Transport Fever 2 is the continuation of the pretty impressive Transport Fever series from Urban Games. The firsts one was quite interesting and exciting, and the most important aspect here is that they are trying to make it a transportation simulator, but in my experience for example it feels too much of a railroad simulator. It tends to focus a lot on some things while eliminating the fun of experimenting and trying out things that you may not normally do to begin with.

Great tycoon experience

You will notice right away that Transport Fever 2 is very similar to the previous game. They improved the visuals a bit, but for the most part the game is pretty much the same. Which is a good thing, because it constantly pushes the boundaries and it comes up with some nifty and sometimes very well placed remarks. You always want to push the boundaries here and create a great transportation system, and in this case the game does it really well.

Of course, you start off in the 1800s and you have to try and evolve, improve and implement new technologies. That is, if your business survives. You can easily end up out of business without smart investments. And that’s the most important thing in the game, trying to improve stuff upon and adapt to your own requirements. Once you are doing that it will help quite a bit.

The decisions you make and what you buy or where you expand is the main focus in the game. And based on the experience, it feels that even the simplest challenge can prove to be fatal for your business. As long as you know how to handle that and eliminate possible tricky situations, it will be well worth it, and you have to use it as an advantage if you can.

Better map creation

Transport Fever’s main issue was the limited map types. In Transport Fever 2 you eliminate that because you have a map editor inside the game. You also have many more ways to fully customize those maps you want to play on as you see fit. And to make things even better, they do have numerous environments and each one of them comes with certain parameters. You just get to fully immerse yourself into creating a map and it really works all the time.

On top of that, the visuals are better. The flora and environments are more realistic, the lighting is better, and they even improved the camera options. These are minor things for some people, but that’s what defines Transport Fever 2 the most. It may not be a massive improvement, but it does bring in front some rewarding benefits and if you liked the first game, these are very impressive.

Gameplay changes

They did change some things, to some people’s happiness and other people’s chagrin. The cargo supply mechanics have been changed and the supply chains and the cargo chains themselves are modified too. even the town growth is working on a modifier mechanic. This means you will be able to figure out how to improve your town’s size. All the minor things really matter here and you will find it very interesting every time because of that.

They also added new vehicles. Most of the old stuff remains, but there’s quite a lot of new stuff in the form of vehicles that a lot of people expected. Of course, not everyone will be happy about that either, but in the end we can expect quite a lot of people to enjoy the chances and just have fun with all the options and challenges that can appear. There are tricky moments to deal with, but at the end of the day the Transport Fever 2 experience is way better just because it’s more prevalent and comprehensive, and that alone makes a lot of sense in this.

It’s crucial to note that they also added one way roads and traffic lights. Again, it may not seem like a massive change, but they really needed that and it’s these little situations that you will want to deal with. A process like this requires a lot of focus and attention, and if you do it right that’s what you want to pursue the most. The customization of your road networks is a lot easier with this, and we liked it.

Challenges as you play

The good thing in Transport Fever 2 is that they are trying to improve what was there but they are not taking any risks in doing that. You still have pretty much the same game with some new mechanics, locations and more customizations. Some believe that the interface suffered a major hit. And that’s what you will universally find about Transport Fever 2, the fact that it’s great, it has a wide range of interesting ideas yet despite that some people will dislike it. This is normal, no one can really like everything, so at the end of the day you just want to have fun and it will certainly be a great experience to have.

Should you play Transport Fever 2?

Even if it has its fair share of downsides, Transport Fever 2 does a very good job at improving on what was there. The new game is great, it does offer you new locations and more vehicles. The customization aspect is great here and they do a very good job at pushing the boundaries and trying to make things better and better.

It’s a great transportation game, and the fact that you have so many opportunities to create the transportation company you want is what really sets the tone and makes this so good in the first place. It’s not perfect, nor does it want to be. But what this game does, it does very well and you will like it for that. Can it be improved? Absolutely, nothing is really perfect, but this title certainly delivers in a plethora of aspects and you should test it out if you are a fan of tycoon titles!

This review is based on the PC version of the game. A review copy was provided to us by Urban Games.