In quite fantastic news, Zoo Tycoon is about to get a spiritual successor. Frontier Developments, they of Planet Coaster fame, has announced Planet Zoo, allowing would-be park builds construct their own wildlife attractions.

Jurassic World Evolution might only have just got out the door but Frontier is already hard at work on its next title. The dinosaur-themed management game might not have impressed critically compared to the excellent Planet Coaster, but that license managed to drag it up into the list of best-selling PC games this year.

Things are about to get old-school in Planet Coaster. To a time when health and safety regulations were but the glint in a young, bureaucracy-loving councillor’s eyes. Back in the day, if you came off a rollercoaster without legs and arms that looked black and blue then you were doing it all wrong. Frontier is looking to relive those halcyon days of yesteryear with the Planet Coaster Vintage Pack.

Planet Coaster really is the game that keeps on giving. For years we waited for a worthy successor to RollerCoaster Tycoon, and boy did Frontier manage it. The latest addition to this packed package is the Planet Coaster Adventure Pack, featuring a smorgasbord of adventure-themed goodness for those who want to add a spot of Indiana Jones flair to their theme parks. Everyone knows the adventure-themed areas are basically the best bits of any real-life theme park and, barring mods, there hasn’t really been an effective way to build your own in Planet Coaster yet.

Sometimes, the universe aligns just right. When Frontier revealed last year that it was working on a tie-in with a big 2018 movie, I hoped beyond hope that it was Jurassic World. Well, prayers answered. Planet Coaster and Elite Dangerous developer Frontier Developments has officially unveiled Jurassic World Evolution, an all-new park management sim set on Isla Nublar and the Muertes Archipelago.

Planet Coaster’s absolutely stellar post launch support continues with the arrival of the Spring Update. This is a free update which adds several new rides, a Crime and Security feature, doubles the potential maximum size of ride blueprints and adds a trio of new campaign scenarios centred around the people’s champion - Chief Beef.

Depending on what side of the fence you fall on, you could say Frontier’s development and support of Planet Coaster since its launch last month has been second to none. Or you could claim the coaster park management sim has crept in as Early Access in disguise. Whatever the case, Planet Coaster’s free Winter Update looks like a heaping great slice of awesome, adding in festive themed rides, themed park decorations, a snow biome and more.

Round here at GD we’re pretty big fans of Planet Coaster based on our early tinkerings with the game, and the best just keeps getting better with yet another post-launch update.

Good morning again mon petit croissants! How are you this fine Saturday morning? Feeling well? Hungover? Been to see Wells Carnival have we (I know I did)? Well to wake you up or to just lay in to, as is turning into tradition, we’ve got a lovely new trailer from this week to cosy up with. This one is one that we’ve already been enjoying (Jon especially) it’s Planet Coaster’s launch trailer released but the other day.

We benchmarked Planet Coaster last week and found some of the larger theme parks could absolutely tank the frame rate. Well, things have just got heaps more demanding with the latest update - Frontier has expanded the maximum park sizes in Planet Coaster by more than 150%. I can only imagine the impact that’s going to have on FPS, but Jon will be sure to build an epic theme park this week and give it a go.

Move over pretenders, there's a new claimant to the tycoon crown. After years of disappointment and dodgy decision making, Frontier has come along and totally obliterated the genre with Planet Coaster, reinventing theme park management in the process. In my time with it so far it's absolutely gorgeous, incredibly in-depth, and yet remarkably simple to get into. The downside is that it's incredibly demanding though. We stacked up our MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming X 6G against Planet Coaster in a series of benchmarks to see just how well it runs.