THRILLVILLE: OFF THE RAILS (WII)
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Publisher: LucasArts.
Developer: Frontier Developments. Released: 2007. Genre: Business/Strategy; Party. Other versions: X360; PC; PS2; PSP; DS. Posted 13th May 2013. By Chris Weatherley © 2013 |
Rollercoasters! Some love them, some hate them. Personally, I love them. So when two big interests of mine collide head-on I’m going to take notice. Construct and manage simulation titles of the nineties like Sim City and Civilization were very kind to me; providing great entertainment whilst claiming a good segment of my teenage life into the bargain. When the likes of Theme Park and Rollercoaster Tycoon came around, I feared that much more of it would be poured into an artificial world of amusement park micromanagement. Sadly, I didn’t really gel with these titles, so expectations for Thrillville: Off The Rails weren’t great, even with it coming at me on Nintendo’s trendsetter platform. The concept sounds tremendous both for single and multiplayer, but would it really deliver what I have long for in a fairground simulation all these years? It falls short by a smidge; like a real rollercoaster, it starts out great, has its ups and downs, but gets less exciting after repeat rides.
The outline and objectives of Thrillville: OTR are actually quite straightforward, but it does seem daunting in the very beginning. A lot of tin pot back-story, a Doc Brown look-alike and garbled information about what you are tasked with doing makes you hesitant, but it really all boils down to the player building and running a series of theme parks under the Thrillville banner, to the highest criterion. And you have a lot of tools to accomplish this. Starting with only one park with three themed areas, progress sees you unlock other parks, special items, more rides, stalls, games and so on. You’re aiming to achieve mass public adulation, heaps of cash and the domination over the rival company Globo-Joy, which sounds like a sex-toy brand name. Maybe that’s deliberate too; there’s a liberal splash of comedy and cartoon slapstick within. This provides a nice aside to the general basics of playing the management sections. Setting the prices and budgets, hiring the staff, advertising the park to get the punters in; there’s loads of this kind of business to be getting on with as you would imagine. It’s appropriate, not over-bearing, balanced and important to the function of the game as a whole. However, the core of the game lies with the interactive and creative elements that offer great scope.
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When you’re out and about in your park, Thrillville does provide for a lot of interactivity. Walking around, you can talk to anyone you fancy, play and ride the attractions you have bought or built, challenge a guest at a game and generally have a good day out much like a regular park guest. Of course, you are the manager, so serious stuff has to be done. During your exchanges with assorted individuals, you can bribe a critic, bamboozle a spy, embark on a mission and even chat up the women. This degree of freedom is very welcome, providing some good pre-planning and belly laughs. Unfortunately after a while, the conversations become repetitive, the jokes get boring and you can find yourself doing the same task over and over again in different guises. This is when the mini-games take the edge off the primary game. There are over 40 of these to delight in, essential to conquer if you wish to progress further. Playing by merely entering the attraction you yourself have built, many of these are classic titles given a new skin for the purposes of the theme; the best example would be Bandito Chinchilla; a scrolling beat ‘em up much akin to Double Dragon. These mini-games do account for a lot of the fun, some being rather addictive. They’re all quite simple and familiar, but by and large are a good jolly. Best of all, they all provide for fine multiplayer experiences.
The final vital element of this title is the placing and building of rides, most notably the rollercoasters. Static rides are numerous, varied and fun, to which you decide where to build in the park. The big coasters however can be built from scratch, piece by piece, so you can create the most insane and wild ride you can devise. The best bit about this is that you can ride them too. Building the coasters does take up time, getting the design right is tricky, but there are many ‘whoa’ pieces which defy reality that makes it all surreally entertaining. There is also a construction mode where you can build a ride without limits and practice your building skills. So, all in all, Thrillville: Off The Rails is crammed full of stuff to do, ranging from number-crunching, to RPG-style dialogue, playing classic arcade games and creating a crazy, gravity-defying rollercoaster. All good right? Well, not quite. There are some issues, irritating niggles that are quite significant and let down the whole package, which quite frankly p!ss me off.
