Theme Hospital

Developed by Theme Park creators Bullfrog, Theme Hospital is a humorous business management simulation which sees you running a hospital; zoning rooms, placing items, managing staff, and tinkering with micro-management.

As your reputation increases, more patients come to your hospital, and you need to make sure you have adequate staff that are happy, and have well maintained equipment. Doctors are your main staff member which are required for most rooms, although Nurses are needed for certain rooms like the Pharmacy and Ward, at least one Receptionist is needed to send patients around the hospital, and Handymen tend to the plants, pick up litter, and repair machinery.

You start off with a few rooms but more become available over time and through research. Research also improves equipment durability and drug effectiveness which are vital to your hospital. Doctors have a skill level of Junior, Apprentice and Consultant and can have additional skills of Psychiatrist (allows them to work in the Psychiatrist room), Surgeon (allows them to work in the Operating Theatre), and Researcher (allows them to work in Research departments). Consultants can teach Doctors when placed in the Training Room and the additional skills can be learnt.

It's a good idea to hire a consultant with multiple skills and make him teach junior doctors. You can hire juniors on cheap wages, and providing you keep them happy; they shouldn't ask for a pay-rise. Illnesses are sometimes real, based on reality or just plain silly. For example, bone fractures are sensible, bloated heads need to be popped and re-inflated, and King's Complex make people convinced they are Elvis.

Rooms are divided into 4 categories; Diagnosis, Treatment, Clinics and Facilities. Patients always visit the GP and then may be sent to treatment, or for further diagnosis in the General Diagnosis room, Scanner Rooms, or X-Ray. Most of the rooms contain equipment that has to be repaired or replaced after long use or after the annoying earthquakes. If the machine does blow up, the penalty is death for people nearby (patients and staff), and the room is permanently unusable.

Your hospital may start an epidemic if diseases spread and you must either declare it and pay a fine or attempt to cover it up (and gain compensation). You also get presented with emergencies that you can take on for a bonus, or refuse for no penalty.

There's plenty of hours of fun to be had with Theme Hospital but it does come with annoying niggles. You need two surgeons for the operating theatre but one of them always seem to wander off; causing a large queue of unhappy patients and one doctor being idle. Handymen wander all around the hospital and it would be nice to assign them to a zone. Radiators only cover a tiny area, so you end up having loads and have to have them on full heat.

Once you work out a strategy, you tend to use it over and over again, so it would be nice to have more variation between levels. Completing Theme Hospital does take a long time, because like all strategy games, the hours just seem to fly by. Even when you do complete it, you may be tempted to play again on a higher difficulty.