TransOcean 2: Rivals Review

TransOcean 2: Rivals is the second instalment from Deck13 Hamburg after The Shipping Company. Rivals allows players to become a global tycoon, dominating the oceans and controlling the shipping industry all at the click of a mouse. But will it sink or swim? 

The game has three main options: single player, multiplayer, and challenge mode. Single player starts by offering you a choice of which port you want as your base port. For those of you like myself who have not played the first instalment, there is a tutorial which is very helpful. It runs you through the basics of the game, and offers you an insight into the measures required to becoming successful. From there, you can customise your ship and its colour, as well as naming your company. The customisation options to start off with are pretty limited though, but the upgrades become more detailed as you progress through the game. There are Container ships, Tankers, and Bulk ships to choose from, with each set having positives and negatives in comparison to each other.

This game is essentially a commercial empire building game, with its premise loosely representing the formula in games like Theme Park World. The aim here is to create a nautical legacy and dynasty by driving your competitors out of business through strategic monopolising and financial prudence. Going from port to port you begin to slowly make a profit, and once you get the hang of the game, TransOcean 2 becomes a lot of fun.

TransOcean 2 does have multiplayer functionality, where you can test the waters against up to seven other players. A great feature within the multiplayer is that each game has randomly set conditions for victory which avoids repetition. The single player mode offers three main game modes: Campaign, Competition (a time limit game against the AI), and Endless Game – which is the mode whereby there are no tasks and no time limits to adhere to. For me, endless game was the most enjoyable and user friendly mode while I was becoming accustomed to the game, as you aren’t limited to working within a certain body of water or territory.

It did not take long to become familiarised with the game, and after delivering my first successful cargo load, I felt buoyed (excuse the pun) and sought out as many contracts as possible. However, contracts should not be selected without thought and you should be somewhat cautious when balancing out distance between ports, fuel pricing in the next location, as well as the time it will take to dock. I tended to go for the contracts that yielded the most revenue, and tried to deliver as many cargo loads to one port, while looking ahead to the next nearest port to cut down fuel consumption.

The graphics and level of detail are really impressive, and the intuitive nature of the AI is very clever. The little details such as police cars on the roads, steam coming from buildings, and aeroplanes in flight are nice little background touches that go a long way. This is further magnified when the vast majority of ports look so unique and different to the last one you docked at, and it really adds a sense of adventure and discovery to each vibrant location. What impressed me most about the graphics was the stark difference between, for example, New York and Sydney. The port in New York shows off the iconic Statue of Liberty, whereas Sydney boasts the wonderful Sydney Opera House – both of which were captured gloriously.
As good as those ports are, there are some locations that can come off as being a little too similar and nondescript. However, it is a minor gripe in what is otherwise a series of superb visuals. 

TransOcean 2 elevates itself to yet another dimension once you acquire more ships. This requires you to divert your attention to various ports at one time, making sure that you won’t be losing money anywhere and that all your ships are fully fuelled and ready to go. It is even harder when the AI have more ships and when they can sabotage you and other rivals. One method of sabotage comes by way of freezing the accounts of their rivals, and the worst part is that you could be hacked when you least expect it – which adds a certain amount of tension to proceedings.

However, one standout drawback with this game has to be the time it takes to load up. It can take up to two minutes to load, and loading each port takes you to a loading screen, but the wonderfully cheerful and empowering orchestral-based soundtrack in TransOcean 2 somewhat makes up for the loading time.

Perhaps my favourite feature on the game is that it allows you to manually drive your boat out of the dock when the circumstance arrives. In one example, a local tugboat company had gone on strike and rather than waiting one day for the strikers to return to work, I chose to take matters into my own hands. The controls are relatively straightforward and it is a really cool feature, especially when I came across other ships in the dock, and trying to gauge who had the right of way landed me in some calamitous moments, but all the while it never took the fun out of it.

I really enjoyed this game, mainly because it is one of those games that excels in its wonderful simplicity, from the gameplay right through to its controls. The more you play the game and the further you progress, the more you get out of it. I found myself wanting to come back and play it again – which is surely the mark of a great title? In the case of TransOcean 2, it describes those sentiments perfectly.