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"We were waving our arms out the window"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

In the Addams Family movies, Gomez would blow off steam by "playing" with his model trains -- smashing them into each other so that the explosions would reverberate throughout the mansion. The first Railroad Tycoon allowed you to do this by fiddling with track signals, but the trains were blocky little things, so the impact was underwhelming.

The opening footage to Railroad Tycoon 2 implies that some gnarly train wreckage is on your way. Indeed, the game has some beautiful trains, puffing and zipping their way through impressionist landscapes. Tragically, one can only deliberately crash a train by failing to properly maintain it. A destroyed train is a solitary event (no impact with another train), and instead of car after car piling up after the train has fallen off the tracks, the destroyed train sits on the track -- blocking traffic -- and then disappears in a puff of smoke. What a letdown!

Mind you, this is about the only way that Railroad Tycoon 2 has fallen down. It is highly customizable, and it is graphically beautiful. It comes with a challenging campaign and dozens of scenarios. The map editor allows for some sophisticated rendering of real landscapes taken from satellite data. Dozens of scenarios are available on the Internet, so this investment might be one of the best entertainment values out there.

There is increased flexibility in the corporate financial model, and some of the AIs are truly vicious, but you can simply turn them off in the scenarios. Even if you can't play smash-'em-up with the trains, there is plenty of havoc that you can wreak as you try to crush the economic dreams of your opponents and, of course, the thousands of railroad employees working for you.

A great challenge and lots of fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Railroad Tycoon II is a great strategy game that requires critical thinking and lots of patience. If you possess both of these then RT2 is the game for you. In RT2 you are put in the seat of the chairman of a large railroad corporation, and you must expand your railroad across America, all the while maintaining a constant stream of revenue and profits. This entails starting profitable routes such as taking passengers & mail to various towns that demand them, and taking resources to industries that require them. For example, you would take coal and iron to a steel mill for it to produce steel, and then steel and grain to produce goods at a cannery. Establishing and maintaining these routes, and keeping them profitable at the same time, is a great challenge and requires constant micromanagement of train consists and the demands of your individual trains, such as their needing oil, sand or water.

It may sound technical, but RT2 is loads of fun. It's a great feeling to see your railroad start small, and gradually expand across America. You've got to run the game at a slow speed because there's so much to manage all at once, and so this expansion obviously happens quite gradually. But it's tremendously rewarding. Added to which, you must manage your own personal finances on the stockmarket. This feature detracts a little from the railroad side of things, but the two are interlinked in that if you run your railroad well, the price of your stock skyrockets. Concomitant with the stockmarket is the state of the economy: it follows a cycle that influences your company's profits, aggregate demand in the economy, and hence your price of stocks. You've got to factor all of this in when managing your personal wealth, and so you must buy low, sell high, issue stock at the right time, issue bonds, and raise or lower dividends depending on boom or recession. It's quite a complex procedure but, if you do it right, you can see your personal wealth skyrocket. Added to which, certain missions are won by you actually attaining a threshold of wealth, and not by expanding your railroad from one town to another.

So ultimately, Railroad Tycoon 2 is a tremendously diverse and richly rewarding game. The presence of the stockmarket feature adds extra depth to what is already quite a complex game, and so it's suitable for critical thinkers and problem solvers. The hard difficulty provides a huge challenge (which I am currently undertaking), and the easy difficulty is challenging enough for novices. As a result, RT2 is suitable for anyone really, as long as you've got the patience to sit down and learn how to play it in the first place. One thing's for sure: it's well worth it.

entertaining and challenging

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: October 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The scenarios are a huge plus to this game, you can set a "sand-box" mode where you play in a vacuum or go all out and throw in shares and customer rating.

The middle levels are the most intriguing, but after you have completed 6 or so missions some of the sound files become a bit annoying.

Prepare to mix up some sand...great for kids as well as adults.

