EA announces new Theme Park for iOS

By Fred Dutton Published 23 August, 2011

Bullfrog classic goes free-to-play.

A new version of Peter Molyneux's vintage resource management sim Theme Park is in the works for iOS devices, EA has announced.

According to DigitalSpy, it's a completely new version of the 1994 Bullfrog original built in a 3D engine.

It'll be a free app but you'll be able to buy additional in-game currency to give you faster access to new items, attractions and land plots.

Apparently you can expect to see touch-based mini-games amidst all the menu surfing, rides based on other EA franchises such as Dead Space and Mass Effect, and a cloud storage save option through EA's Origin set-up.

The universal app is due out before the end of the year.

The last we saw of the series was a solid DS port of the original back in 2007.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • harzo #1 9 months ago

    I'd be happy with just a remake of the original! None of this IAP shit!

  • wizlon #2 9 months ago

    So to buy new rides you actually have to buy new rides!

    Would prefer a full fat version on 3DS or Vita.

  • Schmoke-n-a-pancake #3 9 months ago

    "It'll be a free app but you'll be able to buy additional in-game currency to give you faster access to new items, attractions and land plots."

    That's drug dealer tactics. It's free...until you're hooked...

  • Malek86 #4 9 months ago

    Good to see it's a proper remake. They could have just made a lazy port of Theme Park World, but at least they went the extra mile. I like the look. I wonder if it will be eventually available on Android too.

  • Red-Moose #5 9 months ago

    How about make a pay app for e.g., €4.99 and fuck off with the ingame purchases? It didn't work with Spore.
    Edited by Red-Moose at 23/08/11 @ 22:49

  • CB.Gamestation #6 9 months ago

    Forget Theme Park.. How about Theme Hospital?!?! I miss that game greatly :(

  • Mazzle #7 9 months ago

    Oh god at last, a new Theme Park, this is going to be amaz.....What? For iOS? God dammit EA if you scrape that barrel anymore you'll start a fire.

  • xandoodle #8 9 months ago

    Free to play in games like this is flat out the worst model for gamers.

    Microsoft can feck off with Age of Empires Online too...

  • hiddenranbir #9 9 months ago

    RCT looks better and on GoG :D


    If you're worried about Theme Hospital, search CorsixTH. Use your Theme Hospital game to utilise a new open source engine so you can play on modern systems! It is in beta or something atm but you can play the game as-is. It is beta in the sense that it will build on the great game! :D
    Edited by hiddenranbir at 23/08/11 @ 23:25

  • dr_zoidthrob #10 9 months ago

    Heh. I *briefly* worked on that!

  • RichieTenenbaum #11 9 months ago

    FOR FUCKS SAKE.

    THOUGHTS:

    It looks like you'll have to tap rides to collect money. TOO MUCH INTERACTION. I like to build and admire.

    It looks too zoomed in.

    Looks like they've removed a lot of charm.

    Why can't we just pay for the game, and then play the game?

    Free to play usually ends up in repetitive, slow gameplay designed to bleed you of cash :( :(

  • Lemming81 #12 9 months ago

    So this was what was planned for the beloved Bullfrog classics all along. I wondered why they were silent to fans crying out for more Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper etc. Free to play in-game purchase apps. How the mighty have fallen :(

  • captain_Carl #13 9 months ago

    How about putting it on PSN/XBL and fuck off with the microtransactions?

  • secombe #14 9 months ago

    It'll be a free app but you'll be able to buy additional in-game currency to give you faster access to new items, attractions and land plots.

    I love management games and I love gaming on my iPad, but the 'unbelievably slow till you give us some money' concept is killing lots of otherwise solid games. At least give us the option to pay a fiver initially so the game runs at normal speed.

  • septimus #15 9 months ago

    A butchered money grab. Fuck you EA. Better of playing the CD32 version than this cash in crap.

  • the_dudefather #16 9 months ago

    So if you use the cheat to make a really long cheap roller-coaster by making a tiny one then editing it, can you go to jail for fraud?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #17 9 months ago

    EA announces new Theme Park for iOS

    ooh!

    Bullfrog classic goes free-to-play

    uurgh...

  • Windypops #18 9 months ago

    SYNDICATE YOU FUCKING TWATS. Remake Syndicate. Please. Um.

  • hiddenranbir #19 9 months ago

    I go negged for that? Pisssss off!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #20 9 months ago

    Remake Syndicate. Please.

    Be careful what you wish for. I think EA may be in possession of a monkey's paw.

  • pinchofsalt #21 9 months ago

    Wow, what an amusing amount of vitriol from people who haven't played it.
    It could be good, you know?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #22 9 months ago

    It could be good, you know?

    It's built upon a business model that is predicated upon making the game frustrating to play without spending extra money. If it isn't, and we get a great game for free (like Team Fortress 2, say) then great. But chances are if that happens, it'll make no money for EA, so they'll either proceed to break it, or just kill the franchise again.

  • Whitster #23 9 months ago

    I don't get down with this freemium model either. Sell me a full version of the original for a fiver I'm happy, but I refuse to pay for parts of a game individually!

  • Sovjohn #24 9 months ago

    Why don't they make a damn Theme Hospital 2 for PC / consoles / iOS / handhelds / Android perhaps?

    They could have a regular, full-blown experience for PC / consoles, and another one based on handhelds with minor tweaks per platform.

    Same applies for Theme Park and the lot, but I remember Theme Hospital very fondly, when I first played it back in the '90s. And it's a shame that, say, kids born in the 90's must have never, ever heard of it...

    I'm certain that it would sell very well if they could find some creative diseases and challenges, not to mention crisis management could be a lot more animated and beautiful when it happened (Remember "Epidemics"? :) ).

    All they bother to do, is a freemium Theme Park iOS port... Meh. Rather, meh².

  • makeamazing #25 9 months ago

    Just let me buy the whole game for £4.99 or something and that would be fine... getting sick of these IAP games now.

  • hiddenranbir #26 9 months ago

    They don't need to make a TH2. Why ruin perfection.