Game Evaluation:Transport Tycoon DeluxeCIS 587Assignment #1Game Evaluation:Transport Tycoon DeluxeBy: Christopher M. CaseyDue: September 25, 2001Basic InformationGame Title: Transport TycoonCompany: Microprose (DOS), Hasbro Interactive (Windows 9x)Author: Chris SawyerType of Game: SimulationPrice: Bargain Bin…Minimum Hardware Requirements:DOS: 486-25, CD-ROM, 4MB RAM, Color Monitor with SVGA graphics capable of 640 x 480 in 256 colors, Microsoft Mouse, MS DOS 5.0 or higher, 4 MB of Hard Disk Space. Sound Blaster and 100% compatibles, Sound Canvas, Roland LAPC--I/MT-32, Sound Blaster AWE 32, Gravis Ultrasound, Pro Audio Spectrum, General Midi sound cards. Network Play requires modem or IPX compatible LAN.Windows: Windows 9x series only. 10 MB of Hard Disk Space.Actual Hardware Requirements:The slowest computer I currently have is a Pentium 133, with a 4MB Matrox Mystique video card, and a Sound Blaster AWE 32 sound card. The DOS version of the game runs decently on this computer. The computer does not have Windows 9x loaded, so I cannot test the Windows version of the game on it.Ideal System Requirements:The ideal environment for this game would be a Pentium 200 computer, with 16MB of RAM, Sound Blaster compatible sound, and 30Mb of Hard Disk Space, running Windows 98 or better.Game SummaryQuick Overview:Transport Tycoon is a game about monopolizing the transportation market in computer generated maps with many cities and towns. Starting in the 1950’s, players will progress through the years, building railroads, airports, and shipyards, and the vehicles that use them. The players must compete with friends over a network, or computer controlled players, and attempt to take over the worlds transportation market. Ever changing economies and resources will keep the game challenging, and the new vehicles and transportation methods introduces as the years progress will keep the game interesting fora long time.Players Role:In this game, the player is competing for control of the transportation market in various maps. The Player is responsible for things such as laying rails, purchasing busses, trucks,trains, boats, building stations, and routing the vehicles to the places where goods and services are located. The players may also fund industries, if a particular factory is needed at a specific location. The player can also have influence on cities by funding marketing campaigns.Installation:Installation for the game is simple. The only options are where to install the game, and whether to do a full install or run from the CD. The MS-DOS version also has a sound configuration tool, which runs with no problems.User Interface:The interface to the game is similar to Simcity 2000, where the world is a square, rotated 45 degrees, for a 3d look. The control icons are located on the top of the screen, and I found them very easy to use. The menus are drop-down style, so windows users will be comfortable with them. I did find that some of the menus could be condensed, as well as some of the information screens, because having too much information can make the game confusing for new players.Game Play:The overall goal of the game is fairly simple, have a better rating that your transport competition. There are also some smaller parts of the game, which can be interesting to look at, such as customer satisfaction with your transport services. Even with great coverage, the customers demand fast service.To play the game, players must build roads/rails, and then purchase vehicles to run on them. Once this is done, the player can route goods to the places they are needed, or just transport passengers. In any case, the profit from the transportation will go back into the company bank fund (which starts out with a $200,000 load). If the bank account ever dips below $0 (up to $1,000,000 can be borrowed), the game will be over, so watch the funding accordingly!One of the things I like about this game is that as the years progress, new vehicles, and modes of transportation become available. This keeps the game interesting for a long time; however, the game does not progress after the year 2050 (players can continue to play, but nothing new appears).Another factor players must consider is city growth. As the cities grow, more passengers and goods need to be transported. Also, industries with no transport will go out of business after some years, so it is important to try to provide everyone with some method of transportation. Things like forests will also have varied production, some good years, and some bad, so the players have to make sure goods don’t start to pile up at a station, because long delivery times mean less profit.Scoring:There is no real “score” in the game. Various things, such as customer satisfaction, money, and coverage make up the transport companies ratings. It is important to have good coverage, good ratings, and a lot of cash to get a good rating in the game.Artwork:The graphics in the game are mediocre by today’s standards; but were very good in 1995,when the game was introduced. The graphics are much like those in Simcity 2000Sound and Music:Like most simulation games, the music consists of some basic sound effects (train whistle, crossing sounds), and background music. The quality is not spectacular, but neither were the sound cards in 1995!Bugs:The single player game works great. Network play is unstable, usually only lasting ten totwenty minutes before losing the connection.There are also a group of people who have taken the original game, and modified it to allow things such as longer trains, different train behavior, bigger train stations, and smarter AI for the competitors. I find playing with some of the enhancements of this patch makes the game more fun, and realisticGame ReviewWhat is good (fun) about the game? Why?I think this a fun game, because you are competing with friends, or computer competitors, unlike most “sim” games such as Simcity. I also think it is fun to build your train tracks, and route your trains properly, but beware of bad designs, your trains can (and will) crash if the track is not built correctly! As I mentioned before, I also like how new things appear as time progresses in the game, because is prevents monotony early on.What is bad (not fun) about the game? Why?After the new things stop appearing, the game can become boring, because cities eventually stop growing, and you are left watching your trains
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