RailRoad Tycoon

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: September 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

A great game with with good graphics. Pick any city in the world to start with! Also some made-up maps. You can make your own maps by using the map editor.

RailRoad Tycoon

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

A great game with with good graphics. Pick any city in the world to start with! Also some made-up maps. You can make your own maps by using the map editor.

The most addictive game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: September 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you like trains, there is no way you shouldn't buy this game.
BEWARE: This game is known to cause sleepless nights...

Jamie

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: August 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I can't say it any better then ... did, but I will say if you haven't bought it yet go out right now. IT'S THE BEST GAME EVER!

Awsome!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Railroad Tycoon II Gold is one of the best ALL TIME VIDEO GAME experiences for the more adult consumer. Super graphics/sound and the sophisticated gameplay will really test your management skills. Build, maintain, and manage your own railroad empire. Cutthroat competition and a great stock market interface adds to the challenge and fun. This game could easily be used as a primary university teaching aid for general economics, capitalism, business management, investment theory, industrial engineering, and even history. Fantastic!

Strategy Gaming at its finest

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: July 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Railroad Tycoon II Gold gives strategy gamers an astonishing amount of value for its price. It contains the original Railroad Tycoon II, the Second Century expansion pack, and bonus maps and upgrades. While most game publishers today are interested in squeezing gamers for every last dollar, Gathering of Developers has taken the opposite approach. This is all the more remarkable because Railroad Tycoon II is one of the best strategy games in recent memory. It would probably be a best-seller if it dealt with a more trendy, sexy topic. But railroading can be fun, too, and this game proves it.

As the title suggests, this game allows you to become CEO of your own railroad. Using any one of countless maps that cover nearly the entire globe, you will need to lay track, build stations, buy trains, and set schedules as you try to turn a profit. But this isn't just an electronic train set. You will often face computer opponents armed with solid AI programming who will be building their own railroads -- and trying to run you out of business! The game features an elaborate stock market with provisions for buying on margin and selling short. There is also a very realistic supply-and-demand economic model that governs how much money you earn. For example, if you oversupply a city with a commodity such as lumber, you'll eventually depress the price of lumber; but if you haul fruit and milk to a city that needs food, you'll make a fortune.

Sound too technical or mathematical for you? PopTop thought of that, so you can choose to play without the stock market or the advanced economic model if you'd like. The game allows you exceptional control over the challenges you will face without sacrificing gameplay or fun. Despite what I said earlier, if all you are looking for is an electronic sandbox, then rejoice: the game features a sandbox mode, where you can run trains to your heart's content without worrying about earning money.

Dozens of engines are included, from steam to diesel to modern electrics. You can haul almost any cargo you can think of, from cotton and grain to coal and uranium. Railroad Tycoon II Gold comes with two separate compaigns comprising three dozen maps that require you not only to run a railroad but also to perform specific tasks in order to win, such as building a transcontinental line, or reaching a certain level of profit. If you'd rather just play a quick game, there are dozens of scenarios to play. With a very easy-to-use map editor -- honest, it really is easy to use -- this game has almost infinite replay value. You can even download any of the hundreds of user-designed maps from various internet sites.

I can't recommend this game enough, but if you aren't a fan of economic or real-world simulations, this game might not be for you. Also, if you plan to play in multiplayer mode, keep in mind that you can only play PC to PC or Macintosh to Macintosh, but not cross-platform. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this game puts the popular Rollercoaster Tycoon game to shame, but young players might prefer that game because it is easier overall. Still, if you like strategy games, please consider supporting smaller game developers like PopTop Software by picking up a copy of Railroad Tycoon II Gold. You won't be disappointed.

The awesomest game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: April 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The strength of this game is displayed by how it is not available anywhere in the market as it is completely sold out!

If you like simcity, you will like this better. If you are a railroad freak, then this is a must!!!

Can play this game 100 million times and it still feels you are playing for the first time...Higly recommended!

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