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TWO POINT CAMPUS (XONE)
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Publisher: SEGA.
Developer: Two Point Studios. Released: August 2022. Genre: Management. Other versions: XSX; PS5; PS4; SWI; PC. Posted 24th February 2023. By Shane Battams © 2023 |
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After Two Point Hospital proved a challenging yet charming take on the management sim (as well as a great console conversion in 2020), SEGA and Two Point Studios would reunite for Two Point Campus in 2022. Replacing the hospital halls with university buildings and sick patients with debt-filled students, it proves another enjoyable experience with a lot of the same quirks and humour that made the previous game such fun. The only shame, at least for Xbox One owners, is a bevvy of technical issues and even crashes, which can dampen the enjoyment. Still, those enamoured with management sims should find good value here.
Seeing players return to Two Point County, this sequel tasks you with running a handful of University Campuses as you attempt to strike a balance between achieving high grades and retaining student and staff happiness, while also trying to keep things afloat financially. Most maps see you starting with very little, requiring you to set up your main campus building, build necessary rooms for classes and other facilities such as dormitories for students to sleep, staff rooms for employee breaks and miscellaneous rooms such as Research and Marketing, to unlock better equipment and attract more students respectively. It becomes a tricky balancing act because working your students hard to get higher grades often means you’ll need to placate their social needs such as setting up events like film nights, buying specific items and expanding their entertainment spaces. But as you level up courses and gain more students, you must factor in building more classrooms and hiring more staff to accommodate the influx of young minds. Naturally, this costs money. You could recoup money with higher tuition fees, but this reduces student happiness: as you can see, it becomes very tricky to find a happy medium.
Two Point Campus retains its predecessor's quirky sense of humour, whilst adding some imaginative quirks of its own
Fortunately, Two Point Campus feels intuitive to play despite its complexities. Like before, if things get overwhelming you can slow or pause time to get your bearings. Conversely, if you are waiting for a meter to fill, you can speed up time to reduce tedium. A slew of toggles and menus allow you to easily build, adjust elements such as Tuition Fees and see comprehensive stats which indicate where you are succeeding and failing. Each map also slowly introduces more aspects such as the range of classes, event organisation and upgrading. As you add items and staff to campus, your level increases and rewards points to either upgrade or add courses to the curriculum, with the growth proving satisfying. Kudosh also returns, where dozens of extra items can be purchased to customise, improve efficiency and encourage relationships. There are other aspects unique to this game such as Clubs which reward unique boons such as more energy for members, competitions between other schools such as Cheeseball matches and invaders from rivals.
While similar in a loose sense, Campus offers a lot of interesting managerial decisions that go beyond the “cure patient, repeat” approach. Students remain for multiple in-game years, each randomly entering with their own traits and wants, and careful study of these can be the difference between their A+ graduation or dropping out – and it feels rewarding to balance all of these. It’s only a shame that sometimes, it can feel like an uphill battle when you attempt to improve something and the meter just doesn’t budge. Sometimes, setting up an event which supposedly increases student happiness has little effect, and when a Star challenge focuses on this, it can feel long-winded and tedious when the game seems to push against your actions.
While similar in a loose sense, Campus offers a lot of interesting managerial decisions that go beyond the “cure patient, repeat” approach. Students remain for multiple in-game years, each randomly entering with their own traits and wants, and careful study of these can be the difference between their A+ graduation or dropping out – and it feels rewarding to balance all of these. It’s only a shame that sometimes, it can feel like an uphill battle when you attempt to improve something and the meter just doesn’t budge. Sometimes, setting up an event which supposedly increases student happiness has little effect, and when a Star challenge focuses on this, it can feel long-winded and tedious when the game seems to push against your actions.
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Luckily, Two Point Campus has lost little charm despite moving professions. The slew of studies available see you training students in Wizardry, Archaeology and Knighthood, and watching lessons with students boiling spells in a cauldron is charming. The same comedic timing is here; fired staff throw hilarious tantrums, illnesses such as Pumpkin Head cause a laugh and radio personalities remain an auditory treat. Special mention goes to the dry delivery of the announcer, with chimes such as “lessons are optional, so is failing” and even some delightful jokes harking back to Two Point Hospital. Visually, the colourful and expressive animation is still pleasant, if not what you’d call stunning, allowing you to keep track of the game.
Sadly, this particular version of Campus suffers from some noticeable technical issues, which is disappointing considering how polished Hospital’s port was. While maps run smoothly initially, the frame rate seems to deteriorate as you add more items and students enrol, with particularly busy maps seeing the game turn into almost a slideshow and delaying inputs and response times. Worse, maps with lots of items also can cause freezes and crashing, and other bugs like pathfinding issues and objects being placed far away from where you selected them feel like noticeable flaws in the cheery exterior. You’d imagine it runs better on newer hardware, but considering that it’s visually not that different from Hospital and on the same console, it still feels disappointing.
Sadly, this particular version of Campus suffers from some noticeable technical issues, which is disappointing considering how polished Hospital’s port was. While maps run smoothly initially, the frame rate seems to deteriorate as you add more items and students enrol, with particularly busy maps seeing the game turn into almost a slideshow and delaying inputs and response times. Worse, maps with lots of items also can cause freezes and crashing, and other bugs like pathfinding issues and objects being placed far away from where you selected them feel like noticeable flaws in the cheery exterior. You’d imagine it runs better on newer hardware, but considering that it’s visually not that different from Hospital and on the same console, it still feels disappointing.
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Players who can overlook these issues will be treated to plenty of content, at least. There are 12 maps in total and like before, getting the coveted Three Stars for performing a handful of tasks will definitely add a lot of time. Additions such as Sandbox mode also are present here. You can either play regularly, enter Creative Mode which removes most financial shackles from you or even play in a Challenging version of each map, with less money and more requirements to pass. It feels like a substantial way to enjoy these levels again. While not currently featuring any add-ons like Hospital, you can still expect to spend a good few dozen hours fully completing this one.
Two Point Campus offers more challenging management accompanied by rib-tickling humour, which is sure to please fans of Hosptial no end. There are some smart tweaks, and the change to university management offers a new selection of wrinkles to carefully balance. While some noticeable technical issues can dampen the fun for Xbox One owners, those who can overlook sluggish performance and have the patience for lengthy, tricky management should enjoy this one, though admittedly, those not enamoured with the first Two Point game will likely remain unconvinced by this one.
Two Point Campus offers more challenging management accompanied by rib-tickling humour, which is sure to please fans of Hosptial no end. There are some smart tweaks, and the change to university management offers a new selection of wrinkles to carefully balance. While some noticeable technical issues can dampen the fun for Xbox One owners, those who can overlook sluggish performance and have the patience for lengthy, tricky management should enjoy this one, though admittedly, those not enamoured with the first Two Point game will likely remain unconvinced by this one.
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VERDICT
"While it’s let down by some technical issues, Two Point Campus offers more challenging management and rib-tickling humour, which will please fans of Two Point Hospital no end." OVERALL: 7/10 |