Railroad Tycoon II Developer: PopTop Software Publisher: Take2 Interactive Europe Category: Strategy System Req: P200, 32Mb Ram, 130Mb HD, Win95/98/NT40 Might look like: Railroad Tycoon I ? Date posted: 27 December '98 Written By: Bjorn - This game was tested on P166, 32mb Ram, Voodoo Graphics, Win95 - A little Introduction Establish yourself as a mogul to be reckkoned with as you work your way up the ranks of the Railway Industry, expanding your domain across continents and a changing global marketplace. It can take you from New York to South Africa. It can take you from the year 1804 to the year 2000. It can take you from penniless manual laborer to powerful multimillionaire. It can take you from a normal, well-adjusted, well-rounded person to an obsessed, single-minded, one-track trainhead. This is Railroad Tycoon II, especially made for the train lovers and the strategic money freaks. The Manual Railroad Tycoon II's manual is pretty big. But this game is in fact based on simulation so we expected a thick manual. It offers you a full tutorial with an extended look on the several chapters like the main menu, player and companies, the stock market, multiplayer and lots more. The manual is well equipped with several non-colored screenshots that gives you a clear and detailed look on the looks of the game. A nice feature that is included in this manual is that on every page historical information is written on the page's border. From the beginning, around 1600 till 1996 it gives you a very close look on the evolution of trains in general. A very detailed look on the several industries that are present in this game is included. However, there's isn't much information, almost none, about the several trains and that's a real pity. Play with little Trains Ten years ago (oh gosh I was about 12 years old and certainly didn't had a computer), Microprose did a really good job by releasing a simulation game called Railroad Tycoon. The game was based on setting up your empire as a future Train baron. It had alot of nice features at that time and it was quite unique. And it was surprisingly enough a big hit for Microprose. Well, when I look back at that period and I did manage to play the game some years later, I might say that most of us were all surprised that it was a big hit. Why? Train simulation games are very very rare and to my knowledge there has only be one namely Railroad Tycoon. There was and still is absolutely no compitition whatsoever. That might be caused by the fact that most game developers don't risk their butt in creating a simulation game that involves trains because it could be one of those games where the production costs could be twice as high than the general profits. Of course we all know that action games such as Quake, Sin and others where shooting is the only thing to do is more profitable than releasing a simulation game. However, don't underestimate the profit that developers gain when making sim games. You would be very surprised if you knew how many sim games are bought in just one year. To tell you the truth, when I was entering the game shop of a friend of mine and fired the question: 'So, how is Railroad Tycoon II doing?' he told me that there weren't any copies left! I immediately was surprised by this and I asked him how many copies he really bought. 'Plenty and all sold out' so he did another reservation to his distribution company that delivers the Railroad Tycoon II copies. 'Hopefully I will get them at the end of this week', he said to me because people were really waiting to buy this game.    With this little anecdote I was happy that PopTop Software, the people that created this lovely game, released the sequel to Sid Meier's excellent Railroad game (Railroad Tycoon) and named it Railroad Tycoon II. So if was already delighted when we got a copy to review from the Dutch distributor. The game itself is created by PopTop Software, lately a well-known game developer and is being co-published by Gathering Of Developers or for short Godgames (cool name :)) and by Take2 Interactive Software. Take2 is publisher for the European market and they are responsable for a lot of brands that are being distributed here in Europe. So, after this short introduction lets comment the game. Install this traingame! Railroad Tycoon II installation doesn't offer you to customize the amount of Mb that will be installed on your hard drive. It just have 1 type of installation and thats about it. It will install around 130 Mb, which ain't a lot but it would be a lot better if you could decide how much Mb you want to install. I mean, most of the new and also old games do have that option to install what you desire and also have probably 3 other install options such as 'Minimum', 'Medium' and 'Full'. Installing 130 Mb for a simulation game is perhaps for some gamers 130 Mb too much. But when you play this sim game you will be impressed by its 3D-graphics, sound effects and music that the thought of the Mb-amount that is installed on your computer vanishes. So, after all it could be better if more options were included but it is definitely not a pain in the ass. Oops! :) Next Page Up Previous Page If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com. All contributions are welcome. Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners. All Rights Reserved. PlayDevil Productions © 199/8-199/9 "rip your own stuff"