Two-Point Campus Review – College has never been so fun

A long time ago, I was a musician. At school, I was a kid who never had lunch or free time after school between choir, orchestra and jazz. In college, I spent as much time with the Musical Theatre Society as I did with my actual music degree. With a two-point campus, this gave me an ultimate goal: to create the ultimate fantasy music school.

Until then, the basics. For those who have played Spiritual Senior Two Point Hospital, Two Point Campus will be very familiar. The approach to both games is pretty much the same: take something usually mundane and add a healthy dose of quirky British humor. The controls are reassuringly familiar, the art style is bright, detailed and easy to read, and college life is accompanied by an 80s soundtrack of all the gossip, John Hughes plays.

The game’s campaign is essentially an extended tutorial, with each new level providing new challenges to explain core mechanics and systems and prepare for an endlessly customizable sandbox mode. Every campus starts out as a blank building, ready to fill lecture halls, classrooms, residence halls, bathrooms, private tutoring rooms, libraries, and more. Need to hire staff to teach, clean up and keep students happy. Students have their own needs, which come in the form of assignment requests: I need a party! I need a bookcase to study! I need a love bench! (more on that later).

Thanks to a loose difficulty curve, the system gradually layers but never feels overwhelming. The main challenge is balancing: Build too much and hire too many staff, and you’ll quickly run out of money and be forced to take expensive loans until more unwitting students join the chaos. This is done by adding marketing rooms to attract new students, but must be balanced with caring for existing students, who need pastoral and medical needs to graduate.

Then there’s balancing tuition and entertainment: students can join various clubs between classes to improve their learning or walking speed, while the Student Union can host pop concerts and lecture halls can screen films. It’s just endless fun in the day job – always building a new room, helping students, training teachers – but what really elevates the two-point campus beyond a smart interconnected system is its charm.

It’s in randomly generated names, it’s in the clamorous announcements of college clichés, it’s in the comical animations of every student in class. Half the fun of the game is unlocking a new class, seeing what wacky classrooms can be installed next, and just watching students in silly costumes. Humor never tires, and somehow, it all makes you care about these tiny avatars.

This is thanks to the friendship and romance system, which is one of the great additions to the game compared to Two Point Hospital – after all, the ideal university doesn’t get in and out as fast as a hospital visit; students will undergo up to three years of study . Placing items like benches, water fountains, and more around campus sparks friendships among androgynous elementary school students; add a love bench, romantic double bed, or love trumpet (yes, you read that right) and they’ll turn the friendship Take it to the next level.

In reality, relationships don’t have much of an impact on gameplay other than increasing student well-being, but they go a long way in adding color to every campus. Despite my mismanagement, I found myself creating storylines for my students, following their lives for over three years, from innocent freshmen to proud graduates.

For example, on my gourmet campus, between giant pizzas, cakes, and burgers, I inadvertently created a school of gay chefs. (The two-point campus relationship is very inclusive.) On the athletic campus in Flavboro, it’s really the story of star cheeseball player Isaac Stretchfore, who spends his time dancing on the field dressed as a rat and throwing A wheel of cheese won the game against our rival school in a nice curling ball. Elsewhere, gay athlete soulmates Ace Tacklebag and Asquith Peppermint spend too much time together in the gym on static bikes.

Each new campus has its own quirks, whether it’s a new way to make money or some (un)natural disaster, offering constant twists and turns to further challenge your management skills. On the archaeology campus, for example, any finds you dig up can be sold for extra cash, but the hot climate means that no matter how many showers I take, the students suffer from rampant body odor – not unlike this heat summer related.

Things have also changed at the Knights School. First, the school was invaded by hostile sword wielders intent on wreaking havoc, although I quickly trained my janitors to be safe, chasing them with water cannons. Students then need medical attention on the knight’s knee (spending too much time on the knee) and rusty bulge for practice in the rain (no snickering in the back). That meant building medical facilities in homage to Two Point Hospital.

And then there’s Hogg-Spiffenmore. When not invaded by the Life Eater, the campus suffers from lightning strikes and meteor showers from the Wicked Witch. The poor Reg Pungent Goth becomes more serious and needs extra pastoral care, while Imogen Lemon and Slayer Windchimes find friendship in the student lounge, shyly sitting on the sofa outside while the storm rages. However, I don’t know who registered Nigella Fromage.

As I explored the game’s customization options, I especially liked this wizard level – another area where Campus improves the hospital and adds considerable depth. Kudosh earned from completing student requests can be used to unlock decorations within a variety of themes to place on and off campus, both inside and out. Here, that means placing Gothic bookcases, owl statues, and candles in the hallway between Potions and Dueling classrooms, while brooms, runestones, and fire pits border the exterior passage. Can spend hours tinkering with decorations to create the perfect school, although I do wish I could get kudosh faster – I often spend it flippantly on fancy decorations rather than important things like actual learning facility.

Eventually, I unlocked Upper Etching and its music lessons. My mission to create the ultimate conservatory can finally begin normally. After the post-party cleanup (typical), I filled the campus with all the usual requests, then added a recording studio and installed some weird looking instruments – oddly enough, the students also needed a gym , even though I never did any distance sports for me in college. The room is decorated with record rugs, neon guitar signs, pop star posters and a pride-themed student lounge. At this point, between learning about the many interlocking systems of the Two Point campus and the abundance of customization options, I really feel like I can build a lively school that reflects me.

The systems are multiple, and the customization options are deeper. But it’s the details and British jokes that bring this parody world to life.

As soon as students join, it all starts. Fabio Volcano was found blowing the saxophone nonstop in the hallway; Rob Jazz dancing in the dorm until he failed. Byron Grunt is back-shaking for too many… milkshakes (seemingly legal); Mick Eruption is a wunderkind with high scores on boxing and kick drums. Hester Blancmange is a hilarious character on open mic night (some in-house entertainment). On the love bench, the hands of Honey Fingers and Wrenchy Peregrine could not be separated. In fact, the music campus has a much higher relationship than anywhere else – the musos are a bunch of sluts, aren’t they?

Is there real life? Well, it’s not always that far away. In the world of Two Point, where music lessons are free, I’d definitely be jealous when I was younger – even though I quickly ran out of money for the new facility and couldn’t train the next generation of pop stars. But let’s not discuss the cost of education in the UK.

Developers Two Point Studios have already proven their skills in managing simulations at Two Point Hospital and take a step forward at Two Point Campus. The systems are multiple, and the customization options are deeper. But it’s the details and British jokes that bring this parody world to life. As the game’s tannoy announcements keep pointing out: “Remind students to find themselves.” Jokes aside, Two Point’s latest entry really captures that.