During my middle school days, I remember getting a packet of books you could order through the school, and these packets would always have 2 to 3 games on the very back. on one of these packets, I saw something that caught my attention: Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. I ordered and when I received the game during class, I went home, installed it on my old Dell PC, and was instantly hooked. I loved how the game gave me a level of creative freedom I haven’t yet experienced in a game. The game would quickly take over my free time as the years went on, even though the Roller Coaster Tycoon games, after 3, would not slowly go off a cliff, more like a sharp plunge down a cliff. But that’s where Frontier Development comes into play, as they want to do what Cities Skylines did for SimCity, but with Roller Coaster Tycoon. This led to Planet Coaster back in 2015, which was a massive success, and led to the current moment where its sequel came out. With that long intro aside, and with my nostalgia set aside, Planet Coaster 2 is a great creative game that is easy to get into. Now, when I put my nostalgia back into the equation, this is the Roller Coaster Tycoon game I have always wanted to exist.     

The game starts with the traditional modes you would find in the tycoon genre. You have the campaign mode, which is more turn this park into a success with a limited starting amount, and sometimes some restrictions to make the levels more interesting. You also have the sandbox mode, which is where you are given a blank check and can make whatever theme park you can think of, given the guidelines of the systems you have access to. This year, Planet Coaster adds a new mode, Franchise Mode, which is a multiplayer mode where you and three other players can join together and run a single park together. I was intrigued by this, and even with randoms I found on Discord, this was a lot of fun. You can have one person designing the coasters, as another is trying to plan out where to place the set dressing, and another spamming food spots so you can pay for everything. It was a lot of fun, and I bet with a strong group of friends, people will make some insane parks in this mode.

But the big thing Planet Coaster 2 adds is you can now create your own water parks. Yes, your dreams of creating a better version of your local park’s swimming pool can now be achieved here. The slide building controls that are available to you, are more in depth than I was expecting, it has the same level of detail that is given to the dry coaster designs. You can also create water rides that take a big spit in the face of physics. Even though this does take out the sadistic element of the earlier Roller Coaster Tycoon games, where if you didn’t set up your ride properly it would go off the rails and crash. That wasn’t the main objective here, as it was to make a dream creation studio for amusement park enthusiasts.

On that front, the customization in Planet Coaster 2 truly sets it apart. Frontier has doubled down on allowing players to be as creative as they want with tools that enable almost limitless design. Whether you want to create a medieval-themed park or a futuristic cityscape, the amount of scenery items and customization options is astounding. Frontier has improved the terrain editing tools, allowing for smoother slopes, more detailed landscaping, and the ability to create breathtaking, naturalistic environments. The game even allows you to build underground, adding a whole new dimension to your park’s layout. This feature becomes especially useful for hiding utility areas or creating hidden paths that lead to mysterious or themed parts of the park. The flexibility given to players with these tools makes the creation tools a dream for anyone with a passion for design.

But the game isn’t perfect, I made the choice to play the game on Xbox, as with the first Planet Coaster adapted the game well enough given the controller restrictions when compared to a keyboard. But I did have a learning curve trying to find the new additions hidden away in the menu. The game on console also had some performance, but these were mainly player-made; I mean by that is, I only noticed the chugging when I had a full park, and every coaster was operating at once. I also had some glitches occur; the most common one was that if I didn’t build my paths wide enough, it would create a foot traffic jam in the middle of the park. Also, sometimes a guest would walk away from the nearest trash can before they get sick, and my janitor team would get stuck on the clipping of the vomit. It was a dealbreaker for me, I just bring that specific example up because I was laughing. But I expected these flaws in the game because this is a game that is designed for the player to see how far they can break it.

So, in the end, should you give Planet Coaster 2 a shot, if you are someone who loves theme parks and wanted to create your own version, then yes go on your digital store and buy it now. But if you are someone who is looking for a good business game, then you will find enjoyment here. The point I’m trying to get across is this was a good creative game, and in this era of live service games, it’s nice to see something harking back to the days of these tycoon-like games and not have it be this smoke screen feeling if the game is going to ask you for money, like most games like this on mobile. Where the main goal is to have creative fun and see how far it can take you. Maybe this will inspire you to pursue that creativity in the real world, or maybe you’ll use this as a form of escape to recreate Disneyland because you aren’t paying that much to go on Space Mountain. At the end of the day, no matter who you are, if you pick this up, you will end the day with a smile on your face.

Score: 9 out of 10

Reviewed on Xbox Series X