• Site: RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked!
• Publisher: Aspyr
• Developer: Frontier Developments
• Genre: Simulation

By Brad Cook

On a warm day, there’s nothing your typical theme park patron enjoys more than a refreshing dip in a pool or a thrilling plunge down a water slide. The RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 expansion pack Soaked! offers all that and more, allowing you to design shows with killer whales and dolphins that perform tricks, install aquariums with all manner of sea life, and more. You can even use the Coaster Cam in the new RollerSoaker ride to drop water on unsuspecting peeps (RCT3’s word for patrons) below.

In addition to water slides, flume rides, and other water-based fun, Soaked! features a variety of new traditional rides, including death-defying roller coasters, nausea-inducing spinning rides, and variations on traditional favorites, such as one that replaces teacups with whirling Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. You’ll also find loudspeakers that let you pipe in music from other parts of the park, as well as machines that place stamps on passports peeps receive at the entrance, enabling them to win prizes.

The game’s MixMaster fireworks show creator has also been improved, giving you the opportunity to add water and laser displays to the entertainment. You can now preview effects before you implement them, and you can decide the exact angles of your lasers and water cannons, even going so far as to draw pictures on walls with the former. New scenery items, such as the clipper ship and the caught shark hanging from a scaffold, allow you to build new scenes that delight peeps of all ages. Two new themes, Paradise Island and Atlantis, group together all the new stuff so you can find it easily.

New Ways to Play

The career mode of Soaked! takes you through nine scenarios, each with three levels of difficulty. You’ll find the first three — Captain Blackheart’s Cove, Oasis of Fun, and Lost Atlantis — unlocked, with the locked scenarios becoming available as you complete the initial ones. You only need to worry about satisfying the lowest level of difficulty in one scenario to unlock the next one, but you can tackle the next two difficulty settings if you want to really test your theme park management skills.

While the scenarios give you parks with a few attractions already built and the terrain pre-generated, you can always enter sandbox mode if you want to start from scratch, with all the rides and other accouterments already researched and available. Here you can let your imagination run wild, shaping the terrain into hills and valleys while adding lakes and even waterfalls. A new tram, the water ferry, takes your peeps from one landlocked attraction to another, and new stalls sell inflatable items and bathing suits. Jumping fountains add fun to pathways, while water cannons let mischievous peeps spray each other.

Tunnels are also new to Soaked!, allowing you to take peeps underwater or through mountains, whether on foot or while riding a roller coaster. Aquariums also feature tunnels, giving peeps the thrill of seeing sharks, manta rays, and other creatures from a sea life point-of-view. In addition, it’s easier to create the elevated portions of building and scenery by binding a specific height to the Control key, so you can quickly join large roofs or platforms.

While creating swimming pools, you have many options available, including the ability to make them as big or as small as you want, with multiple levels and different themed changing rooms. Lounge chairs, showers, and spa pools help your visitors relax. Lifeguards give them peace of mind while diving boards and wave machines give them some extra thrills. Add different types of slides that deposit peeps in the pool and you really have the makings of a fun-filled day in the sun.

Explore to Your Heart’s Content

The original version of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 offered all manner of hidden secrets, and the Soaked! expansion pack doesn’t disappoint in that department either. Swirl your cursor around a swimming pool and then let go to see waves and whirlpools appear and swish the peeps around. Zoom the view until it’s underwater and then bring it to the surface — you’ll notice water droplets on your display, as if you took a real camera below water.

Don’t forget to explore the new graphics options, which include the effect of light refraction on underwater views and the reflection of the environment on the surface of moving water. Experiment to see what else you can find. And make sure you bring some sunblock.

Follow the Bouncing Ball. Notice the water drops that appear when something splashes close to the camera.

Of Dragons and Octopii. One of the new water-themed rides in the game.

Avast, Ye Scurvy Dogs! Pirate animatronics use fireworks to engage in a mock battle.

What Else is New?

Soaked! also offers plenty of little changes to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, such as: interface enhancements, including support for scrolling all vertical sliders with the mouse wheel; more options for tweaking graphics settings; a new shark costume for park entertainers to wear; and more scenery, rides, and themes options that reflect Soaked!’s water fun. In addition, a new VIPeep (Very Important Peep) named Bob Waterman may show up to judge what you’ve built, while the new statistic summaries give you a snapshot view of what your peeps (park patrons) think too.

If you liked this game, check out:

• Railroad Tycoon 3
• SimCity 4
• SimCity 4: Rush Hour
• Zoo Tycoon 2

System Requirements:

• Full version of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
• Mac OS X version 10.4.8
• 1GHz Intel or PowerPC G4 processor (1.2GHz recommended)
• 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)
• 32MB video RAM (64MB recommended)
• 400MB hard disk space