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Going Back To School! We Review Two Point Campus

Published Sun, 14 Aug 2022 16:13:12 -0500

When we got word that SEGA and Two Point Studios were going to be releasing a sequel called Two Point Campus, we were thrilled and nervous. One of the best simulator games we've played in recent memory was Two Point Hospital, a spiritual successor to Theme Hospital, which allowed you to run and moderate a cartoonish hospital as you helped cure people of various illnesses of a silly nature. The game is super fun, but also super stressful as you're still working the hospital management angle of keeping the place up and running while trying to cure the sick. So when Two Point Campus rolled out, we were a little worried about what we might encounter. Would it be the same as TPH, or would it be something totally different? We woke ourselves up after a kegger at the frat house, downed a couple of energy drinks, ran across campus and hit the books for our review.

Going Back To School! We Review Two Point Campus — Credit: SEGA

The premise of the game is pretty simple. You are brought in by the local board of education in Two Point County (the same setting as the first game) to help fix and improve the local college system. No two colleges are alike, however, and you will need to put your best foot forward to not only make each one a unique experience but an educational one at that. Each college will have a representative chat with you about what that particular campus has to offer, whether it be culinary, wizardry, spy school, sports, or even clown college. They will give you the basic rundown of what's up and what needs to happen in order for this place to be a success. You'll be given required tasks from the start and progressively harder ones as you go to get the college from 1-3 stars. The more stars you get, the more colleges will open up and the more bonuses you'll get to help you out at that particular school.

We Got Schooled In A Recent Demo Of Two Point Campus — Credit: SEGA

If you've already played Two Point Hospital, then Two Point College is basically a walk in the park. One of the driving forces that made TPH kind of a draw sometimes was the focus on how much money you made and how serviceable the location was to patients. Since you're dealing with students, that challenge has been skewed a bit and, in retrospect, has made the overall game a little easier to work with. Unlike patients who will immediately leave if they're not being treated, students will give the place a shot for 1-4 years. As long as you run the campus well, very few drop out or fail, so there's not this constant pressure of loss from people refusing to pay. Those mechanics still exist; students will refuse to pay tuition and will flunk out and quit. However, it's not going to cripple the college immediately like it would in the hospital.

Two Point Campus Shows Off Wizardry Course In Latest Video — Credit: SEGA

Much like the first game, you'll still need to build room and hire staff in order to accommodate everyone to the best of your ability. However, some changes make the dynamic of Two Point Campus a little trickier. First off, students need a place to stay, so you have to build dorms. Second, courses are taught both in primary lecture rooms, but also in secondary rooms that specialize in specific fields. Professors teach specific courses, but are at various levels and will need to be trained if you want students to go from C average to A+. Students need to learn outside of class as well, so you'll need to build a library. Everyone needs food and drink, so you'll need to build vendor stations. People need rest, so the staff needs a break room, and the students need a lounge and a student union. They also get injured and need counseling, so you need a sick bay and a counselor's room. Sometimes they need help with funding, so there's also private tuition. And before you know it, you have a campus with six buildings and multiple rooms dealing with all sorts of issues.

As far as the progression in the game goes, I found the sequel much easier to navigate. It still takes effort, but getting to three stars on most campuses is pretty easy when you figure out the best way to approach it. Although it still has one of the most-hated requirements in the game, which is earning a specific amount of money in a month. Sometimes your college just can't make $40k in a month, no matter what you do. So you either have to retool it from scratch for hours or start over. And unlike TPH where you could bill people with high prices for a short period, there's no option to raise tuition. So all you can do sometimes is lower how much you pay the staff, which absolutely sucks! Either way, it's frustrating as hell to know that you'd be done with a level if not for the fact that you can't clear that bar.

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of Two Point Campus. It isn't a perfect game, and there are things here and there that are annoying. But as far as simulator titles go, it's one of the best you can get. I will say if you played the first game, you might actually find this one a breeze as it's clear they fine-tuned a few things that people had issues with. It's more streamlined and easier to navigate in many ways. Depending on how you play, this will either be an amazing bonus, or you'll feel like it's too easy. In any case, there's clearly room for a ton of DLC content to be added to this game, so we're pretty sure it will be getting a ton of support down the road with new things to accomplish. But remember, this is your college; you can run it how you see fit. Don't be afraid to try anything that makes you happy, even if it fails. Much like real life and choosing to go back to school, you can always start over!

Two Point Campus