Review: Two Point Campus is an education in how to do sim games

videogameschronicle.com:

“Sequels are derivative and lazy, and simply rehashing what’s already worked before is an insult to the creative process.”

These aren’t our words, we should stress, but the words of Sir Nigel Bickleworth, one of the fictional hospital radio DJs from Two Point Hospital, who returns as a university radio host in Two Point Campus.

Unwittingly driving a bulldozer through the fourth wall, Sir Nigel spends his time in between songs explaining to listeners why sequels are never a good idea, ending with the obvious caveat that the only exception would be a sequel that includes him.

It’s a joke that not only hits well during the game, but one that shows the confidence of Two Point Studios in its ability to deliver on a successor to the critically acclaimed Hospital, in that it can openly joke about itself without fear of it being turned around and used as legitimate criticism.

It turns out that confidence isn’t misplaced, because Two Point Campus delivers a second helping of comedy-laced simulation gameplay, even if the new industry it deals with does strange things to the game’s difficulty curve.

As you may expect, the aim in Two Point Campus is to build a thriving university and ensure it remains profitable. As in Two Point Hospital, there’s a sandbox mode where it’s possible to just mess around, but the main meat of the game is in its campaign where players take on a series of universities and try to achieve set goals to ensure success.

Despite the change in sector from health to education, Two Point Campus is still similar enough at its core that Hospital players will be able to bring over their previous learnings to a degree. Swap doctors for teachers, patients for students and wards for dorms and you’ve got the same basic