Planet Coaster 2

Building and designing roller coasters has been the dream of probably countless children over the years. It's no wonder video games have been trying to make that dream a reality, taking different approaches: to the more arcade titles like Theme Park, Thrillville and recently Park Beyond to the realism of the pseudo-professional NoLimits 2. Perhaps the best-known series in this regard is RollerCoaster Tycoon, created by Chris Sawyer and later took over by Frontier Developments with the best-selling (over 10 million units sold) third entry (released 20 years ago in Europe).

Frontier released Planet Coaster for PC in 2016 and then consoles in 2020, as the spiritual successor (modern RollerCoaster Tycoon titles are far, far worse) and it was widely regarded as the definitive game in this subgenre. No other game matches its balance between realism and accessibility, alongside beautiful graphics that make the parks feel alive. Its sequel, Planet Coaster 2, is already available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Reviewing these kinds of sim games is often trickier than other games, where the set of expectations can vary greatly. Pleasing a specific type of player (for example, those who enjoy the managerial aspect of running a theme park and the challenges that come with it) might put off other players who enjoy the creative aspect more, letting their imaginations run wild and only focusing on the "fun" parts.

Planet Coaster 2, as well as most games of its genre, solves this dichotomy by offering separate game modes. Career Mode for those looking to test their skills in predefined scenarios, and a limitless Sandbox Mode (with every coaster type available from scratch and ditching new additions like electricity, which is a nuisance, to be honest). However, in trying to find a good overall balance, there is a risk that no player will be fully satisfied. Players from the first group might find the managerial aspects too slim, lacking real strategy in the Career's objectives, only building what you are mandated to. What's more, the geometry of the pre-built sceneries can be hard to get right sometimes.

The second group might become frustrated with the sometimes obtuse HUD and menus, the still uncontrollable path system and a steep learning curve when customising themes, rides and buildings that feels overwhelming.

Of course, designing a tailor-made game for every player is unrealistic. The game might not be perfect in every aspect, but it is as competent as any sim game can get, showing Frontier's vast expertise in the genre and making it a must-have for roller coaster fans. Because, with the wide variety of sim games, city builders and strategy titles out there, if you are interested in this one specifically, there is a good chance that roller coasters and theme park rides are your main drive here. In that regard, Planet Coaster 2 is well above and beyond the competition, offering a vast catalogue of rides, roller coasters and water slides directly based on real life models.

When playing a sim-racing game, you would expect every manufacturer to be present with their latest models, right? With roller coasters, it's the same. While they are not the official models, there is no licensing or anything like that, all roller coasters are modelled on real life counterparts. From the different coaster types to the smallest cosmetic details regarding design choices of the supports, trains or tracks, the roller coasters here are beautiful to look at, and cover almost any model imaginable: steel, wooden, inverted, winged, launch, shuttle, water, even brand new ones like stand-up Surf coasters.

As in the previous game, Frontier parodies the company names with often hilarious results: Bolliger & Mabillard becomes Valais & Nibwalden, Intamin becomes Outamax, Rocky Mountain Construction becomes High Peaks Construction... Those names will not mean anything to the vast majority of the world's population, but they are like the Ferrari, Audi or Toyota of the roller coaster world. Frontier knows that a large portion of Planet Coaster players knows them too, and wants them to play with them instead of a generic design. With over fifty coaster types (not including flat rides and water slides), there is something for everyone (even though I was frustratingly unable to recreate Intamin's masterpiece Batman: Gotham City Escape, as the exact model is not here).

Having realistic models is a benefit not just because roller coaster enthusiasts can geek out a bit (or a lot), it also expands the creative possibilities. You do not need gravity defying fantasy rides to create cool looking and original rides: the theme park industry is already catching up to our childhood wildest dreams.

There are traditional coasters with the classic lift hill, but also launch coasters. Some of them mix both methods (and can have lift hill and launches), some launches can go forwards and backwards, while other lift hills are unconventional, like vertical lifts found on Gerstlauer's rides (here named "Jerry St Lauer"). You can create shuttle coasters (not closed circuits) and, the biggest game changer is that some coasters have switch tracks and drop tracks, so you have to program if they go forwards or backwards... You even have tilt coasters, in which the track literally tilts vertically, a model Vekoma ("Vector" in the game) built only once over twenty years ago that is becoming more popular again. And RMC's hybrid coasters that mix a wooden structure with a steel track that are able to go upside down, and have become the hottest roller coaster model of the last decade. I could go on and on...

This isn't to say the biggest novelty of the game, water park rides and flumes, don't do a lot to make the game fresh. Building water slides is similar to building roller coasters and is as much fun, but you also need to be cautious about not surpassing your guests' threshold of fear and dizziness. However, building swimming pools can by a hassle, as it uses a similar style to the path creator and ends up being a time consuming process (you have to add water filtering, ladders, lifeguards, sun beds and even shade, otherwise your guests can get sunburnt). At least it's a good reminder of the importance of using sunscreen!

Planet Coaster 1 fans might be wondering what is new besides the publicised water park features. The game features a new game mode called Franchise, which allows you to play asynchronous multiplayer (cross-platform), building and running a theme park chain with your friends and seeing you go against other team's franchises.

There are also the aforementioned new customisation options for rides (adding lights to roller coaster trains, for example, or specific parts of the theme to the rides) and even include programming special effects, animatronics and other moving parts. However, they require an enormous amount of patience and could benefit from a better tutorial: the option is there, but many people will probably not bother trying to understand it. It's not a big problem, as anything you build can be uploaded to Frontier's servers for anyone to use. And while the game does not present the option as such, the community has found out you can also create dark rides by fiddling with wall-placement and impressive real-time lighting engine. The shell-like Haunted Mansion vehicles are also present among the non-coaster rides...

Yes, I am a roller coaster geek, so water parks being present or not would not have mattered much in my interest for the game. I am also not super into the vast customising options for decoration and buildings. Instead, I could spend hours trying to recreate my local parks' coasters. However, I know people who are super excited for the water park features and will spend hours making the most beautiful water parks possible, and admittedly they look really cool: the graphics are outstanding, the blue of the water and the vivid colours of the slides is absolutely gorgeous and makes us long for the summertime to return already.

That is what I was referring to since the beginning of this Planet Coaster 2 review: there are many different Planet Coaster players out there, with different preferences, so the feel of the game may differ from one person to another. However, it is undeniable that Frontier Developments has done an incredible job balancing a copious amount of content suitable for each player, while adding more than enough new things to earn the "2" in the title, eight years later.