As Britain returns to a daily commute beset with fare hikes and failing rail companies, there is significant appeal to a game in which you make the trains run on time. In the same way The Sims allows thirtysomething millennials to experience the fantasy of home ownership, so Transport Fever 2 lets you enjoy the thrill of plonking a bullet-train between Brighton and London Victoria.
The concept of the transport sim is nothing new. Video games have been offering virtual train sets since Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon, letting players enjoy locomotive logistics without requiring a shed to store all those model networks. But Transport Fever 2 goes way beyond laying railroads. Everything from planes to pontoons can be deployed to carry commuters and cargo to your chosen destinations.
The broad goal of Transport Fever 2 is to make money by connecting cities to things they need. Any given level will have multiple settlements dotted across the map (given real-life names generated at random), all of which demand differing resources and goods. Let’s say Bolton needs bricks. This requires you to connect a quarry to a brickmaker’s, then link that brickmaker’s to the city. How you approach this is up to you. You could build a sequence of truck depots at each point, then set a bunch of lorries to a cargo route following that line, or you could establish a railway line at the same three points instead.
You receive funds for successful deliveries at each point along the line, but each new bit of infrastructure has its own running costs. Trucks are cheap but slow, while trains are initially expensive but faster and carry larger loads. The same goes for transporting people. Airports cost a fortune to build and maintain, but shuttle more passengers to more destinations quicker than a bus route. It’s also worth noting your infrastructure evolves not only in size but across time, with horse-drawn carts and steam trains gradually being replaced by cruise liners and supersonic jets.
The three-part campaign offers set objectives that range from establishing new railroads during the American gold rush to modernising the transport links of Victorian Glasgow. Like Th e Sims or Cities: Skylines, however, Transport Fever 2 is largely about creating your own entertainment in the “free game” mode. The enjoyment stems from seeing cities grow and thrive as your network becomes more complex, finding ways to make routes more efficient, or simply watching the lovingly designed vehicle models follow their routines.
Transport Fever 2 isn’t short of detail but it does lack depth in certain areas. Most of the challenge occurs at the start of a game, with even a single locomotive putting a hefty dent in your bank balance. Yet once you’ve carved out some basic routes, your finances quickly start to self-perpetuate, with no real brakes on your runaway money train.
Transport Fever 2 fails to dig into some of its more interesting new features, such as emissions. Here, the transport routes you create generate pollution over time, slowing city growth in areas with poor air quality. Given the significance of emissions in our own transportation networks, their addition to the game is welcome. But it’s little more than side-system when it should be one of your most pressing concerns. Then again, perhaps letting your private transport conglomerate rake in obscene profits while the world chokes on its exhaust fumes is entirely appropriate.
Transport Fever 2 doesn’t need to be a firebrand vehicle for climate activism, but having such themes inform the systems more closely would give it a little more personality and relevance. As it stands, this is a pleasant if not particularly distinctive game that may provide frustrated commuters with hours of transport therapy.
