Two Point Hospital | Steam | Review

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There’s a fine art to taking a beloved franchise and using it as a base to produce something new that can stand alone. Whether it’s The Last Jedi dividing a fanatical Star Wars audience or the latest superhero flick not being true to its source material, the process is fraught with danger and potential fan backlash. How reassuring to our faith in humanity then that Two Point Hospital is every bit the worthy standard bearer for a welcome return to the 90s’ management sim boom.

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​by James
Michael
​Parry

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@James_Parry

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Developer: Two
Point Studios
Publisher: SEGA
Platforms: PC,
Mac, Linux
Players: 1

Best of all, it leapfrogs (or bullfrogs...) the technical constraints of that bygone era to deliver a title with graphical and performance settings up the wazoo, including a stonkingly high frame rate slider which goes so far in specific numbers we're pretty sure it's a gag.

In fact, the humour is something which gave the original game it's trademark Britishness, so you'll be pleased to hear that’s been brought through in top form. Over-the-top ailments - which you, as hospital administrator, must put doctors on the case to diagnose - are the most obvious example, though, tragically (or fortunately, for patients), Bloody Head and Slack Tongue aren't running rife in Two Point County.

More than that though, it's the little animations and character interactions that make the game stand out if you look a little closer, such as the frustrated nurse struggling to get her computer to work, or a lonely monobrow snaking its way around the hospital halls, waiting to be zapped by your all-seeing crosshair of doom.

​Despite the nods to Theme Hospital, the game isn't at all closed off to newcomers, taking cues from the likes of The Sims in character personality traits and the ability to play with time, which can make things a lot less frantic. Offering up just a handful of conditions and different areas to manage in the first few levels, you won't be worrying about minor details like hygiene or temperature in your hospital until you've got to grips with the basics.

Two Point Hospital is every bit the worthy standard bearer for a welcome return to the 90s’ management sim boom.

A major plus this time around is that you have multiple locations to manage, so you can always revisit an earlier level and beef it up with more advanced equipment and items to boost your overall organisation's revenue. This metagame is a welcome addition, but, so far, hasn't seen different locations interact or crossover.

Repetition and busywork are the quickest way to kill the fun in a simulation game, but fortunately, thanks to the slow introduction of mechanics and a startling amount of depth when you start to dig into the more detailed menus on the information tab, Two Point manages not to be afflicted with this disease.

Given there are humans responsible for Theme Hospital involved with the project, it's no surprise that this and probably every other review mentions the game's connection to what was a mainstay of 90s PC gaming. Despite that, Two Point proudly stands on its own, with more than enough fresh ideas to make it feel like an entirely new game.

​There are a few foibles to throw amongst the superlatives, however: AI behaviour of characters can be questionable at times, and in some aspects there's a lot of manual clicking of items to make sure they’re dealt with - particularly for the janitors, even though you can manually enable and disable specific tasks.

​Other elements seem very much up to chance as well, such as the panic-inducing emergency requests, which see six or eight patients with the same condition come in for treatment at the same time. In these instances, it often doesn't seem to matter how slick an operation you’re running - there are always casualties. You might have a plus-sized ward with enough empty beds and a more than capable senior nurse, boasting the relevant treatment specialist skills, but still find patients dropping dead on you. A less than encouraging outcome.

Still, these moments are few and far between, and the potential to add in new elements post-launch is now far more likely than in the CD-ROM era.

If you're looking for a surprising diagnosis for this game, then you'll need a second opinion, as we're here to confirm - despite a few minor flaws - that the Two Point fever sweeping Steam right now is every bit as intoxicatingly contagious as it's cracked up to be. If they'd got the original tannoy voice back, it might somehow be even better.

Pros

• A welcome adrenaline shot of nostalgia
• Improves on its inspiration and brings the genre bang up to date
• Technically well put together and bags of options to tweak

Cons

• Sometimes chance plays into things a little too much
• Emergencies with zero deaths seem near-impossible
• AI occasionally has a mind of its own

10/10