ROLLERPOSER TYCOON

Parking up the wrong tree in PARK BEYOND

- Lewis Parker

Park Beyond isn't a very subtle game, both in the sense that it's loud and bombastic, and that it's not exactly hiding which other games it's been influenced by. Sometimes though, that's ok - hundreds of games have tried to ride the coattails of Fortnite or Call of Duty, but there aren't that many trying to emulate 2000s-era management sims like Rollercoaster Tycoon.

Much as I did in other sims 20 years ago (oh god, did SimCity 2000 really come out in 1993?), I initially decided to skip the campaign in Park Beyond and jump right into sandbox mode. At this point the game lightly suggested that I should at least give the tutorial a go before getting started. I relented and, thankfully, the tutorial was succinct and relatively easy to digest. To Park Beyond’s credit, after just a brief five-minute talking to, I felt well-equipped enough to tackle building a theme park of my own.

After messing around for a couple of hours in sandbox mode, I looped back around and started the campaign mode properly. It didn’t take me long to realise that the bulk of what was covered in the tutorial is simply stretched out and dumbed down even further for the campaign, admittedly alongside some new information regarding the park management mechanics. Although the campaign does feature fully voiced cutscenes and an attempt at a story, it never stops feeling like one long tutorial. I got bored of working my way through it and kept stopping to jump back into sandbox mode, even though it’s only a few hours long.