Thrillville Sequel Announced, Gren and Shang Elated

Late last year, before I had an Xbox 360, Shang Xiang and I picked up Thrillville because we both like theme park simulators, minigames, and The Sims. More surprising than the cheap retail price is that the game actually mixes all those elements splendidly. It’s a bit kid-oriented — I always meant to write about it and sum it up as My First Sim Game — but there’s enough gameplay in each of the mashed up genres to make the whole package engaging. Actually, the only complaint we had was that it wasn’t on Xbox 360, replete with Achievements and enhanced graphics. Just over a year later and it’s problem solved from LucasArts and Frontier Developments.

Coming this October to every major platform (360, Wii, DS, PS2, PSP, PC, and umm, not PS3) Thrillville: Off the Rails ups the graphics, offers 20 reality-bending coaster designs, 34 playable carnival games, 100 mission scenarios, and improved guest interaction.

“Together, LucasArts and Frontier challenged ourselves to improve upon everything that made the original Thrillville such a success,” said David Braben, chairman and founder of Frontier. “I believe that we have more than met this challenge, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Thrillville achieves some ‘record attendance’ with Off the Rails.”

If the first game weren’t reassuring enough, I finally looked up Frontier Developments and it turns out they’ve been behind pretty much every version of Rollercoaster Tycoon since Chris Sawyer wrapped up the original. Now all I have to decide is which console to get it for.

More screenshots at the official site.