Review by Darren Clarke

Name:         Theme Hospital
Publisher:    Bullfrog
Format:       PC CD-ROM
Available:    Now

Requires:

O/S:          MSDOS / Windows 95
Processor:    486 DX2-66(MSDOS) / Pentium (Win 95 version)
RAM:          8Mb RAM (16Mb recommended for Win 95 version)
Graphics:     1Mb SVGA Card 
              (Vesa 1.2 Compliant for DOS, 
              DirectX compliant for Win 95)
CD-ROM:       4X
Soundcard:    Soundblaster or 100% Compatible
              Ensonique Soundscape

Tested on:

O/S:          Windows 95
Processor:    Pentium 166
RAM:          32Mb
Graphics:     2Mb Hercules Terminator 64 3D
CD-ROM:       8X
Soundcard:    Soundblaster AWE32
Controls:     Mouse/Keyboard

Theme Hospital

There aren't many games that can make the hours just fly by. To date few games could manage to keep my interest and make me play until 3.00am for weeks on end, full in the knowledge that I had to be at work the next day after only a few hours sleep. Now a newcomer has joined these hallowed ranks.

The list until recently was - UFO Enemy Unknown, Syndicate, Sim City 2000, Links 386 (in the company of friends and a few beers at least), Settlers II, Doom I/II, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Theme Park, Command & Conquer, Duke 3D, C&C Red Alert and Diablo. Now I can add to this list of god like games, Bullfrog's latest creation - Theme Hospital.

To say Theme Hospital is good is a bit like saying Sean Connery was alright at playing James Bond - i.e. a massive understatement. Theme Hospital is so good and addictive it should carry a Government health warning.

For the two of you who have avoided any announcements, the demo, or have been living under a rock for the last few years, here's a brief potted history.

Several years ago Bullfrog released a "simulation" called Theme Park, this was the first of a proposed series called the Designer Series. Theme Park had you designing and running a theme park whilst ensuring you kept all your punters and staff happy, but most of all turning a profit - you know, how Euro Disney was supposed to be. Theme Hospital is similar to Theme Park in many respects; it's part of the Designer series, but addresses many of the problems with Theme Park (lack of end goals etc.) But it does, however, share its' siblings slightly twisted and humorous slant on things.

Enough idle banter, what's it like and what do you do?

OK, calm down already! To start with the presentation is excellent. Everything is well executed and usually funny, from the animations (both introductory and in game) to the sound effects (hang around the toilets (ooer) to experience a very graphic example). All of the presentation is excellent and enjoys the subtle twists of Bullfrog's sense of humour.

OK, so the graphics are good (and in SVGA to boot) and the sound is good, but this is all for nothing if the game play sucks. Thankfully Bullfrog have paid as much attention to the game as to the more obvious facets of the game, hence the gameplay is also excellent. To explain further I suppose you'll need to know a bit more about the game itself. Hmm. OK, I'll take you through a typical (fictional, I don't want to spoil it too much) level to give you the general idea.

Location - Sicksville Hospital, London, England.

Well here we are, starting with a blank plot of land, as you do, and some money. This isn't enough money I should add, but if you had enough there wouldn't be a lot of point in building a successful and profitable hospital would there? On this piece of land stands the empty shell of your hospital to be, a few walls and nothing else. In fact a conspicuously empty hospital - no rooms, no staff, no patients, no heating, bugger all in fact.

OK, a reception area would be a good idea (in fact it would be essential, no one visits your hospital without one of these). Right lets purchase a reception desk, a few benches, a drinks machine and a few plants to brighten the place up and keep everyone happy. With a few deft clicks of the mouse button we know have a nice and presentable reception area.

So we've got a nice reception area, a receptionist might be a good idea. Off we go to the staff hiring screen to say hello to our potential receptionists. Hmm, first candidate:

	'Likes mud wrestling, possible liability'	I think we'll pass her by.
	'Cares deeply, good in an emergency'	Excellent, you're hired!

Selecting the correct staff is very important, vital in the later stages. The game throws up a mixture of staff on a regular basis, some good, some bad. It's important to pick the right ones, however the best cost more but are more effective at their given jobs. Naturally, this isn't a substitute for having enough staff as your hospital gets busier.

OK, we've got a fully functioning reception, so now we need the real money makers and we all know what that means - Doctors and Nurses.

Right. For starters we'll place a General Practitioners office (for diagnosing patients as they come in). Here we go - select the room type, drag it to size (this is sooo easy), position a door, windows, Doctor's desk and patients' chair. Hmm it'll be a bit cold in here and I doubt the Doc will be happy in such a spartan office, so let's buy some more equipment. Lets bung in a filing cabinet or two, a few radiators (too keep the place warm and complaints down) and waste bin and, what the hell, a few more plants. An office to be proud of, so hire a doctor and place him in the room.

Before we carry on I suppose a few facilities to cure our patients wouldn't go amiss. Say hello to the pharmacy (complete with medicine cabinet and nurses), general diagnostics and psychiatric department. Hire the staff with the correct skills, no I don't think a surgeon would be any good in psychiatry, and lets open before anyone else does and especially before the time expires.

Time expires? Yup, all of your initial hospital construction is against the clock, and against the opposition. Whilst you can't usually beat a computer controlled opponent opening up before you, you can get a reasonable setup before the time expires.

