Transport Fever 2 - Good simulator, weak tycoon

Three years is quite a lot to find in a good game that does not allow it to be very good. Has the Urban Games studio succeeded in this art and together with Transport Fever 2, we are finally waiting for a game similar to the one from the iconic Transport Tycoon?

Transportation of people and services is great material for an economic game. The combination of business and building an efficient logistics organization puts a lot of demanding tasks before the player. Land to properly use this potential.

In the last two years we have seen an increased interest of game developers in this topic - in addition to the series "Fever" at the beginning of this year we hosted the average Railway Empire, and barely a few weeks ago the Railroad Corporation saw the light of day. In the background, however, the glorious past of the genre still looms - Transport Tycoon, Industry Giant or Traffic Giant are titles that chained for long hours and which so far have been an unmatched example for modern developers.

The first part of Transport Fever from 2016 met with a rather optimistic reception by reviewers, although I personally put it in the review for Gry-Online only 6.0, indicating the lack of computer-controlled opponents and accusing of serious shortcomings in the economic layer. Despite its flaws, the game has become a real treat for transport lovers, who have forgiven its strictly "tycoon" deficiencies and using the multitude of possibilities it offered in terms of expanding the logistics network and enriching the content with numerous mods, created complicated systems for transporting goods. The announcement of the new Transport Fever gave hope for improving the shortcomings of the predecessor and supplementing the limping economic aspect. Has it finally succeeded?

Boxes and containers

In Transport Fever 2, just like in the first part, we are the head of a logistics company - using land, air and water transport routes, we move various types of goods and passengers along large maps. The game works on a modified predecessor engine, so for someone who has had contact with the first part, at first glance everything looks very familiar. Several improvements that have been made to mechanics change quite a bit. Now each city accepts only two types of goods - one for the industrial zone and the other for the commercial zone. Passengers are, of course, the third universal transport option in every city. In addition, a very interesting station improvement tool has been made available to us. Each stop can be expanded at will, adding ready-made elements such as tracks, terminals, platforms or marinas. Thanks to these and numerous minor changes, TF2 will provide even more satisfaction to lovers of creating complex transport networks.

Of course, all the advantages of the predecessor in this matter have been preserved, so we are dealing with a very interesting system of flow of raw materials based on the realistic presence of each individual unit of goods on the map, an extensive system of railway networks with semaphores and checkpoints, and multi-stage logistics of goods using various means of transport . However, the outdated track construction system has not evolved - we still need to build piece by piece instead of, which would be much more useful, modify individual elements of the sketch of the route. Unfortunately, the adaptation of the types of goods to the times in which we play was also not considered. In 1850 there were plastic factories, and in 2000 we would not witness electronic factories.

PROS:

• Pleasure of creating an extensive logistics network;
• Very aesthetic and large maps;
• Lots of realistic vehicles;
• Well thought out city and business development;
• Many beneficial changes in mechanics.

MINUSES:

• Economics is still neglected;
• Boring, monotonous and senseless tasks in the campaign;
• No computer controlled opponents;
• Poor and incomplete translation.