You can’t help but laugh at Tycoon games. There are over sixty in all, ranging from Fish Tycoon to School Tycoon and Political Tycoon. It seems that almost every facet of business is gradually being covered by one publisher or another, with the only obvious absence being Tycoon Game Tycoon, which would be quite something. JoWooD’s Transport Giant isn’t a Tycoon game, at least in name, but covers much of the ground that others have already. What it does do though, is better many of its rushed and ill-conceived rivals, producing a family friendly and enjoyable experience.

The basic premise of Transport Giant is to move people and their cargo around either Europe or the US by various means, making money in the process. In both Campaign and Endless Game modes, you’ll have the job of building your transport infrastructure, purchasing vehicles and scheduling them to move around your network. There’s no resource management as such, nor is there any staff to hire or fire. Success though, is by no means an easy task.

Depending on which year you choose to start in, you’ll gain access to various forms of transport from the humble horse and cart to trains, trucks, airships, planes, boats and helicopters. Each have their own pros and cons as you’d expect, with the more efficient and reliable ones costing more than those who break down every five minutes. As you continue through time, you’ll gain access to faster and more expensive vehicles, although keeping to your budget becomes quite a challenge.

The core component of Transport Giant and all other games like it is making money. You don’t start with much and have to invest in your infrastructure as you begin, not knowing what might become of it. Throughout the game, it’s a case of experimenting with different scheduling, routes and vehicles until you end up with a reliable source of income. The game does try to knock you off course with alterations in the economy, but never really hampers your efforts too much. What’s compelling is that Transport Giant isn’t always quite as predictable as you’d think, and that’s what makes it and many other strategy games so addictive.

You control the action from the standard isometric third person viewpoint, which can be zoomed into and out of whenever you want. Graphics are fairly standard for a strategy game, with well detailed, lively landscapes and cute animations. There’s always something going on around you, with wild animals roaming across plains and people travelling around town. Using the mouse and the game’s straightforward interface, you can control every aspect of your business, from construction of new buildings to budget reports. The reliance on the game’s interface and not on keyboard shortcuts is reassuring, and makes Transport Giant easy to pick up and play.

The most worrying and inconsistent part of Transport Giant is its performance. On our 2.53GHz, 768MB RAM, GeForce 4200 128MB test machine, the game ran fine for 99% of the time, but every couple of minutes the game would freeze for about a second before moving on smoothly. This little glitch doesn’t make the game unplayable by any means, but it’s just annoying and detracts from the otherwise accomplished visuals. No doubt a patch will be released to counter this problem, but it was a little disappointing to see it in the release version.

As with all strategy games, once you get into Transport Giant, it can suck you in for days at a time. Raising your empire from scratch into a commercial behemoth is a compelling idea which all similar strategy games rely on. There’s enough variety and gameplay modes here to satisfy both casual gamers and hardcore strategy veterans, with both sandbox and goal-based objectives on offer.

Transport Giant “does what is says on the tin”. It’s a straightforward strategy title that doesn’t slip up very often, yet remains totally uninspiring. The visuals are solid, the core gameplay works well and the replay value is decent, but it never tries to do anything innovative or original. For fans of the genre and subject matter, it’s a worthwhile purchase, but others may want to consider the competition before delving into the world of Transport Giant.