Transport Fever 2 Review (king406)
To begin, top praises to Urban Games for continuing to add to the game 3 years down the line, the improvements may be minor in some ways but it really does show. Also, the localization of multiple languages for the interface and subtitles is very good, I'd have no difficulty recommending this to many in other areas of the world. Accessibility is always important.
Some minor criticisms still exist 3 years on though, which you'd think would've been figured out by now. For example, I'm still not able to sort destinations by distance from the industry or town menu, which would make navigation/line planning easier. But most of the things like the above are just minor complaints if you don't delve too deeply into how the simulation actually works, which is okay for most people.
The problems go deeper if you're looking for a simulator, as said above; this isn't it. Real trains and transport in general doesn't involve speed as a factor for cargo. (The oil in real life isn't going bad by sitting in a yard for 2 weeks, it's been sitting under the earth for thousands of years.) As a result of this, you are incentivized to load everything onto aircraft for maximum speed, versus going for maximum efficiency with a fully loaded long oil train from a yard. Granted, I see this more as a problem with the transport genre in general; maybe the realism is lost in the gameification of how logistics works in real life to appeal instead to the average Joe; and not a fault with this game in and of itself, but I digress.
The main thing that I see as important to creative games like this is the modding community, which as of this moment is thriving when it comes to Asian, European, and American vehicles. I can speak mostly to the American vehicles as an American; The variety is there for a play-through to shine with power from all eras, and although not perfect, will definitely improve over time. There are discords collaborating on projects together as we speak making this happen, and I will definitely keep coming back to this game like I do others just to see how the mods have changed over time.
In conclusion, is it worth the 40 dollar asking price if you aren't a train foamer? If you already liked games like TTD and Locomotion and want better graphics, I'd say yeah. If you haven't tried any transport games before this one though, I'd wait for a sale instead and then give it a shot. And if you're looking for a simulator, you might be better off looking elsewhere towards Derail Valley or TANE.