First Review is out: IGN gives RCT3 an 8.5

http://pc.ign.com/articles/561/561168p1.html

From the article:

"Yeah, there are some bugs and problems with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. Were they enough to stop my fun? Not really. They certainly can be frustrating at times. It's not particularly nice feeling helpless when none of your rides have any peeps in line and you have no idea why.

But when it comes to the creative aspect of the game, it's hard to find much fault. RCT3 will allow players to really get down and dirty and create some spectacular parks with a level of detail they're sure to love. The series has only gained in personality with the switch to 3D and the engine renders environments and rides beautifully."

So the summary is basically, "Sure, it doesn't really run right, but it's pretty so it's good"

Wow! I so lack the gamer mentality. I'm not sure I'd equate "bugs and problems" "frustrating" and "feeling helpless" with an 8.5

...and that article doesn't even really touch on the gazillion gameplay issues.

That's way too generous. The game isn't finished.

Well, my biggest fears have come to pass. Something I have said and expected since July. Frontier obviously was rushed by Atari and was forced to release something that was not finished. No wonder they have been so quiet since the game went gold...they've been still finishing it! That's an unacceptable business practice as far as I am concerned.

I will be interested to see what this "update" contains that the IGN reviewer mentioned.

As a comparison, I looked back at all of IGN's other ratings for RCT games:

RCT3 8.5
RCT2 8.0
Loopy Landscapes 8.2
Corkscrew Follies 7.0
RCT 8.5

Hmmm...yeah I don't think that this release equals the quality of the original RCT release. I agree, the review is not quite right. Not if it crashed to the desktop 5 or 6 times on the guy. That behavior would make it more like a 4 or 5 rating for me.

While I'm having a great time with it, and a lot can be done to create some interesting theme parks (as a whole) - there are many issues that are starting to emerge as I play it longer. For instance, the water-based rides look like they were the last to be programmed, and due to time constraints, they didn't bother personalizing the sound. Instead, we get standard coaster lift sounds, and no water/splash audio. It's very odd to come flying down a huge, water-filled hill, only to hear pretty much.. silence when you hit bottom.

The other thing is, the inverted impulse coaster choices, while wide, are restricted to the point that I can't find one that offers every option to do what I'd like. For example: Volcano at KD uses a forward launch, and BANKED curves, however, the only implus inv. in RCT3 that is able to launch "forward" from the station does not support banking. Yet, all the other coasters of this class that do support banking only have a reverse launch. Why couldn't all options be available on all coasters and let us choose what we want? And bring back the booster track that can be placed anywhere on coaster, not just the station.

We need one healthy mega-patch.

Don't know why IGN gave such a good review whe ntheir top complaints were numerous crashes, and many bugs and gltiches. Normally, a developer would be lucky to get a 4.0 if a game crashes constantly! Not sure what they are thinking. I would have never given an acceptable review if my game kept crashing and having bugs, regardless if Atari said there'd be a patch or not. Rushed games suck!

First off If I had a chance to rate this game I would probably give a 7.0 OR A 7.5 and I don't even have the game yet....I am really just basing it all the complaints and stories I have heard from everyone as well as the glitches and bugs. I don't think I can be a generous as IGN. With all the flaws and bugs and also the fact you can't save scenery with your track files with your coasters I would lean more to a 7.0!!!That alone is why we upload coasters!!! *** Edited 10/28/2004 12:42:10 PM UTC by Evolution***

This is the problem with computer games...

...it's rushed, plain & simple.

There was not enough play-test time to work thru all the bugs, so instead of taking the time to thourally finish the game & sending it out on time to retailers bug-free, they rush the game out so they can get the maximum sales before Christmas and say:
"The hell with it, we'll just release patches after the game's released. Everyone has internet access now!"

PRoblem is, it can severely backfire on them. It has with a number of other games. I'm assuming that they will think the game's name alone will carry it, so no matter how bug filled it is, people will buy it with the assumption that a patch will eventually fix it. They can sell RCT3 & fill it with dog-poo and it'll still sell.

I'm disappointed in Atari & Frontier for releasing a game with so many bugs. It should have been tested among all variety of computer systems, video cards, mother boards & chip sets to the point that it'll run w/out crashing. Crashing is most frustrating when you've been working 4hrs on a single park, not saving, and having it crash to your desktop. You just want to throw your computer out the window because that's 4hrs of your life wasted away for absolutely NOTHING!

