RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition, developed and published by Frontier for Nintendo Switch, is really a remastered, new version from the classic 2004 construction and management simulator. As the heart of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 exists within the Switch version, the gameplay is painful and difficult to navigate, creating a disappointing and frustrating experience.
In RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, players build and manage their own theme parks, either in free play modes or perhaps a career mode that requests certain milestones out of your park. The complete edition of the game also includes the Soaked and Wild expansions, letting players create waterparks and exotic animal exhibits in addition to regular rollercoasters.
The goal of the game, even in free play, would be to create and run a fun and exciting amusement park. To get this done, you not only place and build your own rollercoasters, but manage every aspect of the park. This includes food stands, staff, prices, and more. The gameplay is ultimately an excellent balance between going full-scale and building the park of your dreams and a business simulation of supply and demand and safety regulations.
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition is certainly filled with great content, especially for fans who grew up playing the initial versions on PC. There is no lack of different rollercoasters to produce and almost everything is customizable. The ability to spice the park track of the expansions was fantastic too, allowing creativity for players who want to concentrate on the design part of the game. Personally, I enjoyed messing around with the two expansions included in the Complete Edition. As the instructions on how to result in the water rides actually function weren’t explained well, I did such as the variety that pools and exotic animals put into the park. Not just could I make ridiculously shaped swimming pools, however i might make my visitors stare at lions and tigers as i did it.
Unfortunately, the Nintendo Switch port is so hard to control that the joy of making a park is almost nonexistent. The game is very obviously a PC port, which may be fine except the controls are extremely poorly adapted that it feels impossible to play efficiently on console. Additionally, the game feels dated, that we expected considering it’s only a remaster rather than a total remake. However, the gameplay is still so clunky and poorly adapted for console that I’m unsure newcomers to the series would adore RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 like Used to do in 2004. It doesn’t feel like an older game made available to modern audiences – it just feels like a chore.
The game relies too heavily on holding on the trigger buttons. For example, to build shops or rollercoasters, you have to hold down the left trigger button and select options from the circular menu. However, like a simulation and management game, there are plenty of menus to search through it becomes increasingly difficult to navigate.
The camera angles typically aren't the best either, making the map just a little tricky to figure out. Generally, it wasn't an issue when placing pre-made stores or rollercoasters. However, when attempting to construct your personal rollercoasters or implementing water rides, it's difficult to determine exactly what you're doing without spending considerable time toying with the controls.
Overall, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is a great game, but not on Nintendo Switch. The controls are too difficult and not well optimized for a console experience. The menus are hard to navigate and park customization is tough to do using only buttons when it is so clearly intended for the finesse of a mouse and keyboard. Time with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition on Nintendo Switch was incredibly disappointing – I was hoping for a great nostalgic trip to the early 2000s, but instead, I had been met with bulky and burdensome gameplay that made an originally fun game tedious.
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition is currently available on Nintendo Switch and PC.
