Introduction & What is Throwback Thursday?
First of all, I decided to dedicate Thursdays to writing about an older game and how well it fares on a modern device. Of course if there is a newer enhanced/definitive edition of it I will review that since it is mostly just an update.
The game I want to begin with is not the most popular one but I used to play it quite a lot back in the day and I still play it from time to time. Transport Giant is a "transport tycoon" type of game in which you develop different routes between cities and industries using carts, trains, trucks, buses, planes, blimps and ships starting from 1850 onward.
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| Main Menu Station |
A little bit of history...
Transport Giant was originally released in August 2004, developed and published by the now defunct Jowood Entertainment and featured European and USA Scenarios. In October 2004 it received an Add-on called Down Under which also added Australia in the mix. In 2014 UIG Entertainment, having purchased the rights to the Giant franchise, published the Steam edition of the game which included the addon, 1080p support, a more modern interface, steam integration, achievements and a few bug fixes to make the game compatible with newer hardware.
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| Humble Australian Beginnings |
Gameplay
The gameplay is quite straight forward. you get some money, you start on a map of your choice and you start building stations at different industries and cities, purchase and assign vehicles to these stations to deliver the goods all the while your competitors do the same. These would be the basics. While the game does also include a campaign it lacks a tutorial so you will have to rely on the good 'ol manual(which is included for the steam editions as well) to learn how to play the game. There are plenty of vehicles types available throughout the game to keep things interesting and they all unlock over time with different vehicles specific to each of the three represented areas available( Australia, Europe and USA). All industries except for the chain starters need resources to produce their goods which can then be delivered further down the line to other industries and/or cities that need these resources. The cities rely on a simple passenger and mail system which usually makes passengers and resources available for the neighboring cities and the first and (sometimes) second biggest cities on the map. Sadly it lacks multiplayer, even though that would make for a very slow paced and quite boring session in my opinion.
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| Modern European Drama... Still kinda humble |
Audio and Graphics
Not too much to write here about this. The ambient and vehicle sounds are quite generic, only noticeable between different vehicle types (e.g. steam trains vs diesel trains) and the soundtrack changes depending on the era you are in, it isn't bad but it gets repetitive quite fast.
The game uses sprites for the in-game items and an isometric viewpoint. It really keeps the old school vibe while still loking relatively sharp. Your vehicles get the color pattern you choose in your profile and the eras are represented by different station designs, roads and city buildings. It really honestly looks more like a refined Transport Tycoon Deluxe but with a tad different gameplay.
How does it fare on a modern system?
Well since it got the steam version and a few updates after that the game just works on windows without any hassle. Just click install on steam and voila! The only REAL downside is that you can't go above 1080p . Sorry 1400p and 4k people.
Wrap-up
The game is fairly simplistic overall but if you crank up the difficulty so that vehicles can break down, competition gets more aggressive and steam trains require water then the game might become more interesting for those that are looking for a challenge when building their business. I'd say the game aged well and even though it might look a bit old school thanks to the sprites it is still pleasant to the eyes.
Should you buy it? Well for 10Eur it can hardly be considered expensive and if you are into this type of games then it definitely is worth a try. It can easily make for a relaxing afternoon to see your virtual business slowly grow.
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