I've Earned my Two Point Campus PhD!

I've just wrapped up my final three-star campus in the recently released Two Point Campus and I feel like I've officially earned my PhD of campus management.  I'm not merely content to earn one-star and then move on to the next map, so I crazily did the full three-star tour.  Overall, I had a nice time and am looking forward to any future DLC.

Playtime Overview:

My total playthrough clocked in at 102 hours (there's undoubtedly some AFK time in there)--if you want to 3-star each of the 12 campuses...there's plenty there to keep you busy.  If you're hoping for a faster playthrough you can easily earn 1-star and then move on to the next campus.

The massive final campus level.

Pros:

+ Most of the management aspects of the game are very similar to Two Point Hospital, so it's easy to pick up if you have that experience.  Placing objects, managing staff, creating rooms...everything is basically the same.  The good news is that Campus started off with many of the great features that were added into Hospital--the ability to clone rooms and to save room templates.

A lot of the goals on each campus hinge on student achievement and happiness--two aspects that are related.  Happier students learn better, so maintaining high grades means more than merely making sure that your students have adequate teachers and facilities--they also want to make friends, have romantic relationships, and of course...party!  Luckily there are specific room types that can provide these opportunities and also objects that can help.  The addition of a calendar for planning events also helps provide special concerts or gatherings to boost student happiness.

+ Signature Two Point silliness.  The courses you can choose to have at your university range from scientography (a semi-serious take on science) to funny business (a class for wannabe clowns).  My favorite course is gastronomy--a cooking class where students learn to make gigantic food.

The in-game music/radio features many of the familiar DJ's from Hospital and a few new ones.  They're just as whacky as before.

+ Exterior design!  Campus adds in the ability to create and design your own buildings on the lots that you buy (you can actually choose if you want buildings or not on new lots) and allows you to design outdoor features with plenty of flowers, benches, hedges, and other features.  If you are truly creative (I'm not) you can create amazingly beautiful campuses.

+ Sandbox mode.  Perfect for creative types.

+ The ability to manage and add new courses is nice.  You earn course points for accomplishing specific goals and can decide to expand the courses you already have or to add brand new ones (which means adding in all the required rooms for that course...so be aware).  There's some freedom to choose the courses you want to accomplish your goals (obviously you can't change the mission-specific courses).

+ Goals can be challenging.  I think that they're actually harder than in Hospital.  Don't be surprised if you find yourself restarting a map.  Luckily though I didn't find them to be too difficult.

+ Staff training automatically queues.  The downside is that you can only train one person at a time.

+ Tons of fun items and cosmetic features to unlock with Kudosh.  Staff outfits, specific room items, wallpapers, carpets...there's no shortage of stuff to make your campus unique.

Cons:

- Student behavior is weird and the way that students take care of their needs isn't explained well.  Basically, students have basic needs--they need rest, food, water, a bathroom and shower--but they tend to not take care of these needs.  The school year is split into times where they are in classes and then free time where you would assume they would prioritize their needs...but they often don't.  Students who become too unhappy from unmet needs will threaten to drop out.  There's very little you can manage to keep this from happening and it's probably one of the most frustrating aspects of the game.

- No room queues.  Not every room in Campus needs a queue, but I wish they had the same room queue feature that was in Hospital.  It can also be frustrating when a student has poor grades and is queueing for tutoring and you can't bump them up in the line ahead of someone who is trying to move that B+ to an A or when you have a student who is threatening to drop out and you can't pop them to the front of the queue in the medical or pastoral support rooms.

- Rooms have a "capacity" and how it works is also not explained well.  Bigger room = more students...but there are also other factors.

- Some bugs.  I had a few issues with students getting stuck, but nothing too major. (*They just released the first "big" patch for the game).  Also, there's some weirdness with objects saying that they're blocked when they clearly aren't.

- I've seen some people ask if Campus is a clone of Hospital...I wouldn't quite go that far, but they are very similar.  If you were hoping that Campus would be a totally different experience than Hospital...it's not.  If you didn't enjoy Hospital, you probably won't enjoy Campus.

