This is (almost) what you think you see: a modern reincarnation of RCT. You'll find familiar rides and classic tracks, themes, mechanics and more... for that I'd give it 5 stars. ...but Parkitect tries to go beyond its predecessor, tweaking a lot of things and introducing new mechanics you have to deal with. And there, beyond the nostalgia, lies the caveat. The campaign is quite financially punishing, you can't play it witout gaving a 'strategy' and you certainly must know what you're doing. Tutorial doesn't teach you how to manage your park or make it profitable, only how to build it. I struggled in tutorial because for some reason you can't deviate from the path they want you to take AT ALL, down to the placement of every item and pipe, elevation included. Duh. Another thing I found exhausting is ad micromanagement: I spent more time managing my ads than building my rides. And without ads you'd go under very fast. Also I miss the ability to ride the coasters... I miss it very much. That's why I give it 4 stars. A new version of RCT with some issues is better than none at all :)
As a fan of park building games I've decided to give this a shot. Do not be put off by simplistic graphics: the game is quite pretty in its own way and delivers many hours of fun as you build and expand your aquarium. The mechanics are easy to learn and intuitive, there's almost no need to re-learn things when I come back to this title after a month or so of playing something else. Another positive thing is that the game has evolved since I've first bought it: some of the UI bugs had been fixed and utility modifications make managing your tanks easier. Expansion adds new mechanics - and things to learn. I'm very happy with my purchase and would recommend this game to anyone who likes to build parks - or cities, for that matter. Runs smoothly on Catalina.
Art and music get 5 stars from me, since the game is pleasant to the senses and adequately executed. The story though... oh boy, where to start. There's no depth to characters, they do not evolve or change in the game. The story itself is rather short. It's not a mystery in a sense that you can deduct something with logic. Employing logic would be quite counter-productive here (I hope that wasn't a spoiler). Your choices matter, but you can rarely predict which way each choice would lead your character. Therefore you have little control over the course of events, being swept away by the waters of forced storyline. It irritated me during replays up to the point where I gave up going for certain endings (didn't feel like reading a walkthrough). ** minor spoilers ** As someone has mentioned before in comments, there's no option to really *change* something. So to say, the best possible outcome is to save everyone, but the corrupt system stays the same (or it gets worse). Your actions don't give you that sense of accomplishment. Also note, that this game features same-sex relationships. If it's a sensitive topic for you, you've been warned.
The game is very good, but not without issues. I'd rate it 4,5 if it was possible. The strongest part of Alan Wake is story progression and also it holds its biggest flaw: gameplay may seem tedious and repetitive at times when you want to know what happens next, but you have to go through action sequence after action sequence. Other than that the game deserves praise: characters, graphics, soundtrack... I still listen to the songs from the game from time to time. Some songs are incorporated into the story, so they may contain spoilers if you listen to them before finishing the main game. Sadly, since the main attraction of Alan Wake is story and you know it after finishing the game, it has little replay value. However if you haven't played it yet, chances are you'd not regret buying it.
Giving it 4 stars because there's no replayability value. Puzzles don't change and storyline changes only slightly due to yours choices, imo not worth the time needed to replay. It's a nice short game with a certain gothic atmosphere. It could be so much more, but at least it's ok with what it is.
What breaks this game for me is that there's no strategy involved: your ship lives or dies depending on random maps/events generated this session and there's literally nothing you can do about it. Often it makes more sense to restart after several turns instead of pushing forward, because you just hadn't been dealt the right cards to play. You already see the outcome. Death is unrewarding and usually meaningless. There's no progression as you die repeatedly, no rewards or accumulated points, only 'personal experience'. At some point you unlock new ships... which don't make the game easier, just a tiny bit different. And remember, random events can and DO screw up any good ship and good circumstances, killing you at the spot. Any mistake is usually fatal. Micromanagement is also pretty brutal: doors are too hard to select using touchpad and... why do I even need to control doors? What fun is that? Crew members are pretty hard to select too. Overal UI experience is between 'meh' and 'the horror' depending on the specific task at hand. If you're feeling lucky, you may try this game. I don't believe it's worth its money.
