Story: You have been left a fortune by a resently deseased eccentric aunt. But there is a catch. In the will it states that you must use the money to build the largest and most profitable theme park in the world.

This is done by buying a plot of land and placing rides and attractions in it to keep your punters happy. New rides and stalls can be gained by research and other things must be taken into consideration too such as ordering new stock, buying shares and hiring staff to work in your theme park.

Once you have created a sucessful park you can sell it in an auction for a profit and move into a new location. There are around twenty different sites all around the world that are just waiting for a fun theme park.

Rating = N/A

Graphics: This is a colourful game that uses a fun, cartoon style to portray your theme park. The rides are very detailed and each one has a character and feel of it's own. The ride animations are also smooth and quirky. The people themselves are also well drawn. There are loads of different types of them and loads of them can be on screen at once.

This game is a good example of how powerful the system can be with 2D graphics. There are hundreds of people going around your park at the same time with only a small amount of slow down.

Rating = 8/10

Sound: The sound on this game is a mixed bag. There is no title soundtrack and only a handful of sound effects thoughout the whole game which are weak and disappointing.

However each ride does have its own soundtrack which plays when you are close to it. The only problems with them are that the soundtracks can become very annoying and tedious quite quickly and when moving from one ride to another it can take a while for the soundtrack to change.

On the whole I'd say that the sound in this game is disappointing.

Rating = 6/10

Controls: Despite the Jaguar joypads being quite unwieldy and a bit weird they suit this type of game very well. The A and B buttons are for cancelling and selecting, respectively, while the C button brings up the main menu. The clever part is using the numeric keypad to select the sub-menus without having to navigate through the main menu.

The only problem is that the response time is a bit slow and it can be quite hard to pick out a member of staff in a crowd.

Rating = 8/10

Playability: For a while this game is great. There is enough content in here to keep you occupied for quite a while and there is always something to do in the park. Whether it is to hire more entertainers or to build a rollercoaster track. It never seems to get be too much either unlike Theme Hospital which can leave you with too much to do at once. There are also loads of different park layouts that you can try if you just use your imagination.

The only real problem is that there comes a point after building several parks where I felt I had seen all this game has to offer. The whole process of buying a park, building it and selling it can become quite tedious after a while and when it did I stopped playing it.

Rating = 7/10

Value for money: If you buy this game you will spend the first few weeks playing it solidly. Once you make some money out of selling your first park more options are open to you and then you can really start to enjoy creating a huge theme park.

It is also suitable for young children too. There is a sandbox mode that is a scaled down version of the full game that can teach them the basics of budgeting their money and running their own buisiness.

Again the only problem being that the game can get quite boring after repeating the same process over and over again. I do feel the urge however, every now and again, to create another park so I still play it occasionally.

Rating = 7/10

Rarity: I bought this game for £7.99, sealed, in Game a few years back. Quite a good price for a brand new one I think. To find one now the best place to look is on ebay. This game is quite common and a good copy (maybe even a sealed one) usually goes for around £10. There are usualyy about 2 - 3 copies on at a time.

As for shops not that many places have Jaguar systems or games and when they doo they can be a little overpriced and they most likely will be second hand.

Rating = N/A

Overall: Out of all the versions of Theme Park that I have played this has to be my favorite. It is well worth getting as it is cheap, common and fun to play. Just be warned that it can geta little bit dull after a while but it is a game that you will find yourself going back to after a few months.

Rating = 7/10