Title: Two Point Hospital
Developer: Red Kite Games
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Business Simulation
Available On: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch
Official Site: TwoPointHospital.com
Release Date: August 30, 2018 (PC), February 25, 2020 (Consoles)
Version Tested: Xbox One
In the world of simulation games, finding a game that hits the right note can be challenging. These days, it feels like there’s a simulation for any scenario. Want something that will make you feel like you’re working your own farm? There’s a game for that. Want something a little bit weirder in the simulation family? There’s a game for that too. It should surprise no one then that there are more than a few medical simulators out there. In that sub-group, one of the best you’re going to run across in Two Point Hospital.
Released on PC a couple of years ago now, Two Point Hospital made its way to consoles, all of them, earlier this year. The good news here is that all of Two Point Hospital arrived on consoles. That means these are the more complete versions that took a year to hit PC fully. The other good news is these games are faithful ports.
There are times when these kinds of games can be built for the personal computer, and the console version falls well short. Bus Simulator is a perfect example of that. There’s almost too much detail, and that means the controls get too confusing and in that game’s biggest shortcoming, too hard to read. Red Kit Games, who worked on porting over the hospital simulator to the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, clearly understood it needed to be more than a faithful port. It needed to be something that would make people want to play it. They recreated that formula nicely.
The Doctor Will See You Now
One of the really nice things about Two Point Hospital is that the opening walkthrough is very, very detailed. You’re never really left out in the cold, wondering what you’re supposed to do. There does come the point when the game is no longer holding your hand and walking you through everything, but by the time it does that, you should have an excellent grasp on what you’re doing.
This means that when you open a hospital and need to hire someone to work at the front desk, you aren’t going to be groping in the dark. Weirdly, that needs to be pointed out, but some simulators show you what you’re supposed to and then leave you out in the wild. Maybe they show you once and then leave it up to you to remember. Perhaps they don’t show you what to do unless you trip a specific circumstance. Sometimes, they never really show you.
As much as I love Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there’s an awful lot of groping around trying to figure out what to do next. The difference there is the entire point of that Switch exclusive is to sit back, relax, and take your time exploring and testing things out. Life is very, very different in Two Point Hospital. Things come at you fast, and it would be overwhelming if there weren’t a guide there to gently you point to what you’re supposed to be working on next.
Cutesy But Mostly Not Too Cutesy, Mostly
I just happened to play this game while being locked away in my house, waiting out the coronavirus outbreak. Some people might not want to pick up a medical simulator during this period of time, but for me, it was therapeutic. I got to diagnose, or at least have someone else diagnose a bunch of diseases and then just had to hire the right people to cure it.
It’s a nice touch that I’m not actually curing cancer or anything else that’s deadly in the real world. There’s something to be said for wanting to cure as many people as possible without it an epidemic breaking out actually being the end of the world. Two Point Hospital is geared towards being “cute.” That’s evident when looking at the graphics style and the names of the diseases. It’s almost always charming, even when you’re dealing with Big Foot, which definitely takes a hard right turn into the absurd.
Sometimes, it works a bit too hard to be cute. Most games like this are going to have that happen every once in a while. This title allows itself its venture into “too cute” every now and then, without really being all that annoying, stepping away when the saccharine is too much works just fine.
Better on Consoles?
When talking about simulators that start out on PC and make the journey to consoles, you’re usually hoping the port is not terrible and frustrating. I’ve played Two Point Hospital on both the PC and the Xbox One, and I think I prefer the console version. Using the controller feels like I have a little better control over where things are placed and how big the rooms are. I also feel like I’m not crossing my eyes and squinting at the screen to get it right. Some will likely find that blasphemous, but it’s better on a console than its native platform.
Verdict: Two Point Hospital has been around in one way or another for quite a while now. That’s given the devs and publishers plenty of time to iron out the bugs. That time and the launch on every console has actually made this version much better than back in the day. Get it on the Xbox One, and you won’t be disappointed.
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