Thrillville review

Simulation games are always a tricky proposition on consoles. The versatility of keyboard-and-mouse controls is hard to pull of on a gamepad, ergo some of the fun is often lost when the genre hits a console.

But the developers at Frontier Developments, the makers of the renowned Rollercoaster Tycoon games, are up to the task of bringing the heady fun of theme-park simulation to consoles. For the most part, they succeed; the game mechanics in Thrillville work and there's a great deal of variety in the game, even if business isn't totally booming.

ABOVE: This anticipation-building climb is a scene from the PS2 version.

In Thrillville, you are the heir of a theme-park empire. Your crazy uncle has charged you with helping him create the biggest and greatest theme parks in the country. In addition to the expected tasks of designing rides of managing your parks, you'll have to interact with patrons and play a wide variety of minigames. Actually, you don't have to hit up every aspect of the game. Between making rides, asset management, keeping patrons happy, and playing the minis, you can pick and choose the aspects you like and mostly ignore the others.