Adventure Park is just what you may think it is, a theme park management simulator in the same vein as Roller Coaster Tycoon. It has everything you’d expect in a theme park simulator, its got your roller coasters, your stand alone rides, mazes, drink and food stands, themed decorations and more. With Adventure Park providing you with all you’d expect from this type of simulator, does it pull it altogether to give you those dozens (hopefully) of hours of gameplay you’d expect?
Short answer, no, not at all. Unfortunately Adventure Park is awfully shallow in the rides it provides. Adventure Park provides you with seven rides, that’s it. It seems as if there’s plenty more when actually those are just different skins of the same ride. The roller coasters are all the same, just different skins. The “helicopter rides” are all the same, just different skins. The observatory rides….. you get the picture. And maybe it’s just me and this is completely possible, but with theme park simulator you’d at least like some more rides and roller coasters that actually differ from one another, instead of just looking differently.
Adventure Park does grant you enough options to customize the theme of your park. It gives plenty of palette swaps for the paths, dozens of decorations and foliage choices. The decorations are quite detailed and seem to have had some love and care put into them. But there’s a problem, it seems as if Adventure Park already has in mind of the theme it wants you to produce on certain levels. For instance you have levels that are obviously meant to be pirate themed parks, or space themed etc. From the level’s music (which can be atrocious) to the layout of the land and decorations that are already in place. Yes, you can just change the layout and remove decorations, but you can only go so far making an island into a space themed park .
Adventure Park not only has some customization issues, it has some one annoying technical issue and some curious design choices. The one technical issue is that anytime you try to change something in the settings of the game, it always wants to close and then restart. Really? Change a shadow, need to restart game. Have fun trying to get it to look just the way you want, it’s going to take you 45 mins and thirteen restarts.
This is the last thing I will complain about, I promise, but the music. Oh my, the music. Think you’re going to relax to the sounds of carousels and children laughing? Nope! Not in the most extreme pirate park in the world! That’s what it feels like you’ve entered into. The first level’s music feels as if it should heard during the most epic pirate battle ever. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but in comparison to what you’re expecting, it fits. Oh man, my favorite is the dubstep in the game. Seriously? I don’t remember the last time I visited a theme park and felt as if I went to a Skrillex show.
Now, Adventure Park is not all bad. It’s actually a pretty fantastic looking game. The rides are all beautifully rendered. The decorations, land and foliage are stunning when placed together just right. Spend some time in order to decorate the area around a ride or roller coaster and you may just look back and be pretty impressed with how great this game looks. It’s those times when you’re content with Adventure Park.
Do Not Play Adventure Park is just too shallow for me to even suggest you approach this game with caution. You will end up bummed when you find out that the choice of rides, although gorgeous, is shallow. All the while the music screams at you.
