Planet Coaster for Mac: Tips, Tricks and our Review

When Planet Coaster first arrived on PC in November of 2016 to all-around positive reviews, fans began asking for the game to be available on more platforms, and now that day is finally here. With the holiday release of Planet Coaster: Console Edition and Planet Coaster for Mac, the game is now available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Mac devices via Steam. Planet Coaster was nice enough to provide us with the game, so now that we’ve had some time to play around with it and get used to how it works, here are our reviews as well as some tips and tricks that will help your in-game park become successful. All of the pictures below are from my own personal parks!

Overview:

Shane:

Ever since Planet Coaster first came out, I had been dying to get my hands on it. While there are other coaster designing games out there like Roller Coaster Tycoon or NoLimits, they didn’t quite have the complete package that Planet Coaster does. Roller Coaster Tycoon was mainly about management of the park, and NoLimits is a software dedicated to giving users the best possible simulation for their mock-up coasters, even being used by many parks to promote their new attractions. What Planet Coaster does so well is combine these two aspects, you can build a variety of custom coasters in the style of existing manufacturers, but also have the ability to manage the park, and cater to guest’s needs.

Larry:

I’ve been a long-time RollerCoaster Tycoon player and have put many hours in the series from 1 through 3. With many false starts of the series and similar games over the years from various companies, when I heard Frontier was going to come out with a new game, who were the makers of RCT3, I was quick to see what it was about! Planet Coaster is definitely a spiritual successor to the RCT franchise with new upgraded graphics, tools, ride designs, and so much more. Now that there’s a Mac version available, it means I can take it on the go now with my MacBook Pro!

First Impressions:

Shane:

The very first thing I did in the game is most likely what many enthusiasts will do, I went into Sandbox mode and began designing coasters. With an unlimited budget and all of the possible designs unlocked, you pretty much have the entire coaster library at your fingertips. However, I soon realized why being a coaster designer is such a lucrative job: designing roller coasters is really hard.

Now, of course I know that the job is very much watered down for us non-engineers in Planet Coaster form, but even still, it’s a challenging task to get used to. The controls for the game are fairly straightforward, but there are some nuances to moving the camera view around and navigating the coaster building controls that definitely take some getting used to. I think the thing I learned the quickest is that using a mouse is absolutely essential. I have the game on my laptop, so I started off using my trackpad, but it only took a few hours for me to order a bluetooth mouse online. It just works better overall, and makes the controls easier to navigate.

Designing coasters in this game is pretty fun, but occasionally something will happen where the ride isn’t working the exact right way. However, this problem solving is part of the creative process, and it makes it all the more satisfying when you finally get it right. I actually found wood coasters to be easier to start with to learn the basics, and may be easier to make a realistic model.

Downloadable Content (DLC):

Shane:

As of now, I have downloaded four of the additional content packs: the Spooky Pack, the Studios Pack, the Adventure Pack and the Ghostbusters expansion. I think all four are absolutely worth the price, especially the Spooky Pack if only for the sole purpose of getting the Oceaneering Spiderman/Transformers type dark ride.

The standout in the Studios Pack, an expansion clearly inspired by Universal Studios parks, is the Kuka arm ride vehicle, like the ones used on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. There is also a studio tram tour ride included in this pack, that could serve as an alternative to a railroad or monorail if you want a scenic ride around the perimeter of the park. You also get giant wall screens in this pack that are perfect for high quality dark rides relying on technical scenes not achievable via scenery.

The Ghostbusters expansion is a lot of fun, especially with the special career mode. I won’t give too much away, but as a big Ghostbusters fan, I loved seeing some of the original actors reprise their roles. You unlock a playable Ghostbusters shooting ride in this expansion as well. The challenges are fun, and you get some cool scenery pieces taken straight out of the movies.

I also recently got on an Indiana Jones kick, and I rewatched all the movies, which naturally led me to download the Adventure Pack DLC. The Adventure Pack mostly offers some great scenery, including temple pieces, jungle flora and fauna, a couple of awesome booby traps, and a whole lot of gold.

