Demos are free, well demos of games designed to get you interested (or addicted) to a game, so that you'll buy it. Most of the games that I've bought were because of demos. To aid you sort though the thousands of demos available on the web, I've started doing reviews of all the demos I play.

Screenshots:

A screenshot from the Diamond heights scenario in the demo. I don't think i can think of anything more fun, except maybe riding the rides...

Images like this can really bring back anybody to memories of playing with toy trains. That was alot of fun, coincidentally, just like this demo.

Install information:

The install went without a hitch.

Errors:

I've played this demo almost to death, so I'm pretty sure I've seen all the errors to be seen with my machine anyhow. The only error that I've received is were the whole game goes distorted, and this happens extremely rarely, I've only encountered it two or three times. I doubt you'll encounter it at all. This demo is virtually bug-free, which is rare these days, as alot of companies seem to be releasing demos with buggy pre-release code.

Gameplay:

The gameplay in this demo is also very good. Three different scenario's are included, which is above average these days. Basically you run a amusement park, while managing money, building rides and trying to achieve the scenario's objectives. You have to research rides, but you can't choose a specific technology to research, you simply choose one or several areas to research in. The demo has a time limit, which means you won't be able to finish a scenario, but get a good idea what you do.

The first scenario is called "Forest Frontiers" It basically an empty map, with a couple of trees on the edges. It's good to start off, because it's much easier to learn how to build roller coasters on empty terrain. There's some land down towards and including a lake that you can buy, if you want to.

The second scenario is called "Diamond Heights." It's an existing amusement park, but it need your help to, you guessed it, improve it.

The third and final scenario included in the demo is "Evergreen Gardens." It's a beautiful award winning garden, but since garden's don't make much money, you've been brought in to convert it into a money making amusement park. Try to avoid destroying to much of the existing gardens.

Graphics:

The graphics in this demo are superb. There's a couple of glitches though, sometimes some objets appear above or below objets that shouldn't. The graphics are 256 color, 2D sprites, so this means the game will run well on almost every system out there, and still look good.

Performance:

Due to the fact that the game uses 256 color the game is almost guaranteed to run fast. I didn't encounter any freezes, or sections of the game which ran slowly. I tested the demo on a P200, 64 megs ram.

Minimum system requirements:

Pentium 90 CPU
Windows 95/98
16 MB RAM
4X CD ROM DRIVE
at least 55MB free hard drive space (file is 19.5 megs to download)
1 MB SVGA card
Windows 95 compatible Sound Card
DirectX 5.0
Mouse

Difficulty:

It takes a while to learn all the significant features in the game, (45mins-2hrs). But after that, playing the game's a breeze. I recommend you learn how to build rides in Forest Frontiers before trying the other two scenario's.

Tips/Walkthrough:

-Learn how to build coasters in "Forest Frontiers" and move on from there.

-(I don't recommend this...) There is a trainer available for the demo. It gives you unlimited money, and adds 20 minutes playing time in the demo. (The demo has a 25 min playing time, after which it will boot you back to the main screen)

-If you really need help, read the Read-Me included with the demo. It's quite comprehensive.

Usefulness of Game help (Tutorials, Read-Me's, etc...)

The Read - Me was excellent. It tells you almost everything you need to know about the demo.

Final Thoughts

This demo is superb. Virtually no bugs, excellent gameplay, and graphics. This game is already is high on my "to buy" list. This is the goal (in my opinion) of every demo. The demo is only 20 megs, which is quite easy (relatively) to download.

Sites on the web related to the game:

The Official Roller Coaster Tycoon Site - News, articles, downloads, patches, and tips.

The First Roller Coaster Tycoon Site - News, downloads, tips, quite comprehensive, forums, screenshots, general info.

Roller Coaster Tycoon Zone - A site with the trainer for the demo available.

Mystic's Roller Coaster Tycoon Source! - An okay site.

Roller Coaster Tycoon UK - An excellent site, superb navigation.

Download locations:

This demo is 19.5 megs.

The official site

Gamestats