Hands On - Planet Coaster: Console Edition

Speaking of controllers, Frontier managed to nail their use as an input in Jurassic World: Evolution, and though it is a much more complex title, PlanCo: CE's controls are equally as intuitive and easy to learn, yet still gives you an incredible amount of control over your building. From bins and benches to scenery pieces, grid-based buildings and roller coasters, the whole process feels almost effortless. It's a little fiddly to use when you first lay your hands on it (it's a Park Sim after all, this isn't a huge surprise), but everything makes sense. It's incredible how what appears to be an incredibly complex toolbar is actually completely traversable with only one or two button presses.

A crosshair is used for pointing, similar to what was used in Jurassic World Evolution, and it connects your hands to the park as precisely as a mouse would. The use of a radial menu for quick switching between main tools makes for much easier control over what you're doing, whether it's smoothing out a section of track, or switching off angle snapping while building paths. Moving around in a 3D space whilst fiddling with 2D menus might seem like a chore, but the left thumbstick and d-pad are used for these things specifically respectively. While you turn a section of track with the thumbstick, and bank it by holding X (or square) and a trigger button, you can switch off track supports by simply using the d-pad and the A button. It sounds complex when you write it out, but it's incredibly intuitive, and actually rather simple when you get into the swing of it.

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