Do you think your health service is run badly? Are doctors and nurses overworked and underpaid? Are the hospital executives just overpaid fat-cats who sit on their backside all day? Do you think you could do a better job? If the answer to all these questions is "yes" then pick up a copy of Theme Hospital and show 'em how it's done.
At first the appeal of this title may seem non-existent but mark my words there is something about it which will keep you coming back for more and the strange thing is... you won't know why! The basic incentive of Theme Hospital is to build a hospital, employ efficient staff, ensure customers are kept happy and cured of any ailment which they may present and make money. I know it sounds quite easy and mundane but believe me it's a tricky task and the way in which it is presented makes it jolly good fun. You start with a shell and you must build GP offices, treatment rooms and a pharmacy to get going. The rooms must then be furnished and staff must be employed to occupy them. A receptionist and a reception desk must be deployed to greet the patients, then seating areas, drinks machines and radiators strategically placed to keep them happy. That's the easy bit done. Now the patients start arriving and that's where the fun begins.
Patients arrive by the bus-load with a variety of non-standard illnesses including "bloaty head", "hairyitis" and "invisibility" and you must diagnose these illnesses and be able to treat them before the patient gets too ill and kicks the bucket on the hospital floor. Queues must be managed, illnesses reasearched, staff kept happy, floors cleaned from vomit, plants watered, machines maintained, doctors trained, operations performed and expansions made as well as dealing with earthquakes and epidemics. Reputation is based on the cleanliness and efficiency of your hospital as well as the ratio of cures to deaths and once your reputation and profit levels are sufficient, you will be offered a job at a new hospital with more diseases and problems. To make things worse there are three other imaginary computer controlled hospitals to compete with so you have to be as quick and efficient as possible to be the best.
Although the title and subject matter isn't particularly appealing at first, Theme Hospital becomes amazingly addictive. It takes a little while to get to grips with the controls and symbols but once mastered, time will fly when you are playing this game. As the levels progress more and more diseases, teatment rooms and problems present making it more interesting as well as providing a good learning curve.
A 3D perspective is used in Theme Hospital and the sprites are done in cartoon style. The attention to detail is as good as it needs to be for this game as the emphasis is more on gameplay than graphics. The animation is also quite good as you watch patients strip behind the curtain in the diagnosis room, lie on the couch spilling all their problems in the psychiatry room while the doctors write prescriptions in the GP's office, play pool in the staff room and don their surgical gowns in the operating theatre.
The main aound aspect in the game revolves round the receptionist. Although it gets a little irritating sometimes she will spout out messages over the hospital p.a. system informing you where and when doctors nurses and handymen are required as well as when VIP's are arriving and when there are earthquakes imminent. Other sound effects from various treatment and diagnosis rooms fade in and out as you scroll past them.
I never really got to grips with Theme Park so I was a little dubious when loading up Theme Hospital. I followed the first stage tutorial and built my first hospital, got it running smoothly and got offered a job at another. Now I had the hang of it I would see if I could progress to the next stage, and so on. Before I knew it the time was 2am....and I was hooked. Theme Hopital looks good enough, sounds good enough and plays excellent. What more can you ask for?
