Humorous hospital harmonies
The 90s were a wild time in video game development. Where fans today have to wait a decade for the successor to a franchise - referring to
Many of these projects were also new IPs. For example, Dungeon Keeper, was released on June 26, 1997, and Theme Hospital Theme Hospital, on March 28, three months earlier. Well, it should be said that some of the releases were thematically similar games, more precisely theme-based management games with a similar technical framework. Nevertheless, the density of legendary Bullfrog games such as Populous (1989), Syndicate (1993), Theme Park (1994) and Dungeon Keeper (1997) is remarkable.
The game concept of Theme Hospital probably needs no explanation. As managers of a hospital, that's exactly what we do: manage a hospital. To make the theme child-friendly, however, it's not about everyday ailments such as colds or broken bones, but conditions such as a bloated head or pathological Elvis impersonation. The associated treatments are just as quirky, and it is this light-hearted humor that gives the game a certain timelessness.
The situation is different when it comes to the soundtrack. The patient there suffers from an acute form of MIDI droning that many games before the 00s fell victim to. The cause is multiple BAFTA-nominated composer Russell Shaw, who joined Bullfrog in 1993 and is probably best known for his scores for the Fable-series. He was also hired as an audio consultant for the unofficial successor Two Point Hospital which was released in 2018 ... maybe I'll do a review of that one day.
Back to the beginnings of the genre and thus to Theme Hospital. The eight tracks of the gamerip are all average happy background music, as was probably obligatory for the genre of early management games. The composer successfully transfers the joyful mood and lightness of the game formula to the acoustic without, however, creating anything remarkable. The jazziness (Night Shift), the bluesiness (6’s and 7’s) and the children's birthday party (On the Mend, Candyfloss) - absolutely appropriate for 1997, a little too irrelevant for 2025. Thanks to nostalgia, I'd rather stick with Transport Tycoon.
You can also listen to the Theme Hospital soundtrack on vgmpf.
