Industry Giant II

This sequel to 1997's Industry Giant brings new innovations, such as three new industry sectors, business that is affected by seasonal demand (cotton clothes sell more in the summer and wool during winter, for instance), 150 different raw materials, and 50 different transports.

Influenced by many games, from Transport Tycoon and Capitalism, to later games in the City Building Series such as Zeus: Master of Olympus or Emperor: RotMK, IG2 is a game where the player is in charge of a manufacturing and distribution company in the 20th century. The player's ultimate goal is to obtain profits from the distribution of goods.

The main concept of the game is similar to the City Building Series: after products are finished, they are added to the closest available warehouse. From there, stores and factories can pick them up and sell them according to the demand. This is the only source of income, as transportation and manufacturing all take money from the companies' finances (unlike Transport Tycoon and Capitalism). However, before selling these items, the player also has to manufacture (or grow) them. For that, they must either grow agricultural goods, from crops to livestock (some can be sold directly to stores), wood (can either be transformed into sawdust to produce paper and cardboard, or cut wood which can be refined into boards and then into furniture or other applications) or mine several metals (which become more and more crucial as the time passes).

These raw materials must then be combined with other goods in factories. For example, while it's possible to ship fruit directly for sale, combining it with glass (mined from silica and transformed at glassworks) makes it possible to sell juice for a higher price. As time passes, a larger number of goods become available; some of them more elaborate and requiring a much larger range of source materials.

While crucial for development, most industrial units devalue a city and hamper growth. To counter this effect, the player can build several facilities (including universities, rodeos and stadiums) which allow the city to grow a bit faster. A large city not only demands more basic goods, but also starts accepting luxury goods (such as clothing, sports goods and electronics) that also increase the speed of a city's growth.

There are two main game modes. Scenario presents the player with a timed goal (ranging from meeting typical company value and yearly profit goals, to filling a storage area with an amount of a pre-determined product). The other mode is a long-running "Free Play" mode, where the player aims for several values over several decades.