Review – Planet Coaster Console Edition

With thanks to the folks at Frontier Developments, today I’m taking on some coasters, designing some new store-fronts and taking a leap into the new release with Planet Coaster Console Edition. You can find our full video review just below, or keep reading for the extended written review, where we’ve been playing the title here on Xbox Series X

The Basics

Planet Coaster first released back in 2016 over on PC, and I’ve been waiting a fair old time for it to head over here to console. Available now on the current and last-generation consoles, Planet Coaster is a solid park management sim, with well optimised controls and a fair bang for your buck, with a lot to be getting on with.

Here on console we’ve got all of the base game content from over on PC, including the campaign, challenge modes and sandbox maps available right from the beginning. You’ll be building coasters, managing staff, shops and scenery and essentially building the park of your dreams. You’ll also need to make the guests happy, of course, as they’re the ones bringing the cash into your fully-fledged park of wonders.

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a scenery whizz, you’ll also be able to make blueprints from your unique creations, and upload these to the Frontier Workshop. Whether you’re creating pirate shops, fairytale castles or anything else, you can save your creations for use in your other parks as well as for other players to download and use in theirs.

There are a few park limits here on console which aren’t in place on PC. In order to assure smooth running, this is a little more limited on the older platforms, but you can still make a decent size park with a fair amount of customisation and scenery, before you hit the limits. On the Xbox Series X, I’ve not found the limits to be a problem at all, something which I was a little worried about before I moved up to the new platform.

Parent’s Eye View

Planet Coaster Console Edition is rated by PEGI at 3 and above, and by the ESRB at E for Everyone. With these low ratings you’ve probably guessed that there’s no troubling content in the title, and you’d certainly be right. The only concern we may have is that things might get a little tricky for really young players, but outside that this one is family friendly fun

Accessibility

In terms of accessibility Planet Coaster Console Edition is picking up a rating of moderate. There is a lot to be getting your teeth into, but there are a number of different difficulty modes here to allow for gameplay at all levels, and as is usually the case with Frontier, the console controllers have been optimised beautifully.

While the title includes in depth management of your parks, I’ve found it to be one that is pretty intuitive, and you can jump in and out as you like quite easily. There’s always something to do when you find time, but this is one you don’t have to dedicate your life to to find happiness

The Run Down

Visuals – Great: Pleasantly surprised here on Xbox Series X with a strong performance and I’ve been getting some decent sized parks without any lag of visual issues. Park limits do fill up faster on the last generation, but I’ve still found I’m able to create good parks, with a fair amount of rides and customisations

Audio – Great: Having played on PC for some time I knew what was coming here, but the console version doesn’t disappoint. The soundtrack is amazing and voice acting is absolutely on point. Full marks to the sound folks, and you’ll be glad to know that the soundtrack, you me and gravity, is available on spotify

Narrative – Good: Not a bad showing for narrative here, and you do have a flowing story of sorts told through well voice acted segments. It’s not as in depth as some management titles I’ve played recently, but it’s more than I expected when I first picked up the title and provides some nice challenges and objectives

Replay – Great: Replay is absolutely cracking here. As well as having a campaign mode and challenge mode there’s a sandbox available from the start. There’s also the Frontier Workshop, where you can create blueprints for storefronts using a substantial number of creative elements, to make them available for other players or just save them for use in your own parks.

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The Verdict

Overall the Pixel Bandits Here’s Beefy Level for Planet Coaster Console Edition is Grab It!. This is one which I have been waiting for for some time, and I’m really happy to see it’s been optimised pretty darn well. Controls feel good, visuals are cracking, and it has all the spirit of the original PC edition wrapped up for us console gamers.

I’ve been spending far too long creating custom buildings, but this is another great title where you’ll get a lot out of it if you put it in. It’s a cracking little pick up and play park management title which is at least enjoyable, and at most an obsession