Railroad Tycoon II (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 4.5 stars Outstanding
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 9.1 (4.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Samuel Baker
• Reviewed on: 12/04/1998
• Updated on: 05/05/2000
• Released on: 10/31/1998
• Originally published on GameSpot: Railroad Tycoon II (PC) Review

In an industry now thriving on "me too" games, it defies belief that there have been so few previous entries in the "build and manage" genre started by the original Railroad Tycoon. At least half of these have come from Maxis.

Railroad Tycoon II by PopTop Software puts you in charge of a vast railroad empire in the persona of one of the legendary tycoons or government figures of the day. The train and station limits from Railroad Tycoon are gone. You can build stations and buy trains to your heart's content without bumping into an artificial limit. To the best of my knowledge, no one has exceeded the train/station limit, if there is one, relieving one of the most frustrating features of the original Railroad Tycoon when playing on large maps.

There is an amazing number of maps. There are 12 stand-alone maps plus over a dozen different maps in the campaign scenarios. Along with multiple maps of North America and Europe are maps of China, South America, India, Australia, and Japan. Russia is the only major area of the globe not covered by the game in some fashion. Given the complete flexibility of the editor and the easy import of graphic files, user maps and scenarios are popping up on the Web almost daily. The game includes one 18-scenario campaign, but more can be created using the editor.

The graphics are wonderful. At high levels of zoom the trains look photo-realistic. As time passes, the various cars (passenger, mail, coal, etc.) change their appearance to match the era. Stations have architectural styles to match the geographic area. Smoke belches from the engines, trails from homes, shoots out of steel mills. Visually, trains remain straight and level instead of following the track uphill or around a tight curve, which takes some getting used to, but watching a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy running at full steam is a glorious experience.

The sound effects are equally stunning. Each structure has its own sound set. Zoom in to hear the cattle lowing at a ranch; zoom out and the sounds blend together from different buildings giving each region a distinctive personality. Train crashes sound appropriately apocalyptic. Sell some stock and a chorus of voices echoes your actions. The music is good enough to stand on its own, and there is a lot of it, though unfortunately it is all North American in style and spirit. Hearing a lonesome harmonica wail while running the British (rail) Empire is a bit off-putting.

The manual does an adequate job of explaining most of the details and concepts of the game, but there are annoying lapses. Gone are the train descriptions of Railroad Tycoon II's ancestor. Instead we get a bare list of trains according to their availability. On the other hand, a large foldout full-color cardboard playing aid shows all the cars, with full details on their weights in different periods, an industry flowchart with all the interrelationships depicted, and lists of buildings, station improvements, and hotkeys.

The train model has been simplified to some extent. There are no signal towers, though you can set the priority of a train (express, normal, slow, and stop) and tell it to go, wait until half full, or wait until full of cargo. You cannot drop off cargo at one station to be picked up by another train; one of the few steps back from Railroad Tycoon.

The business model is much more complex than Railroad Tycoon. When playing in expert mode you can buy on margin or sell short, giving you and the computer players all the tools to be all the ruthless robber baron you can be.

If business bores you, you can turn off some or all of the economic model. In addition to three canned difficulty levels, you can mix and match to create your own custom difficulty settings. Or chuck the whole thing, load a map, and play in "sandbox" mode where the only restriction is your imagination.

While Railroad Tycoon II is a real-time game, as was the original, you can pause the game at any time and continue to work in the game. This is especially recommended when manipulating stock; the computer players are ruthless and will gut you if given the chance. It is as easy to gain or lose a fortune in Railroad Tycoon II as it was in the golden age of robber barons.

Competing with other railroads is more indirect than in Railroad Tycoon. There are no rate wars. Instead, you can run trains on other railroads' tracks and use their stations, and they can use yours. For this privilege you pay a hefty price that can exceed the actual return, if your stay on their lines is long enough. The computer players manage their rail lines adequately though not on par with a good human player.

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