'll find yourself paying tons of money . Try this game , at least it allows you to appreciate the design efforts!