OK, we've got the staff, facilities, now bring on the patients! Time passes. Now we've diagnosed a few people (thanks, Doc), cured a few (like the uniform, Nurse), made a bit of money into the bargain - excellent. Seems easy doesn't it? Time to go off for a cup of tea and wait for the level to finish I think. Then again may be not.

What's this? A fax. Hmm. It appears that my panel of experts don't know what's up with this gentleman, and I'm being asked what I should do?

Send him home? No, there's money in that wallet yet.

Risk a cure? Fine as long as I don't have to explain it to his relatives when he pops his clogs.

Wait for more diagnostics facilities? I think I'll do this.

So I'll build a research department, hire a few researchers, allocate their priorities and wait for the new equipment and money to roll in! Hmm, I appear to have a problem, everyone's unhappy. It's not difficult to see why - the floors covered in vomit (and god knows what else) and my plants look like they've been on a holiday to the Sahara. It looks like it's time to call in the men in the brown coats. So I'll hire a few handy men to scrub the floors, repair the machines and water my plants. Everyone happy? Good.

OK, what now. Bloaty Head, eh? ... Get a handyman to clear up that litter ... hire a new nurse ... build a bloaty head clinic - get the handyman to water that damn plant ... get another handyman to repair my machines ... Ahh! A new department ... build that operating theatre ... more staff ... what do you mean an emergency? ... an epidemic and a health visitor!!! AAAHHH! ... No problem, hire more staff ... build a staff room so my staff don't go crazy with exhaustion ... erm, no money, hello Mr. Bank Manager ... no you can't have a pay rise ... come back you can't leave, damn doctors ......

And so it goes on. New locations, new diseases, new challenges - the list is almost endless. Theme Hospital is a deceptively complex game, everything has to be micro managed - sounds like fun! NOT! However lots of the aspects of Theme Hospitals management are handled automatically (like the handymen for example, they'll automatically repair items when called or a service is needed, they'll water the plants according to the priorities you set) and in a well organised hospital your interference isn't always required. Naturally as things do get busier you'll have to intervene more often (in areas like queue re-allocation for example) but this isn't the chore you'd imagine, thanks to the excellent and intuitive control system (drag and drop ring any bells?).

So why is it better than Theme Park?

Theme Park's main problem was that there wasn't much point to playing it. There wasn't an end goal as such, you just kept on going. Theme Hospital is level based and so neatly avoids this problem. Now you may be thinking that the game will be over quickly - it isn't. The later levels take some time to complete and it's isn't a simple case of curing a requisite number of people, some levels require a certain value of hospital, some levels will be lost if you have lost too much money or killed to many people. Theme Hospital is a very challenging game, you probably won't finish all the levels first go, which to my mind is a good thing. This also ensures that you don't see everything the game has to offer immediately and thus you want to see the rest, especially as some of the cures in the later stages of the game are quite amusing to say the least. Coupled with the secret "blow the rats away" levels (you only get rats in the normal game if your hospital is untidy) and the natural disasters, it all makes for one compelling game. I've had Theme Hospital for a good few weeks now, and the CD hasn't left my ROM drive.

Sounds good, but I like my games to look and sound good as well.

Then you've no problems. The graphics are nice and crisp in SVGA and represent the characters and ailments very well. Almost everything is animated, water fountains, the cures, characters talking, etc etc. The cartoon(ish) style of the graphics suits the game incredibly well and all are highly polished. The FMV sequences are very good and it's almost worth failing a few times to see the rendered sequences at least once. Well they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so just take a look at the screen shots and you'll see exactly what I mean.

Sound. Again, these fit the bill perfectly, from the pop of someone's head, to the booing as someone dies ("You've just killed your first patient. How does it feel?"). The sound of someone in the toilet is, frankly, unforgettable. The receptionist's announcements are crisp and clear, not to mention funny, and as usual for Bullfrog add immensely to the game.

The music is something else entirely, so best turn it off. It's not that it isn't apt or anything it's just that it, er, sucks.

So it's perfect then. So, why not 10 out of 10?

No game's perfect you know!

Well there are a few problems with the game. Not with the manuals and packaging, they're very good, the in game advisor is also useful (for once) even though he isn't always correct in his advice. The problem is, well I won't beat about the bush, the game has a few bugs and shortcomings. I will stress however that an update patch is due out soon which will no doubt fix many of these problems and add a multi-player facility!

The bugs in question don't have a big effect on the game but they can be annoying. For example the office doors sometimes disappear meaning no one can go through them, easy to fix by simply reloading from the last auto save (these are automatic and performed each game month). Also occasionally you will get messages that a doctor has been trained to "%d%%" of a surgeon or whatever, this has no baring on the game but is a little sloppy - something we don't expect from Bullfrog.

My final two bugbears aren't bugs but are features that could have been thought out better. It is impossible to restart a level. At the later stages this can be necessary, so god only knows why Bullfrog didn't include this facility. Also the save game system is positively ancient. Eight slots per player, no screen shots or descriptions allowed. These days this isn't really up to scratch, a better system could have been used easily.

Well that's it then. I'd better find my wallet.

Theme Hospital is one of those games that'll make you just keep coming back for more. Everything (the bugs only slightly mar the experience) is set just right, the control system, the way it looks and sounds coupled with the desire to see the diseases and new equipment in operation. The best thing about all of this is that you always know that you could have done better and you want to try levels again and again until you have the perfect setup. Theme Hospital is definitely a must have game, buy it, it's an experience you won't forget - who could believe disease was such fun!

Darren Clarke for Game-Over!