Planet Coaster 2 review — The park builder of my dreams

My world is chaos. Work is crazy, review season is insane, and some days it feels like you’ll never catch up. These moments have an instant remedy, and that’s rollercoasters. We have Six Flags over in Texas, but it’s a plane ride and a lot of planning to hit Disney/Universal, so virtual coasters have to suffice. There were a few competitors, but 2016 only had one king – Planet Coaster. Hundreds of parks, custom coasters, and more flat rides than you can shake a corndog at, and it’s finally time to see what Frontier has in store for us in a sequel.

It’d be easy to look at Planet Coaster 2 on the surface and wonder why it’s not a “wet and wild” expansion to the original game, but you’d be missing a lot of improvements that make a huge impact, as well as a ton of new features. In the intervening time between Planet Coaster and this sequel, the team has picked up lots of skills and features from the likes of Planet Zoo, Jurassic World Evolution, and the various expansions for those games. Let’s dig into the new goodies – pull down your lap bar, there’s a lot.

Naturally we’re running towards the coaster at rope-drop, and there are a lot of them. I’ll refer you to this thread at the official forums for the comprehensive list (thank you to volunteer moderator Vampiro for his hard work!) Dive, giga, inverted 2 and 4 seaters, flying, multiple launch systems, looping, suspended, wooden, and even the “I need to ride this in my lifetime” X-Dimension coaster. You can also use switch and drop tracks, not unlike the ones used on Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and the upcoming Circuit Breaker at Cotaland in Austin, Texas, respectively.

With nearly 100 coasters, almost 80 flat rides, over 30 tracked rides, and almost 40 shops at launch, there’s no doubt you can build an incredible park. Of course, you can expand this dramatically by simply visiting the Workshop – there’s already a giant Peter Griffin head with an open mouth to use as a park entrance to download, so things are off to a great start.

Beyond the extensive land-based coaster creations, you’ll also have a number of water rides like log flumes, pools, and yes – even water coasters. Flumes provide the same infinite possibilities that coasters do, as it uses a very similar system. You can put in twists, turns, change the tube type (open top, closed transparent, etc.), and even put in special things like a Super Crater Bowl, Trapdoor Kamikaze, or have it just drop off into a pool. We’ll get into pools a bit more, but suffice it to say there’s a whole new way to play just in this one new feature.

One of the things I was happy to see make its way from being a simple add-on to a full on feature is the Event Sequencer. On coasters and water rides you’ll find a tab for an Event Sequencer, making it easier than ever to set up whatever sort of fire pot, sparkle launcher, light flash, or whatever else you want to happen at a specific time. It adds to the overall prestige of the ride, sure, but who doesn’t love 6 foot flames every time a rider goes down a simple 6 foot flume that just drops them in the pool?

Everything in Planet Coaster and Planet Coaster 2 are constructed of various bits. Buildings are dozens if not hundreds of intersecting shapes and creators have taken those shapes to make things well beyond my imagination. These are all shared in the shop (and continue to be in this sequel), but now you can take this concept and combine it with your rides. If you like a particular theme element (a clam shell, a unicorn from a statue, etc.), you can scale it down and put it wherever you want. Want that unicorn on the hood of every car on your coaster? Done. Want it on both sides of the cars? Click the new toggle to enable symmetry and lock ‘em where you want them. Duplicate it to all the cards? Click, done. Pretty much any element of the game can be disassembled into its component parts, or shrunk as a single unit and used elsewhere like a stamp. Being able to scale up a flat ride to 500% only to steal the dolphin bit out of it to use as a decoration elsewhere is the “find a way to yes” where the game that really shines. And yes – since you can use scenery in the same way, you can make the Hippymobile by having covered a coaster in trees, speaking from experience.

One of the things I really appreciate about Planet Coaster 2 is that they’ve leaned into the theming, hard. Something as simple as a themed changing room has small details like overhead lighting, aluminum siding, oars and crates, fishing gear, and more. There’s even a little bit of rusty patina on the building. It looks like it could have dropped directly from the old Amity set for the Jaws ride (R.I.P.) at Universal Studios. Even basic flat rides have incredible theming, but that’s not where the fun ends.

