Two Point Hospital Review - Laughter Is The Best Medicine
TWO POINT HOSPITAL, THE LAUGHTER PHYSICIANTwenty-one years have passed since Theme Hospital, a hospital management game imagined at the time by the studio Bullfrog, which stood out with titles like Populous, Theme Park and Syndicate. If none of the sad clones had since been noticed, some elders of the house have come together to give the illustrious ancestor a spiritual heir who manages to go beyond the tribute.
What a perilous exercise to propose a suite which is not really one, and what is more for a title still sacred by a good part of its nostalgic players. If Theme Hospital is still untouchable more than twenty after its release, it is good because no management game had been able to restore the same chemistry between challenge and humor. Square but funny, Theme Hospital had managed to make something seemingly boring (the management of a clinic) into a little pearl of fun, a few years before The Sims did the same with everyday life. Let it be said: the bias of Two Point Hospital is exactly the same and therefore goes against more serious titles like Project Hospital, expected for the fall. Thus, if the management part is respected and improved, there is always a slew of imaginary quirky diseases, from the monosourcil to the bulb head through the clownery, and the cartoony aspect has been reinforced to produce a rendering close to an Aardman production.
It's pretty, full of colors, with funny animations rather successful (except maybe during certain collisions) and patients with an always more zinzin appearance.
So yes, when we launch into Two Point Hospital, we find our brands perfectly and the kinship with Theme Hospital immediately jumps out, whether in the course of care, the different rooms and the way to build and arrange them , the decorative elements, the heating, the awards that have become an award at The Movies, or even the facetious announcements of the operator, unfortunately in English, which somewhat reduces their charm despite the delicious British accent. In short, everything is there. Better, of course, but the structure is identical. Some tributes even seem a little too supported, making the wink sometimes rude: the syndrome of the King of Theme Hospital, which transformed patients into clones of Elvis, turns here into a species of Freddie Mercurite, which grows like its name tells him to dress like the singer of Queen. Ditto for the famous sniper rats who return here in the form of live monosurrows, VIP visits, letters from the ministry ... The list is long, but as the title of the game indicates, it is indeed d 'a version 2.0, which therefore also brings its share of new features, including in mechanics and rhythm. And that makes all the difference.
When the doctor is worth love
Like Theme Hospital, Two Point Hospital unfortunately does not offer sandbox mode, but has a career designed to gradually familiarize the player with the inner workings of hospital management. Each mission is broken down into several objectives, which improve the hospital's rating up to three stars, thereby unlocking new challenges and new elements. Once the three stars are combined, we can nevertheless decide to stay in the clinic that we manage to optimize it, or even return to one of the previous establishments to improve them with what we have unlocked since, in the same way for example from a Jurassic World Evolution recently released. Like the presence of branches, this allows you to break the linearity a bit, which is badly needed in order to take charge of the different facets of management.If it takes no more than a good big hour to get out of the very first levels crowned with three stars, it will of course get more complicated over time and the ministry will become more and more demanding. Two Point Hospital is perhaps not as difficult as Theme Hospital, the money seems to abound more easily, it does not offer less challenge: the rhythm is indeed more frantic, the patients more lively, their health more precarious, and if you try to play without ever pressing the pause button, you can quickly find yourself overwhelmed. Certain levels are more devious than others, such as for example the university hospital where no medical personnel is trained or the establishments subject to disasters, and all have their specificities: there are more frequent diseases in certain places, and therefore the approach cannot be automated as it could be in Theme Hospital. However, Two Point is also not a punitive title and it encourages the player to repair his blunders or simply to continuously improve the situation.
Patients are asked to be patient
In order to avoid repetition of the last third of Theme Hospital's career, where we were content to apply the same methods each time, Two Point Hospital opted for a more global and rational approach: research progress don't magically disappear with every new hospital you open, and everything you've unlocked before is unlocked forever and everywhere. Including the many decorative or decorative objects that we unlock with the kudosh, a parallel currency dedicated to improving the standing of our establishments. We are therefore truly aware of progress and the research takes on its full meaning, especially since the fields of study continue to widen throughout the game, spread over fifteen levels. So we have something to do.In addition to this rethought macrogestion, micromanagement has been greatly strengthened. The profile of the medical profession is more extensive than before, with on the one hand the personality which defines bonuses or penalties, and on the other training which can be a specialty (psychiatry, research ...), that is also different advantages (better diagnoses, resistance to fatigue, high speed, empathy…). And since it is the director of the hospital who has the holy mission of training his flock, we can create an ultra-specialized dream team. But that's not all: we can also define the tasks for each member of staff in order to optimize performance, and we can choose to close certain rooms to one type of population in order to smooth traffic in the hospital. . Mastering all these parameters with the tip of your finger is not necessarily mandatory to achieve victory, but there is a certain enjoyment in the tight control that one can have of these little guys. And this is all the more useful as the patients, too, have become more demanding. Hunger, thirst, distraction: it is better to satisfy the sick if we do not want them to leave with their wallet still stocked.
Two point zeroselyne Bachelot
To keep track of all these new data, Two Point Hospital of course has tables and diagrams. Alas, for once, the desire to make pretty graphics sometimes harms the readability of the information and therefore its relevance. Fortunately, the hospital view is full of very useful icons, such as those indicating dying patients (to be treated or sent home urgently) or queues that are too long. By zooming out, you get a nice overview that allows you to assess the situation and make some corrections if necessary. And with the possibility of dragging and dropping entire rooms, we can say that the layout of the hospital is done with delicious fluidity, especially since we are no longer limited to strictly rectangular rooms.For the regulars, the progression should therefore be done without too many bumps, the main objective of the game being rather to push us to optimize everything rather than to try to sink us as could sometimes do Theme Hospital. The reactionaries may cry out in betrayal, but it is clear that this new trip to the clinic is as addictive as certain drugs, perfectly measuring the effects of surprise. We would have appreciated, however, that the title repairs the forgetfulness of Theme Hospital and is adorned with an online mode allowing to face his friends, where we could have refourguer our dying (the title of Bullfrog having had to split d '' a patch to activate the network option). Alas, it will be necessary on this side to be satisfied with the rankings to know who has the largest syringe, and some small timed challenges not very exciting.
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