Available on: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Played on: PC
In 2016, Frontier Developments delighted fans of the beloved RollerCoaster Tycoon series with spiritual theme park successor, Planet Coaster. In my review, I declared it the “RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 you’ve been waiting for.”
But a lot has changed in eight years. Slapping a “2” on the next game creates certain expectations in a full sequel.
Unfortunately, Planet Coaster 2 is a mediocre sequel that sometimes feels more like a glorified expansion pack still in Early Access.
Read on for our review of Planet Coaster 2!
Planet Coaster 1.5
In case you’re new to the management sim series, Planet Coaster 2 puts you in charge of your own theme park through three primary game modes: Career, Franchise, and Sandbox. Players shape the terrain, place rides, paths, and scenery, customize roller coasters and track rides, hire staff, and respond to guests’ needs. All while keeping their parks profitable and prestigious.
Career mode is akin to a story-based campaign. The “story” is pretty light, featuring some talkative (and occasionally annoying) park directors and supervisors. Through four Chapters (plus a Prologue) and 18 parks we’ll be completing objectives to earn medals, and unlocking more advanced rides with research.
As someone who lacks the skills and patience for heavy customization, I usually prefer playing with the pre-built parks in Career mode. While most of the medal objectives are a bit too easy and hand-holdy, I was suitably inspired by some of the clever map designs and ideas, from crowded farmland that needs expanding, to a pair of park areas separated by a large river.
My favorite scenario was a mountainous, Viking-themed park with multiple flume entrances, where I can create an impressive “Rainbow Bifrost” of slides and tubes.
My tubular Bifrost is a work in progress.
Sandbox mode is the familiar tool of creative aficionados: building a custom park from the ground up. In a slight twist, players can modify their sandbox with self-imposed challenges by selecting different difficulty presets and settings. But it feels a bit pointless to add research and money requirements into the sandbox.
Franchise Mode is a major new addition to the series, adding asymmetrical multiplayer and leaderboards.
Multiplayer is not something I ever needed in my creator-friendly management sim. But there are some genuinely interesting features, such as building the same parks together (one person at a time), competing for global objectives, and visiting other players’ parks.
Walking around other parks in first-person is novel, but I also experienced some nasty framerate issues. Time will tell if Franchise mode will keep players coming back, or a left a forgotten blip in favor of the more traditional single player.
Making a Splash
Planet Coaster 2’s big new gameplay feature are pools. And no, most rollercoaster theme parks don’t also feature swimming and tube slides in my experience. Pools can be shaped, but depth appears fixed. Park managers will need lifeguards, changing stations, and water filtration to keep up with them.
I had more fun designing flumes with their crazy twisting design pieces than the pools themselves. All the pool stuff feels like something that could have been added to the first game via an expansion pack.
I also grew annoyed with research, which features an aggressively unattractive menu with little decision-making. And don’t get me started on the new power requirements. It’s a baffling design choice that adds nothing but tedium to laying rides and stalls.
On the other hand, Planet Coaster 2 enhances customization to incredible degrees. Creative designers can build complex scenery objects piece-by-piece, and enhance their rides, shops, and paths, making some truly gorgeous parks and blueprints.
Customization gets a huge buff in the sequel, save for one area. At launch, Planet Coaster 2 only has the following themes: Viking, Mythological (Greek Mythology), Aquatic (underwater), Resort (tropical/island), and the generic “Planet Coaster.”
Where’s Western, or Space, or Fantasy? The barebones basic themes present in the original Planet Coaster are conspicuously absent here, in favor of an obvious emphasis on water-themed parks. It’s another shocking design decision that makes Planet Coaster 2 less of a full sequel.
from PlanetCoaster.com
The Rating
Planet Coaster 2 has been rated E for Everyone by the ESRB, with Crude Humor and Mild Violence. All rides have a nausea rating, and sick guests will vomit on the floor, requiring janitors to clean it up. An unfinished coaster can fly off the tracks and crash, though everyone gets up unhurt, and it’s played for laughs.
The Takeaway
As a long-time fan of management sims and the RollerCoaster Tycoon and Planet Coaster series, I came away disappointed with Planet Coaster 2. The sequel focuses hard on elements that never interested me, such as multiplayer leaderboards and pools. Even diehard fans will find the bugs and park management issues not worth the squeeze.
Hopefully Frontier will add some free content updates and much-needed patches to elevate Planet Coaster 2 to the lofty heights of the original game.
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