Railroad Tycoon II

The Good
The original idea of Railroad Tycoon has been kept the same. The idea is still to build a large and profitable railroad. Another good idea in this game is the addition of what are known as "Campaigns". In each of these campaigns you are placed on a map where you must complete a specific task within a time limit e.g connect the east and west coasts of America by the year 1890. I think these give you a lot to do and can complete you occupied for a long time (I've owned the game for nearly 2 years and I still haven't completed half of them) Also the in game has been improved as have the graphics. You now play on an isometric world and not a top-down view like in the original. Another improvement is the addition of a landscape editor which allows you to create your own landscapes to play on later. You are able to place everything from cities to industries to rivers.

The Bad
I feel the trains could have looked better. Many of them look fairly similar and even on the highest zoom level I found I could really see much detail on the locomotives. The addition of water, sand and oil stops. On long runs your engine may run out of either of these and find that it begins moving at about 5mph. If you have a railroad crossing a large area it can take a long time for it to fill up and get up to a reasonable speed again.

The Bottom Line
Railroad Tycoon 2 is an excellent game and a great sequel to the original. Better looking engines good have made the game even better. But overall, it is an excellent effort.

The Good
Graphics are good. Trains are just cool. The stock market is modeled very well. It's not maybe very realistic but it's fun and that's the main thing. Some people like the added micromanagement but I don't.

The Bad
Micromanagement is sometimes horrible. I have tried to enjoy scenario based games like this one but often find that I can't like this time. The graphics are 2d but quiet slow.

The Bottom Line
The sequal to Railroad Tycoon 1. The player manages trains and makes profit. Pure capitalism at it's best.

The Good
Whenever I see a sequal, I alway get suspisious. Especially when it's a sequal to a very original and very good game. But somehow Railroad Tycoon II manages to beat it predecessor. It's bigger, it's much more beautiful, it has much more options, it has more and better gameplay, ... it's better. Some might not like it because it has no in-your-face action, but that's the beauty of it, you just sit back and relax while trying to manage your trains. And did I already tell you it looks extremely good?

The Bad
hmm, nothing really.

The Bottom Line
This one is not for the trigger happy guys, but for those who enjoy fiddling with all the little settings and see what happens.