Thrillville: Off the Rails is an interesting mix of the classic Theme Park series and the Rollercoaster Tycoon games with some wacky minigames thrown in for good measure. But instead of focusing on the business side of things, Thrillville is more concerned with the experience of creating an aesthetically pleasing and fun amusement park. You start out by designing a character that will act as your avatar, allowing you to traverse the park and initiate activities and tasks. Talking to park guests is your primary method of finding out how your park is doing - they'll tell you if there aren't enough bathrooms or they think a particular ride sucks - then of course it's up to you to take action. You can also choose to ride rides and play minigames which entail such things as a Rock 'em Sock 'em robot battle or bumper cars. But rollercoaster building is really the heart of the game. The tools and options for constructing your own rides are extensive and the mechanism for the actual design and building is fairly intuitive, though it may take a little time to get used to the directional orientation of the controls. Luckily the game comes with some prebuilt rides which you can alter, as well as a function that will complete your coaster automatically if you get stuck. If you like amusement park simulators but are sick of micromanagement, Thrillville is sure to deliver.
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