Rollercoaster Tycoon on IOS Disappoints

Rollercoaster Buffoon

RollerCoaster Tycoon for IOS has finally launched, and weeks of anticipation was destroyed by a horrendous pricing plan.  While the game play is still reminiscent of the original tycoon classic, the unfortunate micro transactions makes it incredibly hard to have this game take up valuable space on the iPad.

While freemium games have become the norm on mobile devices, very few of these style games include an entry price.  When logging onto the app store on iTunes, RollerCoaster Tycoon seems like a steal for only 2.99.  How could you go wrong: one of the best tycoon games was now mobile, and at a fraction of the cost of the PC games.  Well, the unfortunate reality is a lot has gone wrong.

Whether a greedy price grab or an attempt at lowering the initial cost, the wise people over at Atari have decided that they would use freemium tactics to increase revenue.  RollerCoaster Tycoon is now a game where premium currency is a must if you really want to play the game to its fullest.  If you want to build a custom coaster you must spend premium currency to complete it.  Sure, most things only cost coins which can be accrued by babysitting a variety of timers with different lengths and different coin values.  However, if you want a cool loop for you coaster, it will cost you premium currency.

If the pay-to-play model was the ultimate goal of Atari, then the disappointing thing is the cost of entry.  However, for most players the disappointment stems from having micro-transactions in the game in the first place.  Although players begin with a little bit of premium currency, charging for a game that should be free is incredibly disappointing.  If reviews around the web are any indication, players would have much rather spent 5.99 upfront; some even mentioned being willing to shell out 9.99.  I’m not sure anyone expected RollerCoaster Tycoon to work within this cash grab system.  It is truly disappointing.

The full GamesReviews review of Rollercoaster Tycoon will be coming soon.