Thrillville: Off the Rails *Review* - 6/10

Thrillville: Off the Rails

“Play in the best theme park ever… YOURS!”

Ok… So that was what the back of the game said anyway.

The idea of Thrillville: Off The Rails is to create and run your very own Theme Park; a world choc full of fun and excitement straight from your imagination.
However as you get into the game, you’ll soon begin to see that there are a number of disappointments as to the players’ ability to actually do this.
Still, the game wasn’t completely flawed, and while it’s easy to pick out it’s imperfections, Thrillville: Off The Rails was still quite a good way to exploit a little time.





Pros:
A nice amount of variety throughout the different theme worlds, cool mini games and wicked roller coasters that you create from scratch.
* My favourite feature was being able to make your character scream when riding the coasters you’ve created.

Cons:
Fairly child focused in concept but then again not so much in execution. The lack in overall customisation options is also disappointing, especially considering the media hype of this feature. In addition, the loading times throughout the game can be a little wearisome.

Try it if you like:
The Sims, MySims or any of those kinds of fun DIY games.

Now onto the details…




Storyline

You are the new park manager of Thrillville.
Your job is to make sure everything in Thrillville runs smoothly, and to ultimately eliminate your competition: Globojoy.
From the start there are a number of customizing options. Not only do you get to choose your characters name (like most good games), but you also get straight into things by customizing the character that you’ll use in game play.
There is a lot to learn about being a Theme Park Manager so pay attention to the tutorials throughout the game until you get the hang of things.





There are 5 different theme worlds to unlock in the game. Each world is divided into three zones for you to build rides, games and stalls in.
However, in each zone you are limited to building attractions in only three open spaced areas. These spaces aren’t the most well designed, but there is still ample room to build what you need.

In order to unlock the new worlds, you’ll need to complete a variety of missions which are divided into 5 different categories, Build, Games, Guest, Upkeep, and Management.
The missions under these categories range from socialising with guests, to building extreme ‘whoa coasters’, to training your staff with hands on mini games.

Here’s a brief view of your roles under each of these categories:

Build: Create roller coasters with amazing features and balance out the attractions in the park by providing a variety of fast paced, nauseating rides, and slow gentle ones.

Games: Install games and challenge key players to them. You’ll need to win in order to progress in this category. Some of the mini games include: Robo K.O – a boxing style Robot Battle game; Squadron Ace – an arcade style jet pilot game, as well as things like mini golf with courses that you build yourself, and sideshows like ‘test your strength’.

Guest: Most of these missions involve socialising, making friends with, and even matchmaking various guests in the park. They may also involve providing stalls and services that park guests will need for optimum comfort.

Upkeep: Are your rides breaking down too much? Is the park untidy? Keep your park at its best by hiring and training staff to dance for guests, fix the damage and clean up all the vomit in Thrillville.

Management: Keep people informed about Thrillville by taking out ads in different magazines. Stop Globojoy from ruining your reputation by collecting their smear campaign articles and find out who’s really on your side.




Controls

The Wii remote and nunchuck are used in a very simple way in this game, which is good, but at times it can be a little awkward.
The remote is most often used in a basic ‘point and shoot’ kind of fashion, but it isn’t necessary, as you can usually use a button-based alternative to make your selections.
When building attractions you twist the nunchuck in order to control its position, or in the case of creating roller coasters, you twist the Wii remote to direct the layout of the track.

Some of the mini games use the motion controls of the Wii in a more “Wii Sports” kind of fashion. For example the mini game Robo K.O, which uses the controls in much the same way as Wii boxing.





Graphics

There are some really fun concepts in the graphic design of this game, and they are well executed until it comes time for you to build, when some of the features disappear if you try to build in their way.
While obviously the graphics wont live up to most peoples ‘next gen’ standards, they are certainly competent, especially as you roam around the parks, and most of the pictures you’ll find online (including in this review) just don’t do it justice.
That said though, the graphics on the mini games were seemingly not a primary concern for the developer, unless of course that is that they wanted them to look like they were being played in an old school arcade – which might not be far from the truth.




Sound

The game has some pretty funky music. It’s laid back enough so that you don’t notice it, but at the same time there are some fun, up to date tunes included which is cool.
The speech of characters is clear and precise, and there can rarely be a complaint about it.
All in all, sound quality is good, but not a stand out feature of the game.

Multiplayer Mode

If you want to hang out with friends and play mini games then the multiplayer mode is for you!
There is a large range of mini games to be played and up to 4 people can join in the fun.





Summary

All in all this was a great game for a little light-hearted fun. Even though the story line isn’t as stimulating as I’d like, it’s pretty easy to follow and you still get a decent number of hours out of the game.
As I said before, the main disappointment for me came from the lack of customisability. I had admittedly expected quite a lot more from the game, most likely from my experiences playing ’Theme Park’ a lot when I was younger.
If another sequel were to develop, I would like to see a more free form ability in it. It would be fantastic if the game were to move away from the current ‘put it here’ ‘choose a colour’ format that we have now, but I can’t see this happening, as the possibilities and complications would likely be too overwhelming for developers.
The final word on the game is to give it a go. It really was fun, especially from a casual gamer point of view. The multiplayer mode gives you an extension on games like “Wii Sports” as a party game option, and even though I own my copy, I’ve seen Thrillville available for rent which makes it easy for you to try out on your own. So why not try and become the next big thing in Thrillville! Enjoy!


Overall Scores:

Story: 5/10

Controls: 5/10

Sound: 6/10

Graphics: 6/10

Fun: 6/10

Duration: 6/10

Overall: 6/10


For More Information:
If you want to see a different perspective of the game while online, I suggest you to go to the LucusArts Thrillville Website for a little look.
www.lucasarts.com/

Written By Magickstar *

Submitted by magickstar 18/01/2008 289 15

Join MyWii to vote for your favourite story!

More Info:

Thrillville: Off the Rails

Other Reviews:

• magickstar Review 6/10 by magickstar

Related Videos:

• 
  Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey
• 
  Showtime Championship Boxing
• 
  Smartypants
• 
  Spider-Man 3

• 
  SSBB - Lucario VS Diddy
• 
  The Bigs - Top of the First (Wii)
• 
  Red Steel trailer (Nintendo Wii game)
• 
  Brawl Character/Player Profile: Sonic

• 
  45 31
• 
  21 29
• 
  12 27
• 
  12 26
• 
  25 23
• 
  10 18