Once again, Urban Games in Switzerland releases a new transport tycoon game that feels more like an update. It doesn’t feel like a new game at all to their previous game releases. Transport Fever 2 is outstanding in many ways with many improvements to the gameplay but at the same time, there are some flaws that shouldn’t be shipped with the release.
Since the birth of Transport Tycoon Deluxe in 1994. The race now is to create the ultimate transport tycoon game. Cities Skylines is the most popular game in this genre, where the gameplay is a bit different. Here you build cities like in Sim City, but you also need to transport people from A to B like in Transport Fever 2.
Most of the reviews on YouTube are for the most are quite positive towards the game. But I like to dig deep into the game and find flaws so they can be improved. It took me quite long this time to find one that is affecting the gameplay. But here they are.
#1 Trucks doesn’t care about Bus only lanes
For some reason. When I am building my truck lines. They seem to love using my bus-only roads. There are plenty of huge roads where they can go instead but every truck line that runs through any of the cities in the game likes to use them.
All of the trucks that run through any of my cities are like magnets to the bus-only roads that I have built. The regular cars in the towns respect them but none of the trucks. I have even tried to put up guides where the trucks should go instead. But for some reason. The game wants the trucks to use the bus-only roads.
This bug is quite frustrating. It doesn’t affect the gameplay that much itself but it annoys because the buses or tram on them can get stuck behind a truck that is supposed to drive on a much more suited road.
It is a bit sad flaw since the game looks so nice but this small but important detail makes me aware of the flaw. We kindly ask Urban Games to fix this fast.
#2 Static trees Everywhere
In Cities Skylines the overall world simulation is pretty good of water, trees and life are very good. However, the vanilla game isn’t as pretty as in Transport Fever 2. So, I am questioning why the beauty that Transport Fever 2 got is missing animated trees. Birds and animals are walking around in the game but all of the trees and grass are static.
Not all is bad in this game. The water wave animations look natural and you feel that there is a wind in the game there. But when there is a total absence of trees and grass animation. Then the overall feel of the game isn’t complete. It is a small detail, but it is an important one. Because this game deserves better!
Why are trees and grass static in this game? Would the framerate drop if more animation was added to the game? I think that this is a feature that must be fixed. Does the wind stop at the beach? … In Transport Fever 2 it does and it feels odd.
#3 Train depot design is not very accurate
The best part of this game is all of the beautifully made 3D models of the trains. This is where it shines. I am so impressed with all the details of each locomotive and wagons in this game. All the detailed wheel and steam animations on steam locomotives. Doors that open and closes as they should. The lights in front and back. Everything is well made.
Another great feature in this game is the train tracks. They look well made and looks authentic. It is the nicest part of this game. This part of Transport Fever 2 simply outperforms Cities Skylines a lot where the original train tracks in that game look awful. You need to modify the game a lot and even then it’s quite hard.
The overall vanilla game of Transport Fever 2 outperforms Cities Skylines a lot. It also got train depots which is a huge bonus but the design is a huge flaw. Why didn’t the developers of Transport Fever 2 give the game customizable train depots in the same way as the train stations? If you use so much time for creating a new game. You should at least make it feel like one. Because this hasn’t changed since their previous Transport Fever game.
When a long highspeed train with several wagons is leaving the very small depot it looks strange. This is the biggest design flaw made by Urban Games that is just a detail. If they are so serious about all the train features of the game. Then why creating such poorly made depot? It doesn’t make sense to me. But maybe the CEO’s of Urban Games didn’t care?
