Trying to find games for the PSP that are not ports of a PS2 game is hard to come by sometimes. There have been a few original titles released just for the PSP but the majority of PSP games are either PS2 ports or the obligatory cross-platform title released for all consoles. Thrillville is another cross-platform title but it offers a unique experience for PSP gamers. It’s a theme park simulator and mini game bonanza thrown into one game.

The premise of the game resolves around your Uncle Mortimer, who is a crazy scientist with his own theme park called Thrillville. Mortimer is impressed with your coaster designs that he has put you in charge of running Thrillville. It’s up to you to make all of the important decisions in regards to running the park. How many rides will you have? How much will you charge for the rides? How many bathrooms will you have at your park? Where will you place the pizza stands and burger joints? All of these decisions are up to you in Thrillville.

To say that you are in control of the theme park is an understatement when it comes to Thrillville. There tons and tons of options for you to choose from when managing the parks. Where do I start? You have five parks that you can manage during the game. Moving between the parks is fairly simple by just selecting the different park in the menu screen. Creating your own character and customizing the character with different hair styles and clothes is included. Building your own roller coasters is included along with the option to sell rides you no longer want or need. Probably any type of option you can think of is included in Thrillville.

The gameplay of Thrillville is broken up into two different pieces: park management and the rides/mini games. The park management gameplay can be played out as a mission-based simulation game by completing specific tasks. The tasks usually revolve around building specific rides for Thrillville. When you complete the tasks you earn extra dollars that you can spend on the park. But you don’t have to complete these tasks in any specific order or even worry about finishing them. The game offers an open-ended style of gameplay where you are free to explore and build the park as you see fit.

Another fun part of Thrillville is the ability to play any of the games or rides on the parks. If you build a go-cart track then you can race the go-carts. If you have a remote control racing game then you get to play the RC game. Even arcade games that you find on the park can be played. All of these games are usually a very simple recreation of another game you’ve played in the past. For example, you have a shooter-arcade game that will remind some gamers of Defender and R-Type. The game even includes a first-person shooter game where you get to run around and shoot aliens. None of these games are extraordinary as individual games but when you have such a large collection of games all in one package it’s hard not to find enjoyment in most of them. By playing these mini-games you earn cash that you can use to keep your park going. You can even ride all of the roller coasters and various rides as a simple diversion from the rigors of managing your park.

As I mentioned earlier Thrillville includes a ton of options when it comes to managing your park. You can sell your old rides, build new ones, research potential new rides, spend money on advertising and even take out bank loans to spend on the park. There are a few features that you can spend your time with while in Thrillville. The talk option allows you to talk to your park visitors to find out what they like or dislike at Thrillville. Another variant that could appear when talking to the park visitors is the ability to play a flirt mini game. The Flirt mini game allows you to increase your “attraction” rating by matching a series of heart colors. The game is played out by trying to press the correct colored heart in a spinning wheel. There are even additional options that open up from talking to the park visitors such as a challenge game (where you play against the computer) or a matchmaker game where you get to control the visitor. You can then talk to other park visitors and flirt with them.  

Another option in the game is train three types your employees. There are three types of employees that you can train: Entertainer, Mechanic and Groundskeeper. As you can probably guess all of training is performed by a mini game. The Entertainer mini game is a dance game similar to a DDR game where you have to time your button press at just the right moment. The Mechanic mini game has you moving different pieces and components of the park ride around to repair the ride. Think of it as a puzzle game where you have to connect a line to another line. The Groundskeeper mini game is similar to a third-person shooter where you run around the park trying to catch debris and cleaning up puke. Yes, you read that correct. Since the PSP only has one analog stick the controls are similar to the old style FPS games where you run around with the analog nub and then aim with the triangle, square, circle and “X” button. Once again as you complete the mini games you earn extra cash that you can spend on the park.

All of these mini games and options are amazing to be included in one game but no all if right in Thrillville. The gameplay in most of the mini games is very rudimentary and will leave some gamers wondering why they had to play the games. The FPS mini game and Groundskeeper game are both hampered by the PSP’s lack of a second analog stick. The other mini games will probably remind some gamers of other classic games they’ve played before and where better than the included mini game.

Another downfall of Thrillville is the graphics. At first I was amazed at the number of visitors and attractions the PSP could display in Thrillville.  But when I tried moving around the park the framerate would drop and I would get some slowdown. Not a big issue to some but when you take into consideration the amount of motion blurring that appears on screen it does become a distraction. What might appear to be items flying in the sky was actually motion blurring on the PSP’s LCD screen.

Overall Thrillville is an impressive collection of mini games hiding behind a simulation game. You get the best of both worlds here with an extensive theme-park simulator and a ton of entertaining mini games. Just don’t expect originality from the mini games but that shouldn’t be an issue with most gamers. Thrillville might not be the most original game ever released but at least on the PSP it offers gamers an opportunity to do something different.

Gameplay: 8.0
The amount of options in the simulation piece is amazing for a portable game. The lack of originality in the mini games is sort of disappointing.

Graphics: 7.6
If it wasn’t for the motion blurring and occasional slowdown this would be a great looking PSP game. There are literally hundreds of visitors all over your theme park and you see all of them running around, having fun.

Sound: 7.6
The music in the game is a nice collection of original rock songs. The songs do a good job of setting the tone of the game while not distracting away from the game.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The game does a good job of walking you through the various parts of the game through the in-game tutorials. You can replay any of the tutorials at anytime to get a refresher.

Multiplayer: 8.0
You can play all of the mini games via Ad Hoc (Local Wi-Fi) which is a great option. But why, oh why, can we not get Infrastructure mode added to all PSP games? You can join a game hosted by other players or you can host a game for up to four players.

Concept: 8.2
Thrillville isn’t the first theme park simulator but it does a great job of mixing up the simulation piece with all of the mini games.

Overall: 7.9
Thrillville is a good game that fits well into the growing PSP library. From the simulation mode to the fun mini games Thrillville offers gamers a great way to have fun on the go. Just don’t expect perfection and you won’t be disappointed.