SIM Theme Park....Make Your Dreams Come True-Almost

First let me say this, I do not play many computer software games. The SIM Theme Park game was given to me as a gift, and from what I had heard about some SIM games I didn’t think that I would like this. I was truly wrong and not cannot stop playing!

Where to Start.....

Just like most other software, for me it was really easy to install and run. Once you have it installed you create your own set of parks. More than one person can save their set of theme parks under different names. After you enter your name you are taken in to the lobby. Here you chose from the parks that they offer. You can pick from two different themes to start off with and do more as you gather golden keys. You get keys for accomplishing different tasks in your current theme park. The two themes that you can chose from to start are Lost Kingdom and Halloween.

The Lost Kingdom is just as it sounds. It is based on dinosaurs, all the rides, drink shops etc. are somehow connected to the dinosaur world. Halloween is all about spookiness. Witches, pumpkins and anything to do with Halloween. The other two themes are Land of Wonders and Space Zone. All themes are truly unique in their own way. Even the trash cans and bathrooms are designed to fit the theme of the park.

So Many Things To Do....So Little Time

If you think this is a stress free game think again. You have a little helper guy that pops up on your screen every few minutes telling you things you need to do to improve your park. You can build a variety of rides along with lots of other things. Here is just a touch of other things you can add; side shows, burger, drink, ice cream, balloon and gift shops. Bathrooms, trash cans, security cameras, decorations and workers.

You need to hire janitors, security guards, researchers, entertainers and mechanics. The janitors clean the park, security patrols the park, entertainers walk around and entertain crowds, mechanics fix broken rides and your researchers search for new rides, shops and features for your park. You need to place your workers strategically and tell them the specified area to patrol. This can get confusing but you can look at a map to see what areas you have workers currently patrolling.

You also have to build little roads or sidewalks to everything, you have to make sure that they are connected or else the ride or shop cannot open. I am still trying to figure out the perfect strategy on the theme parks. You think you have everything working smoothly yet your people are not happy. You are persistently keeping everyone happy. The bathrooms get stinky, people aren’t winning enough on the games, your workers want training and staff houses, rides are breaking, kids are popping balloons so you need more security cameras...etc. It is a never ending battle keeping everyone happy, but it is fun to me.

AAACCKKK

Once you open you will be constantly working. You will have to repair rides by calling the mechanic, cleaning bathrooms by calling the janitors and changing prices. You will receive challenges to earn golden tickets, which will allow you to build new rides. Tasks that include selling balloons to 15% of the people that enter the park or getting so many people to buy something at your gift shops. So one all this starts happening you will realize where you should have put everything. Good thing you can move things around! The time flies by so you have no time to waste. You will lost your crowds if you do not build new rides, add new features, build new shops and be on the ball.

Other Things To Do

If you run low of money you need to take a loan out and also repay the loan as soon as you can. You can change the cost to enter the park, play games and buy food and drinks. You can also ride any of the rides that you build; this to me is not the best part of the game. Actually it is the worst. It is hard to tell what you are riding or get the real feeling that you are on the ride.

You can also publish your theme park on the SIMS website and also send postcards to your friends. I have yet to build a park that is not confusing or else I would think about publishing it!

Final Thoughts

I spend many hours playing this game and it can go on for a long time. I have yet to find many dislikes in the game. Just a few things that I don’t like are that you have to place rides and shops only facing one direction which makes thing get difficult and also that the game does not save automatically to if the program closes for some unknown reason you have lost your park and have to start over. This can be time consuming and really can make you mad! Other than those two things, I love this game!