Theme Hospital

Studio

Bullfrog Productions

Publisher

Electronic Arts

Erstveröffent-
lichung

1997

platform

MS-DOS , Windows , PlayStation

genre

Economic simulation

Game mode

Single player , multiplayer

control

Keyboard , mouse

system advantages
preconditions

Pentium 75 MHz processor, 8MB RAM (16MB under Windows XP), 1MB graphics card , 55MB on the hard disk

1 CD-ROM

Theme Hospital (English, theme hospital) is a computer game that was developed by Bullfrog Productions in 1997 and belongs to the genre of isometric business simulation . The player takes on the role of a manager of a hospital and has to work his way through different levels and meet the respective win conditions, e.g. B. cure a certain number of patients with a certain illness or bring the building value above a certain level.

The game title is based on the previous games in the Theme Park series by the developer Bullfrog. The basic attitude of these games is always funny and, especially with Theme Hospital, partly satirical. For example, there are corresponding animations of the characters that emphasize the satirical aspect very well, as well as frequent humorous loudspeaker announcements. If the player uses z. B. a cheat , the announcement sounds in the hospital: "Warning, the hospital management is cheating!"

The unofficial successor is the game Hospital Tycoon , released on June 6, 2007 . The open source project CorsixTH makes Theme Hospital playable natively on current Windows systems as well as Linux and macOS and has so far focused on features such as B. a modern mouse support (zoom & scrolling) and a higher resolution expanded.

Game flow

In this game there is only one indirect storyline through the career, in which as a hospital manager you have to work your way through increasingly difficult levels, from small local plagues in the beginning to large epidemic and natural disaster areas in which even the entire hospital from earthquakes threatened, which requires an efficient maintenance team.

Special events are occasionally accompanied by short video sequences . The player begins each level with an empty building floor plan. There, the floor plans of the various rooms are inserted, room utensils are bought and placed. The offer is diverse: Not only are diagnostic and treatment rooms available, the player must also take care of the sanitary facilities and recreational opportunities for employees.

The hospital must be opened for the patients within a specified minimum time. Up until this point in time, it is advisable to have a certain minimum level of equipment (e.g. reception, general medicine, pharmaceutical counter and appropriate staff) in place in order to satisfy the patient right from the start. Which illness you have depends on chance and level. The patients then go through the various facilities of the hospital bringing in money.

Later in the game, the player can also buy additional parts of the building and thus expand the hospital. With the help of research, more and more sophisticated diagnosis and treatment rooms will later become available, some of which employees have to be trained to use.

The player not only takes care of the spatial equipment, but also of the staff . The skills of the employees in the virtual job market are generated more or less randomly. For the maintenance and cleaning staff, the player can also determine the priority of their work (plant care, maintenance, cleaning). Random events such as emergencies , epidemics or earthquakes also add variety.

During the game, an advisor is always available to give helpful tips or hints if something is wrong in the hospital.

The aim of the game is to win and heal as many patients as possible through a high reputation and thus to outbid the computer-controlled competition .

There is a single player mode with levels, later an upgraded multiplayer function was added.

Diseases

The diseases depicted are for the most part fictitious, as are most diagnostic and treatment devices. When a new disease is discovered, the player is always told how it came about.

Examples of diseases are:

Bloated: patient has a bloated head, treatment by any doctor in the vent
Frankenstones: similar to kidney stones , treatment by two trained surgeons in the operating room
Schmalzstimme: patient appears as Elvis , treatment by a trained psychiatrist in psychiatry
Radiant: patient lights up green, treatment by any doctor in the disinfection department
Broken heart: the patient can only be cured by surgery.
Invisible cloak: the patient is initially invisible, if he receives a potion in the pharmacy counter, he is cured.

Web links

Theme Hospital at MobyGames (English)
CorsixTH at Github