Bringing history alive
I was a huge fan of Theme Hospital when it came out back in 1997… (lawd I feel old) so I was over the moon when the creators came back with a spiritual successor in Two Point Hospital. The game was still a hospital simulator that had players curing the top diseases and balancing budgets all the while having a huge injection of humor. I loved the college game Two Point Campus, so when I heard that Two Point Studios was dropping a new game in the series in Two Point Museum, I was excited to say the least.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
In Two Point Museum players will take on the role of a new curator as they open and develop various museums around Two Point County. Just like in the previous games players will be tasked with being the best in the area by micromanaging each and every aspect of their facility. There are 5 different themes in the base game: Supernatural, Spaaaaace, Science, Prehistory and Aquarium. Anyone that knows me already knows that I found my home in the Space themes, but I dabbled in all of them just to check-em out. Honestly, I found that I liked the supernatural theme the best but there is something here for everyone, I think.
Of course, the biggest thing for museums is the exhibits and in Two Point Museum players will have to send their teams out on expeditions to find new exhibits to draw in crowds. This feature felt a lot like sending teams out for dino DNA in the Jurassic Park Evolution games; curators will have to send out a team of staff and decide how long they will search for something. Players will have to rely on good-ole ‘RNGesus’ for dig sites as pieces will have rarities and players will need to complete multiple digs to get a full-set which will greatly increase their museum’s value. I just hated the fact that there would be times I sent my staff out for a long time only for them to come back with some average ranked piece or worse a duplicate.
Players who have played any of the past games are going to know what they are in for; micromanaging budgets, staff vs the need to make money. But there are a few new additions which are kind of hit-and-miss, the first of which is the Zone Management system. This allows would-be curators to designate areas into color-coded zones, this makes it easier to confine staff to certain areas. But the downside is if there is a need for one of them in another area of the museum in an emergency, they WILL NOT leave their zones, players will have to untick the box that confines them for them to respond to other areas. The other new thing I actually enjoyed a lot more and this is the pop-up museum challenges. These are timed challenges that drops players into pre-set museums and tasked them with things like stopping thieves or promoting a certain exhibit. These were a nice change of pace from the main areas and it was nice to quickly play as the main missions can be really slow going at the onset.
Two Point Museum is another great entry in the ‘Two Point Universe’. With each game the team at Two Point Studios shows their growth and as such each one is better than the last. Fans of micromanagement sim style games will find lots to love here, not the least of which is the stellar radio station that plays during gameplay. I am hoping that the team delivers some post-launch content to add some more areas to Two Point County, but even in its base form, I don’t see this one going extinct anytime soon.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
