Planet Coaster 2 review: "Challenging, but at times frustratingly convoluted"

When Avril Lavigne sang "why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?" in 2002, she was gazing into a crystal ball, watching a future version of herself trying to install a water treatment system in Planet Coaster 2.

A follow-up to one of the greatest theme park building sims ever made, Planet Coaster 2 introduces water parks, new themes, and cross-platform collaborative play with varying degrees of success. 

It shines in the visual department. Water sparkles next to the vibrant colours of water slides, representing those impossibly bright summer days that only exist when you’re stuck inside the office. Be warned: the vivid blues and sunshine yellows of Planet Coaster 2 will make you yearn for a summer holiday.

The ride creation tools are just as robust as its predecessor, featuring new elements like switch / drop tracks and an improved Smoothing tool to make the angles of your rides less janky. Roller coaster enthusiasts will be excited by the impressively accurate detail of the coaster models, with each track design and element staying 100% faithful to their real-life counterparts. But that same authenticity and depth can be a detractor when it comes to the management simulation side of things. 

The specifics of theme park infrastructure feel interruptive when playing in Career mode – too often there’s a managerial setback relating to electrical grids, pipes, and pumps that grinds the flow of fun to a halt. In this respect, Planet Coaster 2 provides an intricate level of realism at the cost of enjoyment.

Building a career

Every pool, slide, or roller coaster you build comes with a whole host of configurative requirements to get it running, which in turn require regular maintenance from your technicians. If exhaustiveness is the barometer of a worthy management simulator, then Planet Coaster 2 certainly hits the mark when played in Career mode. 

A grievance from the previous game that desperately needed change is path building. In Planet Coaster, it was all too easy to accidentally trap guests with mislaid paths, and unfortunately that’s still the case in Planet Coaster 2. While there is a lock-on mechanic for pathways and ride entrances to prevent such mishaps, it is easy to get wrong.

In comparison to the simplicity of earlier Roller Coaster Tycoon games, the intricacies of Planet Coaster 2's path systems feel like a step backward. Creating a pathway only a millimetre off leads to guests being unable to reach the entrance of certain rides, leaving both guests and the player frustrated. Endless possibilities are great, but it can wreak havoc when trying to actually create the pathways and scenery that you're imagining in your head.

The biggest change in Planet Coaster 2 comes in the form of water parks. An array of pools, flumes, water slides, and water coasters are available to build as an add-on to your theme park. Pools are created easily with a stamp grid system and can be customised to fit neatly into your chosen park area; which is surprisingly satisfying when it all comes together.

Much like a roller coaster, the water slides are constructed segment by segment; but unlike a roller coaster the physics of waterslides require a different way of thinking. The towering height, over banked curves, and steep drops that make for a brilliant coaster design make for an absolute death trap in slide form. 

Building the most exciting water slide of your dreams and building one that pleases guests is a tightrope walk filled with compromise. A pattern emerges of spending hours creating a slide only for guests to find it too intense, followed by staring with disappointment at the final toned-down creation that hits all the guest criteria. It’s deflating to be punished for building big in a game centred upon creating thrilling attractions.

Get creative

In-depth customization is the beating heart of Planet Coaster 2, a vast array of creative options for colour and scenery bleeds into everything you build – from the slides and the rides to the tiling around the edge of your pool. The days of being confined to a preset theme are over, as every little park detail can be edited using tools like the Scenery Brush to create a bespoke overarching aesthetic. The addition of the Event Sequencer for special effects during rides is a nice touch too, giving the choice to enhance experiences with water jets and lasers. 

Planet Coaster 2 features several modes: the standard Career mode, a Franchise mode where the aim is to build a global network of parks, and a Sandbox mode that lets you do whatever you please. While the Career mode offers narrative-driven challenges that sometimes feel like a chore, fun comes in the form of Sandbox mode.

It’s delightful to unleash your imagination and build whatever you want in Sandbox without financial restraint or guest expectations. Constructing massive roller coasters with show-stopping elements is the highlight of Planet Coaster 2, just as it was in Planet Coaster. 

In this respect, while Planet Coaster 2 is undoubtedly an ambitious sequel, it expands sideways more than upwards upon the foundation laid by its predecessor. The graphics are stunning, and the creative potential is immense, but it comes at a cost. The complexity of systems can detract from the fun, especially for those who want to focus on creativity rather than micromanagement.

The deeply customizable experience may be more than some players bargained for. For experienced players ready to navigate the intricacies of park infrastructure, the payoff can be rewarding; for others, the game may feel like a beautiful maze – challenging, but at times, frustratingly convoluted.

Looking for more? Take a look at out best sims games for everything from city builders to, well, The Sims.