If covering your coasters in foliage isn’t your jam, there are four new themes, as well as the original Planet Coaster themes. Mythology, Resort, Aquatic, and Viking buildings let you build out some awesome themed areas, and if I know the Frontier team, we’ll be seeing a whole lot more going forward. Heading back into the Workshop, I’ve already found an Itchy and Scratchy restaurant to add to my mix.

In addition to the tools in the original (called classic paths here), you can now use a variety of options to expand or change your paths with ease. It also allows for the creation of pavilion-style spaces like a food court, and your guests will happily and properly use that space. I asked the Frontier team if it’s possible to simply pave over the entire park and the answer was surprisingly yes. It’d be grossly inefficient in execution, but your peeps will understand the path under their feet. You can also use these tools to create negative spaces. Not unlike the push/pull/flatten system in the terrain builder, you can build a path, then use the stamp tool to cut a geometric shape out of the center. Put a few benches and flower pots around that new circle and you have a quick centerpiece location for a statue or fountain – easy! You see a lot of these same sets of tool adjustments when it comes to the creation of pools, so we’ll be coming back to this.

One of the most frustrating parts of building a park or new ride path is that you occasionally would accidentally create a strange gap or seam and not be able to seal it. This new pathing system for Planet Coaster 2 is vastly improved, and there are a ton of new stamps, shapes, and drawing tools to combat the problem, but sometimes it just doesn’t work the way it should. Sometimes your folks will just “rat-king” themselves into a spot, growing in size until it ruins the park. People can’t spend money or ride rides if they can’t leave the people-vortex. I mostly see this occur on pre-laid paths in the Career mode, but it does happen in the sandbox, just not as often.

This pathing issue can also manifest itself when placing brand new paths. Connecting a few adjacent stores, but placing the path at an angle to go back to the main thoroughfare, the path tool just decided to drop a solid gate in there, cutting off two of the four stores. Deleting the path and trying again made it worse, putting more gates in the way. Eventually I just declared that it wasn’t worth it, removing the two offending stores, abandoning the thought of lining up the Viking theme areas with pre-cut spaces and just throwing it down adjacent to the walkway with a straight path.

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I have run into a handful of issues at launch where pre-built pathing in the career mode that would otherwise work suddenly becomes inexplicably messed up. Folks would congregate and march in a circle like they should be holding picket signs. Dropping a small path under their feet gets them broken up and back to spending money in my park, allowing me to CTRL-Z undo the path to solve the issue. The team is working on improving the feedback to know when this occurs, so you can either prevent it from happening, or solve it when it does.

Putting in a pool is very similar to putting in a path. You can draw them one line at a time, making tidy little squares, or you can get fancy and use shapes, draw complex angular designs, round out a traditional kidney style, or anything in between. You can switch path types to curves, select if you want to auto-build a path around the pool, punch the depth in deeper from a swimming pool to a diving one, snap angles, and much more. While there were a lot of challenges with anything that punches through the surface in games like Jurassic World (hello Mr. Mosasaur!), you’ve got a complete physics-driven pool engine under the hood for Planet Coaster 2.

If you are building a water park, you’ll be happy to know that you have a few new ways to extract cash from your guests. New building types including changing rooms, new pool-themed gifts like floaties and pool noodles, and drying machines can be charged for, or you can push your numbers by making them free, but you’ll need to plan out your space to ensure you’ve got these items near the pool where they’d be used.

In addition to access, your guests will also have a new need to satisfy. While the lifeguards will keep you safe, that won’t save you from the sun. Now that the game has a dynamic weather system, you can sell your walking wallets sunscreen, sunshades, umbrellas and more. Sure, you could also put in foliage to help shield them from the sun, but where’s the profit in that?

While we are talking about water, let’s talk a bit more about the log flume. Anywhere you’ve got water you can place one of the pre-built flumes, or build your own. Taking a page out of the coaster builder, you simply place a platform, and then you can assemble it piece by piece. There are 10 different flume types to start, and plenty of ways to enhance that flume into something awesome. Want an inversion? You can do that! Corkscrews? Those are fun. A spinning bowl flush that drops into the pool? There ya go. As you build, your flumes pick up supports that are intuitive and smart, either stacking them underneath, or adhering to the central pillar underneath. They look fantastic and realistically support your flumes. I was surprised to see that you can connect multiple flumes to the same central staircase. Your guests will get to the top and then decide which flume they’d like to ride. It’s a great space saver, but also more realistic to something you’d see at a Hurricane Harbor or similar parks.

