Hopefully I’m doing the right thing here and kicking of the first official RCT3 coaster review for the RCTLounge Blog.
The coaster I chose to review for the first ever RCTview (nice play on words right?) was Starwaris’s “The Black Knight.” What made this ride pop out to me is how Starwaris did not let RCT3’s many limitations stop him from making a highly realistic ride. If anyone is familiar to the B&M style of layouts and supporting, then you could clearly see the amount of effort Starwaris put into this to both replicate that style, and add his own touches to it.
I’d like to start off the technical part of my review with arguably the must crucial part to a good ride for me, supports. I thought the lift hill supports were better than anything I could ever think of doing in RCT3, he nailed the style of supporting that involves 3 A-frames stemming from the same point which made me so happy to look at. Then from there on, everything was spot on to the way that B&M makes their supports, the A Frames behind inversions (ex: http://rcdb.com/ig2169.htm?picture=10) and the vertical/slant supports on the zero G roll (ex: http://rcdb.com/ig2169.htm?picture=11). A couple of other great supporting spots were the cobra roll which had just absolutely great styling to them, and the perfect tripod supports for the interlocking corkscrews. (ex: http://rcdb.com/ig2169.htm?picture=13).
Yet another great aspect of this ride is its near perfect layout. I say near because of the amount of straight track on it, I would let it slide in the interlocking corkscrews, but the straight section after the drop and in the cobra roll were not to my liking. Those aside the layout was amazing, it followed the B&M form while still being creative. I love the idea of starting off with a dive loop instead of a regular loop, even just a small difference like that makes the ride seem much more original while still feeling realistic. A great part of innovation was the diagonal zero-g-roll, Starwaris pushed RCT3’s limits to the side here and followed through with his plans for the layout, even if he had to sacrifice fluidity for it. Following the zero-g was the obligatory B&M cobra roll, a very good placement for it, but I feel that it could have done without the straight track in the middle of it. The following overbank into the mid course brake run was pretty well paced, which then led into the ride’s closing, yet thrilling moments. After a small left hand drop after the MCBR, the ride takes a turn on the Kraken side and flies through a vertical loop which is followed by a B&M staple: the interlocking corkscrews. The first corkscrew is taken at a pretty good speed, but the 2nd was just a tad on the slow side, but not slow enough to make it seem too unrealistic.
The final point I would like to touch up on is scenery. The theming at the ride’s entrance is top notch medieval theming. You have the feeling that you are walking through chivalrous lands and are about to challenge a real black knight (just in the form of a B&M sit down). However on the majority of the ride, the theming is sparse, but that is highly allowable figuring as it only adds more to the realism of the ride. A great touch was putting the ending of the ride (ex: loop and interlocking corkscrews) inside castle walls. I thought that it was a great way to end a great coaster.
My summary of the ride is as stated: A very fine, top-notch ride with great points on realism in the track and supports with just a few minor flaws. The Black Knight is also a very finely themed ride which adds to the overall experience to the ride, therefore earning Atem122’s stamp of approval.
Thread Link: http://rctlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3049
Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lkoiwy7XBg&feature=channel_page
Thanks for reading my inaugural RCTview
-Atem122
