If you realize something about me – and also you most likely don’t, which suggests I’m going to let you know anyway – it’s that I like RollerCoaster Tycoon. So, when RollerCoaster Tycoon Traditional, a recreation that channels the spirit of the primary two iconic titles from the collection, arrived on Apple Arcade earlier this month, I figured I’d give it a spin on my iPad, having already performed numerous it on my PC. I assumed, fairly naively, that attempting it out on Apple’s pill wouldn’t really feel fairly as intuitive because the PC model, however I used to be flawed. I used to be very, very flawed.
Whether or not you’re enjoying on probably the greatest iPads, resembling final yr’s iPad Air (M2), or a barely older Apple pill, RollerCoaster Tycoon feels completely at house on the machine. The touchscreen mechanics are a giant win, supplying you with loads of management over your theme park and rollercoaster designs, but it surely’s not simply that. My iPad’s 10.9-inch display screen is the right dimension for optimum park administration, providing a stage of element that you just don’t get when enjoying on an iPhone. Mix these components, plus the Apple pill’s spectacular efficiency, and RCT Traditional feels even higher on iPad than it does on PC. Contemplating the hours I’ve racked up on my laptop computer, that’s saying one thing.
On condition that RollerCoaster Tycoon Traditional has held a spot in Apple Arcade’s high ten chart because it arrived on April 3, I hope that its success reminds Atari of what followers of the collection are on the lookout for from RCT video games. With out supplying you with an entire historical past lesson, which I’ve already written in my RollerCoaster Tycoon retrospective, it’s fairly widespread information that the collection fell off by way of high quality across the time Chris Sawyer, the brains behind RCT, left. That stated, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, the primary recreation with out Sawyer as lead developer, wasn’t horrendous.
Nonetheless, since RCT 3, we’ve seen a slew of Atari-published RCT cellular spin-offs that vary from fairly unhealthy to downright atrocious, none of which come inside touching distance of the standard of the originals or any of the picks from our information to the perfect cellular video games. That’s, apart from RCT Traditional, which is basically a mixed port of the primary two video games that Sawyer delivered to essential acclaim in 1999 and 2002. So, if you happen to’re listening, Atari, that is what we theme park administration sim fanatics are on the lookout for. Extra old-school mechanics and fewer microtransactions. Give us that, launch it on iOS and Android, and the RCT collection has an opportunity of returning to its former glory.
So, if you happen to’re on the lookout for one thing to play in your iPad this weekend, I can’t suggest RollerCoaster Tycoon Traditional sufficient. If you happen to’re not an Apple Arcade subscriber, you will get a free one-month trial, which supplies you entry to a bunch extra nice Apple Arcade video games, together with Balatro and Stardew Valley. Or, if I’ve not managed to persuade you to present Apple Arcade and RCT Traditional a spin, discover one thing fully free-to-play in our information to the perfect iPad video games.