Once your flumes are complete, then just like coasters, you’ll have to account for fun, fear, and safety. Adjusting the slickness of the tube for banking, height, turns, forward, or backward flow will help keep your guests from breaking their lil necks. Failing that, they could hit the water and immediately panic. That’s where your lifeguards come in.

A new addition to your staff, you now have to hire lifeguards to keep an eye on your pool. They have a cone of visibility, covering a good deal of space, but oddly shaped pools might require a second one for adequate coverage. Without a lifeguard, your guests won’t feel safe, and they may panic in the water. I don’t think they can actually drown, but that panic is catchy – keep your guests happy by keeping them safe. They’ll spend more.

Speaking of reducing friction, your rides all have the ability to automatically hire the appropriate ride attendance once you open it for service. Whether it’s a Sushi stand, a water slide, or a giant Ferris wheel, somebody’s gotta mind the store, and now that’s a little bit easier. Just like janitors, mechanics, and teenagers in mascot costumes, you can designate zones for them to adhere to, ensuring your items have appropriate coverage.

At its core, Planet Coaster, and now its sequel, is a simulation engine. The people in it are really what you’re playing, using the elements of the park to satisfy their various needs. To help with that, the guests now have a complete panel showing needs, any ailments they might have, their wants, if they’re part of a group and what their collective feelings might be about the park and rides in general. It’ll also show their dietary restrictions (you can, and should, serve your vegan customers!), how much money they’ve spent, what queues they’ve hit or missed, and much more. It’s a great way to see a microcosm of your larger park – a family or a group of friends, and their reaction to their current surroundings.

To further expand the simulation, you’ll now need to ensure you generate power and then distribute that juice to the various rides and elements in the park. It’s a simplified system where you merely place a generator or solar panels, and then connect them. You’ll have to mind how much power you’re drawing, but it’s not a complex engine. There is, however, a refinement of a system connected to the power, water, and overall health of your park that can affect every structure with a moving part. If your mechanics aren’t quite getting the job done maintaining your rides and supporting equipment, they will begin to show signs of wear and tear. Similarly, this will reduce the overall effectiveness of that item, meaning it’ll have a penalty to power use, forcing you to generate even more power to meet the need. If you’re running tight on power or filtration, this can create issues for you, so a little slack might be in order.

I did run into another element that was a bit of a mystery. There is something called a “Service Badge” that apparently acts as a warranty or something for the rides. I get notifications that such and such device has an “Expired Service Badge”, even when a ride is sitting at 100% repair. I’m not sure precisely what it does, or how to renew it, or even where, so I can’t tell you what to do to fix it.

Another additional element in the simulation is a full day/night cycle. Planet Coaster 2 now has a full 24 hour clock system. Tied with the day/light cycle, you can now define a “day” so your guests show up in the morning and leave when the park closes. It bumps up the realism, but it’s entirely optional.

Getting a closer look at your park has never been easier. Another new feature is a first person view. We’ve always had the ability to ride our coasters in first person to see what it’s like, but now you can do the same thing by simply clicking the camera button in your control panel. This allows the camera to unlock and fly around the environment. If you are a machinima type, or you just want to make cool promo vids for your park, now you can do exactly that. Given how much detail the fantastic art team has pushed into every inch of this game, it’s great to get up close and personal.

In addition to the improved graphics, the animatronics for Planet Coaster 2 have gotten some attention. Now we see them perform multiple actions that you can set to the triggers I mentioned before. In one of the pre-launch trailers (and in one of your first Campaign parks) you’ll find a Medusa coiled around a column. As the riders approach she faces them, but then turns again to point outwards as the coaster. In the most recent trailer, they’ve freed the gorgon from her perch and wrapped her around the main support arm of a flat ride. The only limit to how you use these animations and elements is truly your imagination.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that, yes, the game supports controllers. It not only supports them, it supports them extraordinarily well. The most-used stuff is always just a tap away, and even the multi-tier options like digging into little doodads to decorate aren’t hard to reach. It’s clear, with this title also releasing on console, that a great deal of care and feeding went into the control systems for those platforms. If you are so inclined, you can even access some of the wheel-based stuff on PC – you do you.

