Planet Coaster 2 Pulls Back the Curtain on PS5 Theme Park Magic | Push Square

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There’s a thrill to roller coasters. As you clunk, clunk, clunk up the track, you start to contemplate your life. You should have asked that cute person out, should have called your mum more, shouldn’t have gotten on this terrifying contraption. And then, as you crest over the apex of the climb and see the world below you, everything melts away as you scream and cheer while the coaster rattles you around its winding, looping, twisting rails. The first-person view in Planet Coaster 2 manages to capture some of that magic and the rest of the game pulls back the curtain on how it’s made.

At a preview event in Thorpe Park, we got hands on with the game’s campaign and sandbox mode. If you’re familiar with other Frontier management games, like Jurassic World Evolution or Planet Zoo, you’ll know what’s ahead. The story takes you through a series of scenarios designed to introduce you to the various aspects of the game. It’s witty and gets you to grips with the basics well.

Before you can design your first roller coaster, you’ve got to build and staff the park. Your visitors will demand amenities such as toilets, food, bins, places to sit, and nice scenery. Your staff also need to be kept motivated with nice recreational areas, but these look ugly, so you’ll need to keep them away from the main park or risk spoiling the illusion for your guests. It makes you think about theme parks in a whole new way — they’re not just places of wonder, thrills, and escape; they’re businesses that require a lot of creativity to run.

Dealing with the game’s menus with a controller is a horrendous user experience. Connecting a USB mouse and keyboard might be a hassle, but it’s so much smoother than trying to navigate all the build and management options with the clunky controller interface. But while its control scheme is definitely worse, will the PS5 version have any other shortfalls?

“We’ve worked really hard to ensure a good parity across the platforms,” said Adam Woods, senior executive