Two Point Campus Is An A Grade School Sim

User Rating: 9
two point campus

Public sector services might be the victim of political hand wringing the world over but Sega is set to let you do a far better job of raising the next generation of young minds as we clown around in educational simulator Two Point Campus.

Term starts on a brand new installment in the Two Point franchise today. This brave new academic adventure first presented itself to us on something of an open day during WASD London, and now fans of clinical chaos can head out of the operating theatre and go back to school across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Two Point Campus, much as the name suggests, draws heavily on the groundwork of Two Point Hospital. When heads of department break ground on this sequel, there’s plenty of the same familiar framework on show. The return of this fun franchise retains the jovial isometric view that dragged Theme Hospital out into the town of Two. New educational establishments still have much of the same simple shading and consistent colors that Two Point Hospital used, but without the same clinical edge to its presentation. Accompanied by plenty of comical timing, a soundtrack that is brimming with ridiculous student radio interludes and tracks like Food on The Streets (Crumbs in My Sheets) by DJ Sue Chef means there’s no mistaking this for a serious textbook strategy sim.

 

two point campus - building a robot

 

Orientation Day

Thankfully, controls won’t require an entire textbook to decipher, no matter how much I still miss lugging home a ridiculous cardboard box containing a wedge of printed paraphernalia and a couple of diskettes. As veterans of the operating table might already know, keyboard and mice provide a simple enough way to pan, zoom, and click through this new challenge. While controllers are entirely capable here, things still feel smoothest without other new fangled teaching tools.

Those menus and basic control systems are quickly introduced as early game objectives, meaning Two Point Campus isn’t about to simply overload you with information and then expect assignments to be completed, whether you remember the reading material or not. More than just navigation, the concepts behind this new sim are steadily drip fed into the game as a well refined curriculum for undergrads of the series. On the other hand, alumni of more medical endeavors shouldn’t find the bite sized tutorials do much more than provide a solid series of objectives, introducing the core of campus life.

The basic building blocks of any good academic institution aren’t all that different to hospital management, however. Easily accessible building and decorative menus cluster the bottom of the screen, while a click and drag interface provides the tools to build out the basics of this new college life. Lecture halls, libraries, showers, toilets, and teaching facilities are all at the core of each new estate. Whether you’re building a one star campus in a backwater village or an actual knight school in a historic city, these core component’s never change. This, again provides plenty of familiar fodder for fans of Two point hospital, without alienating newbies, and keeps the wait to start a semester short.

During the off season, there’s an opportunity to quickly select the location for a set of rooms then drag in the required chairs, desks, and furnishings. Again, this is all quickly introduced in the opening moments of Two Point. If you happen to forget, there are plenty of very visible too tips, obvious logos, and large inviting menu text to keep you on track. Almost every operation is just a couple of clicks away. The simplicity of these opening actions and some thoughtful UI design, makes those early moments in the world of college far easier than real life ever was for most of us.

 

two point campus build menu

 

Hitting The Books

This simplicity continues throughout the rest of the game. While building a new campus dorm falls somewhere between the Sims and the original Two Point, this isn’t a free for all construction title. The aim of this experience is to take charge of a fledgling campus and slowly raise its stature, ensuring that it is populated with qualified staff, adequate facilities, and an outstanding academic record, not to mention a positive cashflow. Early gameplay drops players into a sleepy middle of the road town and a simple enough set of objectives. The early drag and drop mechanics are supplemented with the option to hire and manage a small selection of staff, familiarize yourself with the various decorative aspects of the game, and take a light touch approach to gameplay.

While this directed gameplay makes for an easy intro and an opportunity to sit back and enjoy the sillier aspects of the student body, Sega lets go of the reigns pretty early on, giving anybody adventurous enough time to explore and expand their campus. First year on site might seem easy enough and does simply focus on getting bums into lecture hall seats. However, the learning curve picks up. While Two Point Campus is a pun filled class full of oversized robots, clowning around, and undercover spy classes, these students mean business. A new influx at the start of each academic year requires new facilities, more demand on existing rooms, and extra staff costs to keep everybody from failing. The challenge comes with increasing complexity. Whether it’s ensuring the ratio of student dorm beds to bodies is just right, keeping everybody well fed and watered, plotting an activities schedule that will keep spirits up, or investing in private tuition, there are a wealth of potential ways to influence the various attributes that make up each student ‘s overall demeanor and final grade.

 

two point campus - student status

 

Staff can be just as grumpy or giddy as the rest of the campus population too. While it’s easy enough to hire more assistants, janitors, and teachers to keep the day to day operations flowing smoothly, balancing resources means paying for training could be a better choice in the long run, assuming you can keep the academic timetable from falling apart. Just like the fickle teenagers that trawl your hallways littering and catching whatever infectious disease is doing the rounds, the staff are just as likely to fail if they’re not given a balance of work play and pay. Thankfully, just like the student facilities, staffrooms, research labs, lecture halls, and more can be added and upgraded to make any institution an example of academic success.

Whether it’s adding a new rug to upgrade the overall rating of a staff room or investing in new research opportunities, any campus enhancements cost cold hard cash. Handling the stream of inbox requests that arrive during each semester, scratching out in game achievements, and simply getting students through the year adds a bunch of Kudos and cash to college coffers. While Kudos is generally used to unlock and add new items to each institution, cash is used in a more regular sense to pay for upkeep, expansion, maintenance, and wages. These both provide a steady gameplay lop where you’ll need to spend money to make money, upgrading the prestige and capacity of a university as the years progress.

Despite the absolutely bewildering number of ambient influences, in game events, inspections, frog rain, flooding, fires, and failing students that have to be managed, Two Point Campus makes is an absolute joy to attend to. This is a world full of silly schools, jousting classes, general knowledge pop quizzes, and more buffoonery that is just a hoot to be around. The game is instantly easy to pick up, with a plenty of minutia and the freedom to make each semester as complex or simple as you wish. Try running three or more courses on the third year and tell me that clown classes are still fun. Two Point Campus manages exactly what Two Point Hospital did. It provides an enjoyable escape, an homage to ideas of the past with another brand-new twist and plenty of personality to boot. If you find the idea of a mischievous janitor called Carrie Horn makes you snigger, then this is right on your intellectual level. I just school was ever really this fun. Two Point Campus is out today across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

Summary
A Grade A return to a solidly high achieving franchise. Two Point Campus has plenty of silly SATS and delightful moments without upending the core of what makes the Two Point experience so easy to enjoy.
Good
  • Lighthearted tone
  • Easy to jsut pick up and play
  • Plenty of variety
Bad
  • Isn't hugely innovative
  • Humor may land flat for some people
9
Amazing
Written by
For those of you who I’ve not met yet, my name is Ed. After an early indoctrination into PC gaming, years adrift on the unwashed internet, running a successful guild, and testing video games, I turned my hand to writing about them. Now, you will find me squawking across a multitude of sites and even getting to play games now and then

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