Railroad Tycoon 2 Platinum

2K has retroactively changed their EULA. Now they collect literally anything on your computer (including but not exclusively visited websites or payment information for example). Not sure if they are also installing rootkit like software in the gog version like they do in non gog versions. gog should consider banning all 2k games because I dont think that their EULA complies with gogs vision...

Railroad Tycoon II and the expanded scenarios push the limits of the engine and have great ingenuity. The fundamentals of the game are excellent with the ability to mark particular trains for particular loads and pick up/drop off. The economy also functions superior to its successor game RT3. All in all this is the railroad management game to get.

I found Railroad Tycoon in a discount bin in '94 and it was a pixelated mess, but it was so much fun that I played it for years. When this game came out in '98 I picked it up soon after it was out and I keep coming back to it even after 27 years; it just holds up. The graphics hold up so well and don't feel horribly dated like RT3. Less really is more. Even after all these years I've barely even scratched the surface of the scenarios as I always just end up playing a sandbox mode in North America. There are literally endless variables for some of the larger maps, so many that it would take you 27 years to even want to start playing one of the other maps, or to run through the campaign mode. Like I've said, there's just so much that you can do, or so many different ways to play that it's well worth the purchase. The only complaint is that if you buy out your competition via a merger it would be great to have bulk update option as it is very tedious going through each station and train making updates. It's time consuming enough rebuilding track routes of larger mergers, but having to go through each station and making sure they have water/sanding towers can really zap some fun out of the game. I've found it's easier to just retire all their trains and bulldoze their routes versus sorting it out, but again there are a lot of ways to play this game. As a whole, this is still a highly recommended train simulation, if not the best train simulation out there to this day.

It's the greatest of several successor to Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon has had. Doesn't diverge too much from the original, while spreading its wings the way the original couldn't. Graphics still look good in 2024, the economy is well-balanced. There are drawbacks, sure (no tunnel building for one!), but the economy model, the lively worlds and quite enthralling campaigns (for a Tycoon game) all make up for them. I've been returning to RRT2 at least once a year for the last 25 years. It means something.

The ONLY game I play daily-even just one scenario a day. It's August 2024!!! :-) So sad they don't make games like this anymore... .