
On top of tutorials and an expansive sandbox, Frontier Workshop integration means that there'll be player-made content too, further expanding the range of things you can do. While there is a lot to take in and process, the path forward was never too obscured and the characterful narration not only kept me on track but it also helped to firmly establish the overall playful mood.įrontier knows what it's doing when it comes to tycoon games, and Planet Coaster is a friendly and engaging entry in the genre. The whole UI has been overhauled for this console port, with quick access panels and radial menus that make some of the more complicated actions easy to initiate. Not only was this introduction to the game personable and lighthearted, but it also helped give me a sense of the core gameplay elements that I needed to focus on.
WHEN DOES PLANET COASTER COME OUT SERIES
Potential camera quirks aside, the rest of the game seemed logically laid out, with a series of characters joining you to dispense wisdom and set you mini targets. The rushed nature of the demo didn't help either Planet Coaster is the kind of game you should sink into over hours and hours, not try in a hurried burst over a remote connection.
WHEN DOES PLANET COASTER COME OUT PC
At this stage, I'm prepared to give Frontier's UI designers the benefit of the doubt and lay the blame squarely at the door of this old PC strategy gamer. In fact, playing on a controller meant I struggled to get the hang of the camera at first, and on a couple of occasions I found myself staring at the back of a wall or some trees after some sloppy zooming or panning. Sadly, I didn't get to see the new camera mode that lets you build from the perspective of the track. Once I had got going, sculpting the landscape and dropping items where I wanted them felt intuitive, and I understood what I needed to do straight away, despite limited personal experience playing these kinds of games on a console before (I've played a bit of Zoo Tycoon with my son on Xbox, but that's about it). Planet Coaster gives you the tools to put things where you want, connecting new rides to your existing infrastructure with ease. That means more, bigger rides to please the crowds. Underneath the cheery, cartoonish veneer is a tycoon game where players must balance the needs of parkgoers against the bottom line, making enough profit to justify continued expansion. Planet Coaster might be part of a relatively new IP, but Frontier's expertise in this area is extensive. Ahead of launch, as part of a recent showcase event, I was able to get my hands on a short demo. Next to Elite, the Planet series is the other headline act in the company's lineup, and it's the new Console Edition of Planet Coaster, the first entry in the series, that is being ported first. Now the studio has evolved into a publisher, it's taking on big licensed games (Jurassic World, F1), and it has a healthy stable of independently-owned homegrown IP. Perhaps I'm oversimplifying things, but there's an argument that you could chart the studio's current trajectory from the launch of Elite: Dangerous on Kickstarter, a move that helped the developer find the wriggle room needed to grow on its own. Frontier Developments' rise has been gathering pace of late.