The career is a lot of fun, and the voice work is charming as ever. There are almost two dozen scenarios spread across four chapters that ask you to step in and build parks. Shocking, I know! Kidding aside, you’ll also be asked to step into parks that went out of business for various reasons, or others that have simply fallen to disrepair. Charming as they are, it’s that last one that gave me the most trouble.

While the careers are fun, and they act as a long-form tutorial to teach you all of the various interconnected systems in the game, the “rebuild this lost coaster-based civilization we uncovered” scenario was just an exercise in frustration. Some parts of the coaster you can build on, others you can’t. If you’ve ever tried to build a coaster from the middle, you get where this is headed. Alignment, tweaks to the overall ride stats, and just being able to complete the thing quickly becomes tedious. One scenario wants you to extend the ride a bit, but rather than making something cool, I just added a long runout as my patience itself had long run out.

Staff scheduling is still a brick wall for me. Yes, I understand the system for painting coverage areas, and the work preferences and tasks and all that is easy enough, but I still fail to grasp the point. Yes, it’s going to keep a few dollars in your pocket, but it’s still wildly more efficient to just overhire. You’ll see the note that folks are just wandering around with little to do, but I find my time is better spent making cool rides that make more money than trying to save the little bit of cash I pay a few extra staff. That said, when I do run into a scheduling issue and I hire somebody additional, it’d be nice to be able to have them recognize that the ride I just dropped them next to needs somebody to run it, or better yet, be able to drop them directly on the ride to make that point.

In terms of presentation, Planet Coaster 2 knocks it out of the park. People bounce around in the swimming pool, jostled by the wave generators. Zooming in on literally anything reveals textures, bumps, tile seams, people puking, flickering lights, and every leaf and blade of grass. Simulations that operate at height don’t normally provide this level of detail, but the team at Frontier have really outdone themselves here. They’ve preserved the cute art style from the first game, but injected even more detail than before.

In terms of performance, it’s impressive what the team has accomplished. Of course, on a bleeding edge rig you’ll see 90fps at 4K, but that’s forcing the lever a bit. I was surprised to see that the game also operated just fine on a 2080, able to reach into the 70s at 1080p without the aid of any upsampling. FSR (or FidelityX Super Resolution) in general works well, as does Frame Gen for 4000 series NVIDIA cards, in many cases doubling framerate. That said, there is a bit of shimmering and ghosting occurring, occasionally making your objects look like the “mouse tails” cursor from the 90s. That said, if that’s the price of admission to run this on gear from 2018, that’s a pretty cheap ticket.

I’ve not had the chance to dive in, but you do have the ability to visit the parks your friends have made, and coming soon, you’ll even be able to build a park together!  We’ll talk about that when that feature launches, but here’s a quick overview:

I did run into an issue on all of my test machines where leaving a menu up while scrolling can occasionally cause a bit of a stutter. I’m not sure what’s being calculated in the simulation when that occurs, but it’s pretty pronounced when it happens. Thankfully, that’s easily avoided, but something the team will have to figure out post-launch.

The research system is an addition to the overall simulation engine, albeit one that is a bit simple. You plunk down a building, hire a minion to staff it, and then forget about it. Points will accumulate that you can then eventually spend on a new type of ride. These then instantly appear in your build menu, and off you go. If you want to make the number go up faster, just add another box and a body to man it. I’d have liked to have seen a more robust system here, maybe tied to milestones or something similar, rather than simply being locked behind chapter progress which feels artificial and arbitrary.

Frankly, I’ve already said enough about Planet Coaster 2’s improvements that this review is likely too long to read without stopping for a Gulpee slushy break, but frankly I think you get the point. There are a handful of hiccups with the usual suspects – pathing, UI elements, non-explained mechanics, etc, but even their combined elements can’t overcome just how absolutely awesome this game is to its very core. Planet Coaster 2 is pure addiction for me. It goes against every fiber in my being to say that I’m excited to see more DLC to expand my parks and make them even better. Planet Coaster 2 is far more than a pools and flumes expansion. It’s already the ultimate park builder out there, even with these final few bugs, but smoothing out the last few bits will make it pure addiction.

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