- There is zero explanation about the planning calendar and when I tried to change things around it created a massive clusterfu*& of epic proportions.  It's another feature that could use some sort of tutorial or explanation.

Recommendation:

Campus adds some new features but keeps much of the core that made up Hospital.  I found that there was enough to keep it challenging and entertaining. I think the $40 price tag is appropriate if you plan on the full three-star experience.

Campus Crazies

As expected, I've been spending all my gaming time diving into Two Point Campus and I have to say that I've been having a great time.  I haven't made a ton of progress and have completed the first 4 or so campuses.  Maybe I'm crazy or doing it wrong, but I like to three-star each campus before I move onto the next one.  So, what's the same and what's new in the next chapter in the Two Point-iverse?

Anyone who played Two Point Hospital will immediately recognize the fact that many of the core gameplay mechanics are virtually the same.  Students and staff have basic needs that must be met; designing, placing, and decorating rooms is the same--rooms still have a prestige level that is impacted by the size and items you place in the room;  you'll still need to train staff to meet the needs of the many students who populate your campuses.

Even though many of the core mechanics of the game have stayed the same the focus in Campus is much more client/student oriented.  The ultimate goal on each campus is to keep your students happy and help them earn high grades.  Student happiness isn't just simply fulfilling their basic needs--students want to create relationships (of the friendship and romantic varieties), and be entertained.  These needs can be maintained through special rooms--the student lounge and student union rooms are both great hangout spots where friendships can blossom--or even through single items.  Students who are seeking romantic relationships might request a special bench that can be placed outside or a cupid statue.  Clubs are another unique way to keep students happy and there are several varieties (each with their own benefit)--in true Two Point fashion, these clubs are definitely a tad silly.  The power napping club teaches students the ability to rest and regain energy basically anywhere; the book club can actually help students learn faster; the power walking club improves student healthiness as does the nature club.

DJ Sue Chef puts on a performance in the student union.

The students and campuses themselves vary widely--the first few campuses have goals that are focused toward a single specialization, so far I've built campuses for gastronomy students who seem to be concerned with creating giant foods; robotics students who are focused on creating the perfect iron giants; a castle campus filled with wannabe knights.  The gameplay takes place during an "academic year" and you can choose the courses that will be taught (which is based on the goals for each map).  At the end of each year during "summer break" you are presented with new campus requirements and can choose to add or improved courses.  This break is nice because it gives you time to build new structures and rooms to improve your campus and work toward satisfying the increasingly complex requirements for each star-level.

Students come in a variety of "archetypes" and I haven't had much of a chance to delve into exactly what that means--a handy loading screen tip implies that different types of students have different needs.  It's fun to see the different type of students who show up on campus--goth students seem to enjoy the many gothic themed items (like the coffin bookcase or the raven lamp); posh students seem to enjoy...themselves?  I haven't had many posh students and their demands have been mostly for hat stands and posh pictures.

I'm hoping to get to some of the more advanced campuses and offer up many courses during my upcoming play sessions.  If you enjoyed Two Point Hospital, Campus has much of the same feel with enough differing mechanics to keep if feeling like a new spin on the formula.  

Count Down until Two Point Campus

I've been spending almost all of my gaming time flitting between Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2 and The Witcher 3.  It's definitely an unconventional pairing!  My main source of excitement is the looming release of the follow up to my favorite silly management sim TwoPoint Hospital.  TwoPoint Campus is due to release on August 9th and it promises to take the same level of goofy hi-jinx to the world of higher education.  Here's the trailer:

I've been following the development news and there are some promising features that weren't available in TwoPoint Hospital.  I am most excited about the ability to have more freedom to design more than just the interiors of each level--Campus will allow you to design the outdoor areas too!  Lots of silly majors have already been announced--knighthood, spying, cooking giant foods...there's tons of goofiness which is exactly what I am looking for.  I have no idea how the management aspects of the game will work, but I can't wait to create a bonkers college experience for my students!

TwoPoint Campus releases on PC and consoles on August 9th!