To depend on patches is stupid. A patch will fix some bugs, but will it fix some of the inaccuracies with the rides? Will it fix the problem with water rides sounding like rollercoasters? With drop rides being completely sound-less? Launch speeds being inaccurate? Probably not, unless they do a major download update (v 1.12).

Will this stop me from purchasing the game? Probably not, but I'm going to wait until BestBuy, Circuity City, or CompUSA has a sale on the game because at full price, it's now deemed not worth it... and this is after playing the 60 minute full version (I highly doubt they made many fixes since that release).

Ladies and gentlemen, the Ironic Post of the Week.

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DawgByte II said:
This is the problem with computer games...
You just want to throw your computer out the window because that's 4hrs of your life wasted away for absolutely NOTHING!

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You mean, for a change? ;)

-CO

*** Edited 10/28/2004 2:01:09 PM UTC by CoastaPlaya***

IGN is on crack.

Even just screenshots that I've seen have convinced me that I do not want this game just yet. I might wait for an update or I might wait for a $20.00 price point.

Ship now-patch later is a fact of life folks. I can hardly think of a (A+) game that shipped basically bug free in recent years (with the exception of Doom3, and Id dont answer to no one is the reason why. You will likely see the same from Valve and HL2). You can place the blame squarely on Atari for this one. Frontier, i'm sure, wants only the best for it's baby. Three years of THIER LIVES on it and I dont think they want to throw it out the window either.

You'd think with all the time they had to develop the game, they'd have it as polished as possible, but I guess that was just wrong.

It's not going to stop me from buying it, but it will at full price, that's for sure.
With broadband connections & hard drives coming to game systems more & more... home consoles have started to pull this crap occassionally, and you'll see it more & more. Microsoft is not happy with that, and that's not what they wanted. X-Box wasn't made to be a PC where you just produce a half-assed game & release patches to fix up the bugs... but it's happened. I forgot what game it was, but the on-line gameplay was so bugged up, they had to release a patch shortly after it was released (I think it was ESPN NFL 2003 or 2004) to make the game work right.

You rush a product to get it on the shelf on time... and it can backfire if IGN & Gamespot both think it's crap... they have a lot of influence on gamers decision making, and I'm going to wait until at least Gamespot gives it a rating before I decide to fork over 30 or 40 beans.

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SLI_Fallen said:
Ship now-patch later is a fact of life folks.

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Nonsense! You can't patch console games, and the vast majority of them ship in perfect shape.

true, Jeff, but console games are exactly that. They don't have to worry about spending time trying to make their stuff work on (over) a million different possible system configurations

Many of the bugs we've talked about around here have nothing to do with system configurations. We're talking about game functions and game activities that are plain whacked!

Atari has also corrupted the console world with what seems like rushed quality gaming. Take a look at "Driv3r"!

Driv3r???

Take a look at The Matrix!! That was a disaster... but the name alone made it sell over 2 million copies despite a lot of major flaws... each different for X-Box, PS2, Gamecube AND PC.

Who's to blame? Atari, or Frontier?
Orrrrrrrr... Chris Sawyer for not being a little more active in participation?

As once again Chris Sawyer lives in a hole for not speaking up and helping put the best out of this game, then i think there would be alot less flaws. He should of had alot of say they redevelped his game RCT into a 3D with more to offer.

Man i was so hyped up when i first heard about this game. Now i am so dissapointed. After hearing all the complaints from this game i am skeptical about buying it. I have a question for poeple who have the game. if you just build rollercoasters and don't really get into the senarios is the game still bad. The one reason i bought rct in the first place was to build rollercoaster not parks. Is the game worth it then?

I hate to say it, but no.

The coasters are just as flawed, screwed up, incorrect and non-working as anything in the game.

It's strange how the demo, we found some bugs, but was able to look past that & was still really getting excited about the game...

fast forward 1 month later, and now that it's out & little has changed with the demo, everybody's perception on the game has changed from total excitement to just plain pissed off.

Man, and I remember the time in May before the parks even opened that everyone was lookin' forward to this game for the fall season.
Now that it's out... shall we all go back to RCT2? :)