H2H8 / H2H8 Round 3 Match 3 - The Replacements vs UltraRealists

Castles-'n-coasters
Some very pretty 'ugly' realism. Enjoyed the overall aesthetic more than I normally do for such parks, but on a deeper level there wasn't much that struck me. The coasters did little to nothing for me. My favorite ride was probably the golf course. XD simulator put a smile on my face. Overall, good park - not my cup of tea.

E.V.I.L.
The concept was really cool and I enjoyed what you've done with it but at times it seemed a bit rushed in the details. The architecture is amazing though and I really enjoyed Arsine. I guess I really enjoyed all the buildings for what they were and what they contained, but it also feels more like 'a sum of its parts' than a complete and cohesive piece.

Tough match. CNC seems like the technically better park, but EVIL works much better for me.

Both parks are obviously very good, but I really have a hard time liking EVIL at all, something just feels off about it that feels like trying to eat soup with a knife.  Sitdown layout was quite good.

CnC is good, maybe even great.  Perhaps has a bit too much great stuff all at once to really be easy on the eyes.  Really need patience and a sharp eye to find everything in it.

EVIL is a fucking revelation

This one's not even close for me.

Castle's and Coasters is sheer brilliance. It's probably my favorite park of H2H so far. It just feels real. It feels like the love child of Fun Spot and Castles and Coasters. Things like the Music Express, the Sky Coaster and Arizona Wildcat are just scary good. I also love the way you used old, almost taboo objects like the light bar and fisherman lights and made them look amazing. Great interiors too.

Holy fuck that park...

As for E.V.I.L, clearly there's something here that I'm missing and that's a shame. I spent a lot of time looking at it trying to "get it" because I know a lot of well respected builders love it but I hate to say that I continue to miss out. It seems really simplistic for an H2H park and there's just not much to hold the viewer's interest. It really almost feels unfinished / rushed to me. I don't know if it is, but that's how it feels.

The feedback on these two parks is such a teeter totter... Almost like you either love one and hate the other... or hate one and love the other...

Should be an interesting vote

This is really tough for me. I think this is going to sound a lot like Coasterbill's point of view on things.

I really like E.V.I.L.; the little details and atmosphere is really well done, it feels like something out of an old Bond movie. (Not old, old - but maybe Moore era Bond or late Connery). Love the vehicles and the central coaster as well as all the little things like those glass domes with a killer plant inside. It's a real love letter to those old spy movies I enjoy a lot. That helicopter though. Unfortunately, that's where I seem to be getting into a bit that I don't like. Despite all this, it seems a little empty. Almost as though there's a bit much on the rockwork or something; I'm not sure, but it's not holding my interest like Castles-n-Coasters did after repeated viewings. I feel like I saw everything the first time through, and upon looking for stuff I may have missed, I was a bit let down. Regardless, this is a really wonderful park and I do genuinely enjoy it.

I also really like Castles-n-Coasters. It was kinda fun seeing some stuff similar to my own work in this park; Warbird Cove was also partially inspired by Fun Spot. That said, I liked the woodie, and really most of the tracked rides in this park in general. My favorite probably being the adventure golf. The real standout of this park for me is probably the rides themselves. Love the skycoaster too. Like Cb above me, it just feels so real and inviting. It's probably the American parkgoer of me, but I love the atmosphere in a way that I think EVIL lost out on a little bit. Like G mentioned, I do think that there's a bit much going on in this park. It could have used a bit of breathing room in places; though this wouldn't really fit the style of the park, it was a bit heavy on content in certain areas.

I still don't know which I'll choose.

EVIL the clear winner for me as it just feels so fresh to look at, very sleek and well chose aesthetic throughout the park and very minimalistic architecture that just feels so unique and again extremely fitting for the concept of the park. CnC was good and well made from a technical point of view but it just didn't catch me... It didn't give me something I wasn't expecting, 

My vote will go to Evil

Castles-n-Coasters

No doubt about it, this is a brilliant piece of realism. Its vibey, full of incredible details, awesome rides, etc. The outside park stuff is brilliant with the carwash, and the interiors, especially the arcade, is amazing. The go-kart track is fantastic, especially with that little path bridge going over it. Layouts are on point too. There are just so many lovely buildings and little spots all over to love. Fantastic work- replacements are having an incredible season, even if their standings are not necessarily reflective of it. I don't have so much more specific to say, but the skycoaster and magic carpet are probably the two best of them I'd seen.

EVIL

But I also looove this park, like enough to make up for the lack of it in Rusty's heart . Maybe it doesn't look so great zoomed out, but I still think its brilliant. Theme executed perfectly. I love the modernist architecture and the texture uses- I need to get on this crazy paving bandwagon. The warhead rising out of the pool like that is brilliant, and the monorail 'faces' for planes/helicopters works excellently- I know how hard they are to do otherwise. the vibes are amazing, tons of details too like the surface-to-air missiles, tanks, etc. I love the pueblo architecture throughout, the glass-domed-alien thingies are fantastic. Also I do applaud the bold choice of colors for the coaster, and some of the wackier elements which I would never trust myself to do. I also think the landscaping is excellent- the trees/cacti mixed in with the rocks feel so natural, and I love how risky it all is. edit: also the golf-walkway-queue- i feel like its not an original idea but it still works really well for you guys, and I cant think of where I've even seen it before. great

Also, this is an incredible detail:

My vote probably goes to EVIL. Its a shame I have to choose, because it is really good too, and the replacements honestly deserve to be on top this season. I think both parks are in the 85% range and so my vote purely goes to the imagination and creativity of EVIL, something which makes me look at my own work and wonder why I'm not creative enough...

Castles & Coasters:

+ Theming on the log flume is really well done, really like that.

+ Great interaction between the steel coaster, log flume and go karts.

+ The Sea Dragon swinging ship looks really nice.

+ Overall many great custom rides.

+ Bumper boat ride + theming.

+ Chairlift stations

+ Kiddie coaster was great.

- Music Express, while nicely made, seems a bit out of proportion compared to the rest of the park.

- Concept is not really that exciting.

- Not a big fan of the building with the Arabian dome. It's well made, but just not really my taste.

Overall a great park, a bit reminiscent of Feira do Flamengo. I really like the density of the park and feel like everything works together well. The building style somewhat reminds me of G Force and Westwinds, but denser. The concept itself is a bit boring compared to EVIL but that doesn't really make this park any less great.

EVIL:

+ The SAM turrets are well done.

+ I like the architecture of the mansion.

+ The helicopter is great.

+ The rocket is great.

+ Actually all the vehicles spread out across the map...

+ Warhead has a great layout.

+ The radiation sign on the blue dome.

+ The torture devices.

+ The shark tank.

+ The whole concept.

- Colour scheme, this park is very monotone imo.

- Architecture of the factory/plant could use some more details imo.

Overall also a great park and a completely different style. The concept is great and the execution is also great. The only thing this park lacks imo is colour, it is very monotone which is something I don't really like. Other than that I think its great.

Can't really choose atm, will think about it a bit more and vote later.

Ridiculously close matchup here. A perfect tie right now....

This is super fun to watch, god I wish I knew what I'm apparently missing in that UltraRealists park.

If there's time for a realism vs. fantasy debate, it's now. 

I love CnC. Could see myself walking around in that park, enjoying a day there, which makes it really appealing to me. The whole park is technically great, well composed, with great rides (although I wish the kiddie rides had been peepable), and had just a great warmth to it. 

E.V.I.L., on the other hand, was a neat idea very well executed. While it's a bit on the sparse side, everything it had to offer kept me looking at the park and enjoying all the things the builders put into it. I loved the slightly unorthodox coaster layout, and all the little scenes everywhere. Also, that helicopter was freaking awesome.

I'm still deliberating on my vote here, because it's tough to choose between two things I enjoyed immensely. I'm leaning towards E.V.I.L. atm, but I would be pretty surprised if CnC loses. The NE meta seems to be more heavily realism and theme park focused, perhaps because this is indeed a theme park simulation game and most of us enjoy theme parks irl.

