#THEME HOSPITAL PSX WINDOWS#

The user interface is probably the thing I’d have most criticism for – it’s a bit fussy and hard to navigate at first, aided by things like colour-coded menus but let down by a general lack of cohesion to everything. The pixel graphics might look a little blurry at times but they always get the picture across and often in a particularly humorous way. The hospital rooms have some interesting quirks too – in keeping with the larger than life feeling you’ll get everything from decontamination showers that whirr as you wash off the radiation to inflation rooms which treat Bloaty Head by literally popping the patient’s skull then re-inflating it (don’t worry, not as graphic as it sounds). Either way the areas tend to look good from the isometric viewpoint. As you slowly fill them out though they can fulfill whatever desires you want – I tended to build tight corridors of rooms to maximise efficiency, but you could equally build an open hospital to give it a light airy feel. Things like little pixel-y mouths move when they’re chatting in the GP’s office which is a nice touch and watching them fall flat on their faces during an earthquake never failed to make me laugh (with a fitting ‘splat’ sound to boot).Įach hospital you’re given is a blank slate for you to build on, so typically environments are just dull purple corridors with green grass outdoors. Doctor, Nurse etc.) and there’s only a handful of patient models, but the way they busy around the hospital about their business means you’ll rarely be staring at them for long (and allows you to easily identify them at a quick glance). Staff members all share the same sprites between their types (i.e.

Hardly a looker in its day, Theme Hospital has managed to hold up over time thanks to its solid sprite-work and simple environmental design meaning it’s easy to look at today, if a little rough around the edges. It gives the game an identity and a larger than life feel that seems somewhat unmatched to this day – no other developer has quite managed to match the political incorrectness (a bank manager with dollar bills popping out of his suit), quick-fire jokes and social commentary like this since. Right from the opening cutscene of a super-doctor operating on a patient before dumping his body as the procedure goes wrong, you’ll know you’re in for a treat – this permeates through every other aspect of the game from the humorous receptionist announcements to the bonkers diseases you’ll treat such as Bloaty Head and Transparency (caused by licking foil yogurt lids). What makes Theme Hospital special to so many gamers is the world that’s constructed here – 90’s Bullfrog were absolute masters of biting satire and that’s fully present here. Aside from this, there’s really no actual story as you’re simply tasked with ensuring the profitability and reputation of each job you’re assigned. Revival attempts have been made with the development of open-source remakes such as CorsixTH.In Theme Hospital you play as a manager who oversees a stream of hospitals with the goal of working his or her way up the bureaucratic chain to earn the big money at the top. The game was re-released on GOG.com in 2012 and Origin in 2015, and the PlayStation version was released on the PlayStation Network in Europe in 2008, Japan in 2009, and North America in 2010. A Sega Saturn version was in development, but cancelled. Theme Hospital was a commercial success, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and was ported to the PlayStation in 1998. The game received a generally positive reception, with reviewers praising the graphics and humour in particular. Multiplayer support with up to four players was added in a patch. Designers originally planned to include four distinct gameplay modes corresponding to historical time periods, but this was dropped due to time pressures on the team. Peter Molyneux and James Leach came up with the idea of creating a Theme game based on a hospital, but Molyneux was not directly involved in development due to his work on Dungeon Keeper. The game is noted for its humour, and contains numerous references to pop culture. The game is the thematic successor to Theme Park, also produced by Bullfrog, and the second instalment in their Theme series, and part of their Designer Series.

#THEME HOSPITAL PSX WINDOWS#

Theme Hospital is a building developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1997 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows compatible PCs in which players design and operate a privately owned hospital with the goal of curing patients of fictitious comical ailments.

Theme hospital psx