Hang on tight!

Originally Jet Coaster Dream in Japan, it was finally brought stateside with the name of Coaster Works. Most of the game is quite simple, yet addicting—the key to making a good videogame. Your goal is to design the ultimate roller coaster within your limits. Using one basic part, you can bend and twist it into anyway you want. Be sure to fasten your seatbelt!

-''Oh, I thought you were watching the weather channel.''-

That's what my friend said when he saw me playing Coaster Works, but I can understand why. The music is simple and the kind of music you'd hear in the background when watching the local weather (or something) plus the workstation is a simple looking grid. The screen is divided into 4 sections that each show you a different angle of the track. Press Y to view the entire track to look around and then press it again to go back to the divided screen. Press A to lay a piece and use the D-pad to move the direction it points. You can also use L and R Trigger to tilt it! Once you're finished, hit A to work the next piece and so on.

When you first create a new game, you are very limited as to what you can make. But as you build for the 5 different parks, you can do more and more things until you eventually have more power than you could imagine! As you build, you'll eventually test the ride as you jump into the first-person perspective. And trust me, you'll have to test often.

-People who blacked out: 9-

Each track has certain boundaries as well as limits on angles, etc. You must also have a certain amount of Thrill Points and Safety Points while taking into considering the G-forces. So once you've completed your course, it will automatically start up a test run. Now there's a big chance that something will go wrong like the coaster flying off the tracks (this happens more than you think). If not, it will get to the finish and give you the estimated statistics on how many vomited, blacked out, lost memory, etc. If these numbers are too high then you will lose safety points! The next screen shows the minimum speed, safety points, etc. and how well you scored.

If everything is fine, then you get to go on to the next course, which means more options and more fun for you! Otherwise you're going to have to go back and fix something—often times this leads to deleting your entire course! Unfortunately if you delete one piece it erases everything past it and you usually don't have a choice. Especially if you're lacking Thrill or Safety point you'll have to do some major remodeling.

Getting through the entire game takes no more than a few hours which is another complaint I have. There are 5 parks to make a ride for and after that all you have is the hidden park. In this 6th park, you have no limitations at all and do not have to worry about G-forces or even gravity pulling you off the tracks! Outside of that, there is little more to this game.

-I get dizzy just watching it...-

The graphics are overall very simple, but they get the job done. Believe me, if you sit to close to the TV you WILL get motion sickness! I wish a bit more effort had been put into the graphics, but it's fun regardless so I won't complaint. There is an overall lack of things to do and see, but building gets addicting to make up for it. On a side note, screaming gets really annoying. Fortunately there's an option to turn the volume of it down, but the ''advanced test dummy'' constantly screams even at parts where the ride isn't scary!

-Bottom Line-

Coaster Works is very addicting and fun for a while. It's nothing you'll just up about, but more of a calm ride to enjoy while testing your creation and hoping for the best. I have complaints like how you can't save individual tracks and how there are only 6 goals. It is a cheap game and is probably worth your money, but it will get boring quickly so you may want to think twice...but if building is your thing, then you'll love it! It's at least worth a rental.