In terms of rides, there are two main ones: a mine cart coaster complete with swinging cars, and a Jungle Cruise inspired boat ride with two variants, one with a single rail track, which can be placed on dry land or in a water feature, and the other which has its own water basin beneath the track. The pack also includes some new shops and entertainment features, which I haven’t really explored yet. The only downside to this pack would be that there are no pre-made buildings included in the pack, just the pieces to build your own.

I would have liked to see a temple building, a dig site, some jungle huts, or something along those lines. However, if you select and build the mine coaster blueprint, it comes with a temple that you can isolate by deleting the coaster, and then make any edits that you want to the structure.

Larry:

I haven’t used too many of the themed DLC packs yet, but been a big fan of the rides packs. I’ve got the Classic Rides Collection right now with the Magnificent Rides Collection on my wish list. The Classic Rides includes a few familiar ones including the Sky Temple based on the Intamin Flying Island, a spinning coaster similarly to the Mack spinning coasters, and a Rising Raptor which is just like a Huss Condor. The Magnificent Rides collection adds even more, such as the world renowned S. L. V. coaster which is based on Vekoma’s SLC models. It also reintroduces a staple design from games of the past, the Mind Melt, which is based on the classic Schwarzkopf track and train designs.

Favorite Coasters/Rides:

Shane:

I love the RMC coasters, but they are a little tricky to get right, so I would recommend waiting until you’ve had some experience to work with these types. Or do what I did, and start with RMCs, get very frustrated, and learn it the hard way so that everything else seems easy by comparison. I also really like the Gerstlauer style Eurofighter track, because there’s a lot of variety you can do with it.

I enjoyed experimenting with the B&M dive coaster track, but I found the other B&M tracks really hard, and am still trying to nail the physics of a hyper or giga. Building old fashioned wooden coasters is also a lot of fun, because the layouts are usually simpler, and it’s fun to capture that classic style.

In terms of rides, I liked building scenery around the rapids raft ride, and had a lot of fun with the Haunted Mansion style ride included in the Spooky Pack. The flat rides are fine for what they are, and are realistic, but I always find them to just be space fillers, and there isn’t a lot of customization with them besides color and music changes. The Kuka arm is also fun to use, but takes a very long time to master, because there are so many little adjustments that can be made. This is a good thing for building detailed attractions, but tough for a beginner.

Negatives/Improvements:

Shane:

I wish there was more of a tutorial when starting the game, starting with sandbox mode really throws you right in, which is a good thing in the long run, but is frustrating because there are minimal instructions given for coaster design. I would recommend a YouTube search for tutorials if anything is giving you trouble. I also think that the dark ride selection in the basic version is pretty lackluster, and you need to get a few DLCs to get access to the industry standard dark rides being used today.

Hopes for the Future:

Shane:

I would love to see some additional IP like the Ghostbusters DLC. My dream IP would be Jurassic Park/World, but I know that there is already a simulation game that offers this called Jurassic World Evolution, which unfortunately isn’t available on Mac. A Star Wars or Marvel DLC would also be an amazing addition. In terms of rides, I would like to see something like the Dinosaur/Indiana Jones ride vehicles, as well as the Test Track type slot cars too. I can’t think of any coasters that aren’t represented in the extensive lineup, but as new models come out, I look forward to seeing them.

Tips and Tricks:

Make sure you have a mouse to use this game.
To build a park with no guests, click the park info button and hit the red dot in the top right.
Use the “Auto Tunnel” feature if you want your coaster to go underground rather than trying to do it manually.
There is an autocomplete feature when building coasters that is very useful when trying to connect back to the station.
When playing missions, adjusting the speed of the time passage (represented by a fast forward icon on the bottom bar) is very useful for challenges that take place over days or months.
When in mission mode, the park admission is automatically set at $0. Bumping it up by a few dollars after adding a new ride will help slowly raise your profits. Just don’t make it too high, or guests won’t want to pay for the individual attractions.
Don’t forget to place staff buildings and upgrade your staff’s training level, otherwise they will quit.
If you enable the interchangeable ride vehicle option in the game settings, you can put different manufacturer’s trains on other coasters in some situations.
Steam often has sales, and the DLC content packs for the game can go as low as $4, so be on the lookout for those.
If you’re looking for a recreation of a real life coaster, or specific scenery elements, check out the Steam Workshop to download the blueprints. You can also upload your own!

Extra photos: