SEGA’s excellent Two Point Campus is back for a new term, and this time it’s all about healthcare. That’s right, the latest expansion has an air of the familiar about it as Two Point Campus: Medical School evokes memories of where the series began. However, despite some similarities things are a little different this time around.
There are three new campus locations for you to get to grips with, all attracting plenty of unhealthy visitors. One of my favourite parts of the classic Theme Hospital, along with its spiritual successor, was all the wacky and ridiculous ailments visitors would turn up with. Again, this is the case in Two Point Campus: Medical School thanks to comical conditions such as brain freeze, where the patient’s head turns into a literal block of ice.
Two Point Campus: Medical School brings with it new courses and treatment rooms to get to grips with, adding to an already extensive list. You’ll need to train staff through medical school and nursing courses, before being able to help those suffering from all sorts of weird and wonderful ailments. This may mean they need to visit the head clinic, injection room or even head off for some thumping therapy. This is all for the benefit of the students of course, who watch intently standing with clipboards at the ready.
Each scenario is a little different, but the tried and tested structure of the Two Point series remains fundamentally unchanged. You’ll be guided on what to do to get set up early on, and then presented with a number of objectives to hit to achieve your first star, and can continue to play to achieve a maximum of three stars for your campus. Of course, it gets gradually more challenging if you want to nab those additional stars.
Something that is new to the Two Point Campus series however (albeit familiar from the previous game) are patient emergencies. Every now and then you’ll be asked to treat a certain number of people within a time limit, as they all get dropped off at your campus at once. Succeeding will net you some decent rewards.
Another nifty little addition in Two Point Campus: Medical School is the option to add helipads to your campus. These allow for the speedy drop off of patients, giving you the option to control the flow of visitors across the campus.
It’s also good to see the return of ghosts which will roam around your campus if people don’t quite make it through their treatment. You’ll need to call on your ever trusty janitor who is trained in ghost capture to head over and suck it up (so to speak).
The second campus, Molten Rock, is unfortunately situated right next door to an active volcano. This means time limited objectives will pop up at random which, if failed, will result in an eruption. This will rain down damage upon your campus, and force your janitors – who are trained in fire resistance – to snap into action to prevent further damage.
This campus also brings back the ability to unlock plots without paying, but instead by ticking off certain tasks. Of course, due to the nature of your location the temperature is very high indeed, so this also needs managing with aircon units and the like.
The third and final campus, Pointy Peak, strips away your XP bonus making it much tougher to turn a profit. However, the local Bigfoot Foundation will award grants when you complete specific tasks. Thanks to the location, temperature is once again a challenge but this time you’ll need to keep your patients and students warm.
For any Two Point Campus fans, you know the drill by now with the expansions. There are more than 60 new items that come with this latest DLC, and they are bang on in terms of the medical theme, further expanding on your customisation possibilities.
Depending on your preference, the fact that you can play through Two Point Campus: Medical School without hitting too many stumbling blocks will either be a good or bad thing. The last campus is certainly more of a challenge, as you will feel cash strapped before too long. Of course, if you want to achieve three stars for each campus then this ups the ante somewhat across all the levels, putting your management skills to the test.
As ever this expansion still looks brilliant with all new animations for the medical related content. The only (very minor) performance issue I found was when I zoomed my camera out over my busy campus, my framerate nosedived for a few seconds as the game played catch-up. It’s also worth noting once again that navigating the UI remains comfortable overall and nipping in and out of menus won’t cause you any problems.
This latest expansion for Two Point Campus takes the game back to its roots, and feels like a hybrid of sorts as it re-introduces elements and themes from Two Point Hospital. Rather brilliantly, it completely avoids feeling like deja vu or groundhog day. Instead, the combination of gameplay from both titles makes for yet another enjoyable chapter in the consistently excellent Two Point series. In fact, it may well be the most enjoyable to date.
Two Point Campus: Medical School continues its excellent run, this time taking us back to where it all began which despite potential risks, pays off handsomely.