The final vital element of this title is the placing and building of rides, most notably the rollercoasters. Static rides are numerous, varied and fun, to which you decide where to build in the park. The big coasters however can be built from scratch, piece by piece, so you can create the most insane and wild ride you can devise. The best bit about this is that you can ride them too. Building the coasters does take up time, getting the design right is tricky, but there are many ‘whoa’ pieces which defy reality that makes it all surreally entertaining. There is also a construction mode where you can build a ride without limits and practice your building skills. So, all in all, Thrillville: Off The Rails is crammed full of stuff to do, ranging from number-crunching, to RPG-style dialogue, playing classic arcade games and creating a crazy, gravity-defying rollercoaster. All good right? Well, not quite. There are some issues, irritating niggles that are quite significant and let down the whole package, which quite frankly p!ss me off.
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Immediately evident are the graphics; they are not great, or all that good in fact. Just about acceptable for the Wii, but only just. Coarse lines, glitchy models, dubious colours and a meagre frame-rate account for considerable annoyance. Even some slight slow-down occurs travelling between park areas. They are not entirely terrible, but could have been far better. However, a poorer aspect is the camera; in normal roaming mode it’s standard third-person stuff, but in construct mode it’s a total bitch. You have partial control via the D-pad, but getting it right is awkward and time-consuming. It’s a shame, because with a little more effort, things could have been a lot smoother. The control system the Wii demands is full-on too, having to wield the nunchuck in all situations. It’s not difficult to grasp, but can be infuriating when simpler methods could have been implemented. In the audio department things are a lot better, with some nice retro/modern sounds, classic bleeps and pips, and a good selection of contemporary playful music backing the roaming sections. The voicing is also okay albeit rather flat, and the crowd noises are apt. Updates of the game even put in newer indie and rock tunes. With a more equal balance, the auditory values would have been first class.
Limitations prove to be the game’s major downer; although you can build a dream coaster in the practice area, you cannot import it into your park, making the whole process pointless. Also, when building a coaster within the park you have a finite amount of power to use. This results in short coasters if you fill the area with attractions, or one big coaster and few other rides for the guests. There is no way to enhance the power levels either. Very irritating. I guess this constraint is put in to minimise frame-rate lag, or prevent excess slow-down. It would have been better if fewer guests were animated in the park. Duh! Another annoying characteristic is the fact you cannot organise and edit the areas themselves, just place things within its set arrangement. More freedom in the design aspect would have been advantageous and grant greater complexity and allow the player to use their imagination more. These faults equate to a very-almost-nearly title; it proposes much reward and promise, has the ideas, resources and interface, but is massively hindered by its own precincts. Not to be too harsh, it’s a pleasurable theme park building game but far from perfect. Maybe one day a developer to pick up the ball on what makes this kind of title brilliant, and Thrillville: Off The Rails is the closest you will get for now.
Limitations prove to be the game’s major downer; although you can build a dream coaster in the practice area, you cannot import it into your park, making the whole process pointless. Also, when building a coaster within the park you have a finite amount of power to use. This results in short coasters if you fill the area with attractions, or one big coaster and few other rides for the guests. There is no way to enhance the power levels either. Very irritating. I guess this constraint is put in to minimise frame-rate lag, or prevent excess slow-down. It would have been better if fewer guests were animated in the park. Duh! Another annoying characteristic is the fact you cannot organise and edit the areas themselves, just place things within its set arrangement. More freedom in the design aspect would have been advantageous and grant greater complexity and allow the player to use their imagination more. These faults equate to a very-almost-nearly title; it proposes much reward and promise, has the ideas, resources and interface, but is massively hindered by its own precincts. Not to be too harsh, it’s a pleasurable theme park building game but far from perfect. Maybe one day a developer to pick up the ball on what makes this kind of title brilliant, and Thrillville: Off The Rails is the closest you will get for now.
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Similar to...
Thrillville
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VERDICT
Visual: 5/10
Audio: 8/10 Gameplay: 8/10 Longevity: 6/10 OVERALL: 7/10 |