Review for Transport fever 2. Game for Linux and PC, the video game was released on 11/12/2019
It was 1994 when Chris Sawyer conceived Transportation Tycoon which, to all intents and purposes, can be considered the pioneer of all management games for PC dedicated to the world of transport. It was a success which then inspired several other strategic management videogames trying to retrace the footsteps of the famous game with mixed results. The guys from Urban Games, in 2016, launched Transport Fever on the market, obtaining a good sales response despite being a niche game.
Now, three years later, the same developers propose us Transport fever 2 which, although not far from its predecessor, allows us once again to build the transport empire of our dreams.
The game modes present in Transport Fever 2 are two: the classic sandbox in which you will have the possibility to create the map from scratch by setting various parameters or the interesting mode Countryside in which you will have to overcome different missions to level up and unlock new game scenarios. The latter will allow you to retrace the history of transport from 1850 to the present day and is certainly the game mode that will give you the most satisfaction as it is varied and well structured also from the point of view of learning the various game mechanics. The scenarios proposed, moreover, will be different and will range from the American plains to the sunny Iraqi desert, from old Europe to verdant Asia.
In each mission you will be required to perform certain types of tasks such as connecting industries with cities or supplying small villages or remote islands. All, of course, using the various means of transport made available by the Urban Games guys. The campaign mode, as mentioned above, begins in the mid-nineteenth century and therefore initially you will only be dealing with horse-drawn carriages. Over time, new means of transport will then be unlocked like steam locomotives or diesel trucks.
The main focus of the game is obviously to transport passengers and goods from one point to another on the map. Transport Fever 2 offers a great variety of transportable goods: from raw materials to processed goods useful to grow the various cities on the map. The latter, divided into commercial, industrial and residential areas, will need a continuous supply of materials to meet the needs of citizens and therefore thrive. Always paying attention to your budget, you will therefore have to provide for the needs of the various cities by building efficient transport networks that possibly also increase your earnings.
You will have to provide for the construction of railway lines complete with stations, connecting roads and pitches for the loading and unloading of goods by road or ports where you can dock your cargo ships and finally also expensive airports. In short, in Transport Fever 2, you will find everything you need to become a transport industry tycoon thanks not only to over 200 usable means of transport but also thanks to a construction system that has been, at least in part, revised and improved compared to the first Transport Fever.
The positioning of the various structures appears to be, as in the first Transport Fever, still not exactly easy to guess and it will be necessary to do some practice in this regard and the same will happen for the construction of roads and railways. Precisely the latter, albeit to a lesser extent, still seem to have a greater weight in the game just like it happened in the predecessor of Transport Fever 2 but it must also be said that now all railway stations, as well as all other marshalling yards, are completely modular or expandable at will. It will therefore be possible to expand them and make them more functional through a submenu that will allow you to add or remove various elements.
The introduction of the modularity of the various storage points will allow you to create structures even of large dimensions to best meet the demands of the market and give an extra touch of realism to the game.
The economic system of Transport Fever 2 is simply based on the principle of supply and demand: therefore you will not find other rival companies ready to make your shoes at the first mistake. Your management skills will be solely and exclusively in your hands and the lack of opponents to face in the campaign mode, all in all, does not make itself felt much thanks also to the objectives to be achieved.
In Sandbox mode, however, the total absence of other rival companies and therefore of competition make the game, in the long run, devoid of bite with a consequent lowering of the level of fun unless you are a hardcore fan of management games who prefer the perfection of constructions rather than a competition against other opponents. Also worth pointing out the lack of multiplayer, another element, which would surely have taken the game to other levels.
The world of Transport Fever 2 is not only made up of goods to be transported but also of passengers to take from one place to another. Therefore it will be good that you dedicate yourselves to them too because the connection lines for passengers will also have their importance and will contribute to the growth of the various cities. Not only that, with the passage of time and with the expansion of urban centers, you will also have the opportunity to build urban transport lines by modifying the city viability according to your needs by positioning, for example, traffic lights or roundabouts in the most congested points. The latter will also have an important role from the point of view of pollution. Yes, because in Transport Fever 2 it will be present an indicator of polluting emissions which will lead to penalties in the event that it exceeds a certain threshold. Also in this case it is necessary to underline the attention paid by Urban Games in fulfilling, at least in part, the various requests of the fans of the series.
The intention of the developers to remain largely faithful to the first Transport Fever is evident trying to improve the mistakes made previously but leaving out, at the same time, new elements of the game that maybe would have taken Transport Fever 2 a step higher. Urban Games' choice to remain faithful to the style of play without proposing major upheavals was also made by virtue of the fact that Transport Fever 2, thanks to the mod support offered by the Steam workshop, has a very active community behind it that had already significantly contributed to increasing its contents on the occasion of the first Transport Fever.
The game interface of Transport Fever 2 is full of statistical panels but it is simple and functional and so is the graphics in general, while not making a miracle cry, it is overall good. The cities, while not offering a variety of architectural styles, are well recreated unlike many areas of the map which are not very rich in detail. The approximately 200 means of transport available, on the other hand, have been graphically well recreated by the Urban Games guys even in the smallest details although the interactive view with which you can see the moving vehicles up close would need some adjustment. We are still talking about a management game.
- sound effects of the various means are appreciable as well as the background music considering also that we are talking about a management game and not a triple A title.
Transport Fever 2 remains very similar to its predecessor and does not offer many major innovations. Some aspects of the game, including the gameplay, have been improved and refined even if, in our opinion, the addition of opponents to compete against and therefore also of a multiplayer sector would have greatly increased its appeal and fun. The Sandbox mode while offering the possibility of generating random maps does not offer an adequate level of challenge unlike the Campaign mode which is varied and fun and represents one of the strengths of the game together with the presence of a considerable fleet of vehicles and a community of very active modder. However, we expected some more substantial news than the first game in the series but we can still say that Transport Fever 2, although it cannot yet be considered a milestone in its genre, is overall a good management game for PC especially dedicated to fans of the kind.
► Transport Fever 2 is a Simulation-Strategy game developed by Urban Games and published by Good Shepherd Entertainment for Linux and PC, the video game was released on 11/12/2019
