Railroad Tycoon 2

Title: Railroad Tycoon 2
Platform Played On: PC
Release Date: October 31, 1998
Date Played: 1999
Time Played: 10 hours
Completed (Y/N): No
Score: 4/5



Opinion:
Who doesnt love toy trains? Only the Grinch and Hitler of course. As for the rest of us, we can scratch that toy train itch of laying out the tracks and ferrying "pretend" passengers from point A to point B by playing Railroad Tycoon 2, except here you can actually see the passengers and goods that you are transporting, which feels pretty rewarding.

Rendered with beautifully drawn detailed sprites Railroad Tycoon 2 looked great at the time of release, and to this day looks pretty decent. Railroad Tycoon is more on the simulation side than anything else, all of missions that I have played have all been very hard. The tutorial is not the best, and the AI is more skilled than he should be; however there is nothing more satisfying than finishing up that trans-continental railroad and seeing the little train trucking along it.

I really enjoyed the time I spent with Railroad Tycoon 2, I just wish it was more accessible and explained things more clearly; but then again, we wish that about every simulation game. It has been 13 years since its release, and although its sprite based graphics still look decent, the locked 4:3 resolution and multi-core CPU introduction did not let it age well.  If it shows up on GOG.com then perhaps Id give it a shot, Its a great train simulator. Otherwise you will probably get frustrated with trying to run it properly, and as such I would probably recommend going straight to Railroad Tycoon 3 (which utilizes a full 3d engine) to scratch that toy train itch.