Cheap Roller Coaster Tycoon Expansion Pack: Loopy Landscapes (Software) (Windows 98, Windows 95) Price

One of the best aspects of Loopy Landscapes is that it lets you personalize your park in ways that weren't possible in the original game. Open a hat stall, T-shirt stand, or nearly any other shop and choose a color for each of your items. It's a hoot to watch a herd of hapless fun-seekers walk through your park wearing a rainbow of caps and holding an equally colorful assortment of balloons. We also had a blast working our way through the new scenarios included with the package, which incorporate all the new themes and settings (such as the icy Winter Wonderland and majestic Medieval Castles) and range in difficulty from sedate fun to frenzied puzzle solving. One of best new scenarios gives you an empty park and unlimited funds, but you only have a certain amount of time to attract 2,000 guests, and if the park rating dips below 700 you lose the game. This effectively turned time and space into the most valuable resources in the game, requiring us to rethink some old strategies.

As an additional bonus, the complete content from the first expansion pack, Corkscrew Follies, is included on the CD. Players who already purchased Corkscrew Follies can send in for a $10 rebate until December 31, 2000, but the process for doing so is persnickety (don't throw your box away). Newcomers to the RCT world should note that a copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon is required to play Loopy Landscapes. And RCT junkies will want to get their hands on all the new goodies Loopy Landscapes offers as soon as possible. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• You can customize nearly everything
• The new themes can really transform a park
• Comes with Corkscrew Follies, if you missed it the first time around

• There aren't many new rides
• We're still waiting for a design editor that lets us experiment with tracks outside the confines of the game