E-Mail This Article to a Friend Coasting along Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 is a little too true to life BY RYAN STEWART
	Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Published by Atari. Developed by Frontier Developments. For PC. Rated E for Everyone.

I've tried. I really have. But I just can't get into the "Sim" genre. I've spent hours on SimCity, SimCity 2000, SimEarth, SimLife, SimFarm, SimAnt, SimSandwich, even the much-ballyhooed The Sims, all to no avail. I even tried to play "Drug Wars" on my TI-83, only to find myself 20 minutes later so bored that I was actually doing math homework instead.

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, out now from Atari, does not carry the "Sim" brand name, but it might as well. It's the same concept: build something – in this case, an amusement park – watch built thing grow and accumulate money, use said money to build new, better thing. If you are a fan of the genre, I'm not going to hold it against you, but I will safely say you can probably disregard this review. You'll probably enjoy Roller Coaster Tycoon, particularly if you're also a fan of roller coasters, because (to be completely fair) the game has some good things going for it.

It comes down to this: for video games, I prefer escapism over verisimilitude. On one hand, it's mildly interesting to consider how many kiddie rides are appropriate to keep families showing up, or just how many food stands will satisfy the public. But really, why would I want to play a game about fielding complaints, acquiescing to said complaints in a timely manner, paying my bills on time, balancing my budget, and making big decisions about the cosmetic appearance of minutiae? That's my boring-ass rut of a life – I want to forget about it, not relive it under the guise of being a theme-park mogul. But that's just me. The people who enjoy this sort of thing will probably be my boss someday, so who's really losing out here?

To the game's credit, they've considered my dilemma and, in an attempt to remedy it, created the new Sandbox Mode. Sandbox Mode gives the user an unlimited amount of cash to build with. It enables you to try some fun, creative things, like building a park with no food kiosks and no restrooms, or a roller coaster with a 10-story drop and two corkscrew-style loops but zero access paths so the people can just sit and look at it. If you're just up for sitting and goofing, Sandbox Mode can be an entertaining way to kill 30 minutes. But that's about it. At some point, even I was wondering what the point was if my park wasn't making or losing money.

There are some other admittedly neat features other than new toys for your park. If your computer's video card supports it, you can take a ride on the Coaster Cam, which will simulate an actual ride on the coaster you have created. It looks great and adds a new feeling of accomplishment – not only can these simulated humans ride what you made, but you can, too. They've also unglued the camera so you can look at each different angle when building. You can also use this feature to zoom in and get a closer look at the goings-on at your park. And if you really want to make the park come alive, you can create your own fireworks display set to a song from your own MP3 collection. At the very least, it's a unique feature, but if you pick anything other than Journey for the song, you're insane.

Other than that, it's pretty much standard simulation. These features are interesting enough to please a fan of the genre who just can't micromanage enough, but I doubt they'll be enough to convert any skeptics.

Score: 6.0 (out of 10)