Planet Coaster 2 Review

ign.com:

When we already have a theme park simulator as good as Planet Coaster, it can be tricky to imagine what a sequel might add. And Planet Coaster 2, most of the time, does feel pretty similar to the first one. That isn't necessarily a bad thing since I really liked the original. Adding water rides is exciting and refreshing, and even deeper visual customization is downright impressive, while equally daunting in how the options are presented. But this is still much more of a park decorating sim than a park management one.

Where the recent Frontier games (Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo) have really excelled is in the nearly ridiculous amount of visual customization options available. Hundreds of modular pieces that can be recolored, resized, rotated, and overlapped allow you to create just about anything you can imagine. The terrain editor is more powerful than ever here, and the tools for carving my dreams into the landscape are pretty intuitive. It does feel a bit like being thrown into the deep end, though. I get decision paralysis from the sheer amount of choice, and risk getting bogged down in making each little decoration perfect.

I don't find that level of fiddliness to be as enjoyable as designing rides or running a park, but the pre-made decor doesn't quite fill the gap to where I feel like I can skip that step and still get the theming I want. Plopping down an unadorned ride feels boring, and the pre-decorated ones don't have quite enough variety. What I really found myself longing for was something in-between the extremes of fussing over every handrail and accepting unthemed or pre-themed attractions. But thanks to Steam Workshop integration – always a great addition – I'm sure the community will have me covered after the true detail masters have more time to tinker.

Where I do really like that fine control is when I'm building rides, and the coaster editor is more powerful and easier to use than ever. Creating banks, corkscrews, spirals, loops, and bends of all