All aboard the express train to riches and fame in Railway Empire 2. Don the coat of a clever entrepreneur, take over a small railway company in the early 1800s and turn your steam engines into the workhorses of the economy. Grow your company into the largest railway company of the continent and outsmart your competitors as you connect cities and companies with an ever-expanding network of rail lines, bridges, and tunnels. 60 famous locomotives are at your disposal, all pulling freight and passenger cars as they usher in an era of historic importance during the Industrial Revolution...

Take over a small railway company in the early 1800s

Railway Empire 2 follows on from 2020's Railway Empire. This new release features bigger, more detailed maps. The whole of the US and continental Europe are covered in two huge, sprawling maps, whilst more detailed arenas put the focus on specific regions of each continent.

Improved track construction helps you focus on the important decisions as you drive the economy and help the growth of the cities. Signals are placed automatically (which is a godsend as this was one of the areas I struggled with in the previous game), bridges can hold more than 4 tracks and the expandable train stations can now have up to 8 tracks.

We reviewed this sequel before its release date and were made aware that the developers were working on several bug issues... Which is good news, because we encountered several problems that resulted in us having to restart the game. The tutorial had a couple of issues which made it unstable. The very first part of the tutorial we had to restart twice because the game wouldn't let us progress for different reasons. And we were dismayed to note that the trains lose all their details, just appearing as white ghost trains, when you zoom in close to them. It's not overly surprising that there are issues as this is a detailed game with so many elements to it and in this day and age, with tight release deadlines, hardly any games are released bug free.

The whole of the US and continental Europe are covered in two maps

The question here is should you buy this sequel if you already own the first game? The answer isn't quite that simple. If you played the original to death then yes, you'll get plenty of hours of fun out of this new offering. But if you're new to the game you might be better advised to pick up the first one (it's £16 on the Playstation Store) to see if it's the sort of game you'll want to spend hours with... and believe me, once you get the bug hours will fly by and you'll be spending months building your own little empire.

The learning curve on this game is off the charts and, as with the previous edition, in the early stages and on the tutorial, you'll find yourself constantly scratching your head wondering what you're supposed to do. It's all a little overwhelming for the novice player, but the tutorials hold your hand through the basics. In fact, I'd suggest playing through the tutorial a couple of times before starting the game proper and then revisiting the tutorial to ensure you're really on top of everything.

60 famous locomotives are at your disposal

There are enough game modes to keep everyone happy. You can play the 5-chapter campaign or choose from any of the 14 different scenarios. Set your own difficulty in the fully customisable Free Play mode or build the perfect rail network in Construction Mode. Or, you can tackle the competition of your railway empire together with friends in Co-op Multiplayer.

It's another entertaining release for the franchise, which rewards those who invest the time and effort in building up their own empire.

9

Darren Rea