It's interesting to me how a winning strategy in H2H isn't just "building cool shit", it's "building cool shit that goes over well with the voting panel." It seems that this season, realism and semi-realism are beating out fantasy. I'm very interested to see what comes from this match.

Both parks are absolutely top tier in my mind but E.V.I.L takes the cake for me for executing the atmosphere and theme so well.

I accidentally voted for CnC though! Sorry, UR!

This might be the first time we've really ever seen desert contemporary architecture in RCT, and I have to say I dig it. I'm not a huge fan of some of the rock work in EVIL, and those custom cactus objects are not really doing the park any favors, but overall it's a great idea, perfectly suited for the contest, and everything has lots of space to breathe. If I have one complaint about the park, it's just that Warhead dominates it a bit too much and I think another large set piece would have served the park well. The shark cage is brilliant, the underground lab is brilliant, but another clear area or building might have stopped Warhead from overpowering everything; maybe something space-based, or a Bat-cave with weird high-tech equipment... The park might also have benefited from structuring itself a bit more, i.e. instead of being one big compound with miscellaneous supervillianery, have smaller themed bits that are each homages to specific villains. There is obviously a lot of Bond inspiration here but on the whole it does feel like it's trying to take the general tropes rather than any specific ones. I hope that makes sense.

Castles N Coasters could not be more different. Arizona Wildcat is magnificent (that finale around the start of the ride though!), Adventure Golf is perfectly nestled underneath it, and Desert Storm does a great job of being a centerpiece without being overpowering. The support placements are all intelligent, and the little color accents just make it feel extra believable. Even the arcade/entrance building just feels so real, even down to the In N Out chilling right outside the gates and  the Chevron across the way. I feel like I've been to this park before, and this is what some of those small freeway parks I went to as a kid might grow into someday. I honestly cannot find any faults with it.

I think if CNC were up against either of the parks in the "city park" match last round, it might not survive just because it's not quite as fresh of a take as either of those were, but it's so perfectly realized compared to EVIL, which has great ideas on display but doesn't nail the execution to the same degree. This round is still very close in my mind and both parks deserve a lot of votes and a lot of attention. 

I wanted to vote on EVIl, the Ultrarealiststs park on my phone during work break. But I accidentally clicked null vote... Can my vote to EVIL still be added please? 

40 minutes of discussing E.V.I.L. Castles-n-Coasters.

Castles-n-Coasters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxMDakrptvo

sorry for forgetting to go back to the cutaway at the end, i had already seen it pre-recording but forgot to review as the video was already so long. does make a difference.

E.V.I.L.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1qnLC8MgZc&

We'll correct misclicks reported in the comments here at the end of the match, for now... Can you guys please hold your votes until you're sure that you're not having any spasms or epileptic seizures? This poll is slowly becoming a bit messy.

Not in the mood for a big text review, I’ll make it quick.

Castles n’ Coasters:

This is a real life park?! Would never have guessed this madness actually exists! On the other hand it’s probably the only explanation for this weirdness.

+ I love all the details, makes it a very lively park.

+ The interiors are a great touch. I loved going round the park to see which buildings had them and was surprised to see all of them did.

+ The custom rides and interaction are really well done.

- I’m not a fan of all the white. Seeing this is a recreation I’m guessing you had to but I don’t like it nonetheless. Also find the archy, especially the building with the dome to be super tacky. Again, probably like the real park but still not a fan.

- Sometimes the park was way too dense. I’m finding myself to repeat this criticism a lot this H2H. Why can’t we have parks anymore where the stuff can just breathe?

E.V.I.L

Not sure but I’m guessing it’s based on some sort or intellectual property or movie? Or is it just a representation of any standard villain lair? Whatever, I liked it.

+ It has room to breathe, unlike other parks I’ve seen this contest.

+ It’s filled with little ideas and scenes, like the lasers and torturing devices which are great.

+ Very clever use of ride vehicles and trackitecture to enhance but not replace, I love it!

- Peach, peach rocks everywhere! Would’ve benefitted from some actual landscaping IMO instead of just objects.

- I felt quite a few jokes went over my head for not being familiar with the source material, like the plane on the golf field. But that’s just me probably.

Overall a very strong matchup. No idea who to vote for.