Ski Resort Tycoon II

"A unique addition to the Tycoon genre"

The only other review of this game gave it a horrible score. Personally I find it to be a pretty cool game. It is a lot more of a challenge than the original SRT.

While it is a cool game, it is ultimately a dodgy budget title. It takes a while to get used to the controls, and the graphics engine is pretty clunky. Also some of the buildings have incorrect signs on them. For example, at the front of the snowboard school is a sign saying ''Advanced Ski School''. The whole game lacks a bit of polish... not that I can speak Polish or anything :)

And worst of all, I have stopped playing Ski Resort Tycoon 2 because I have encountered a bug which stops me progressing any further in the game. I can't remember exactly which buildings were involved, but it went something like this:

To build a medium chairlift you need a multiplex condo
To build a multiplex condo you need 2 single condos
No matter how many single condos I have, I cannot build a multiplex condo.

It may be the case that there is another building you also need & the game does not tell you. If anyone knows please let me know. Whatever the case, this bug has caused me to stop playing the game as I couldn't proceed any further than a small chairlift.

The other reviewer mentioned problems with music - I did not have any such problems.

The gameplay is pretty much as you would expect. You need to build maintenance buildings, cabins & hotels, ski hire, shops, food outlets and of course chairlifts and ski runs. You need to keep your buildings powered, which makes planning your resort is important.

If you are losing money there is usually a reason... it's a matter of finding it. You may need to build more attractions to make money and keep visitors at your resort. Messages scroll across the screen telling you what improvements etc. are needed.

Once you have placed basic buildings you are able to build more advanced ones. eg. You need a gas power plant to build a ropetow, and a ropetow and a warming hut for a T-bar. The makers of the game have expanded the game a lot by drawing out this aspect. There are over 50 different buildings, and some of them you won't start building until you have been playing for several hours.

The process of building ski runs has improved a lot from SRT1. You can now select the start of the run and the depth and width of the run sections. The game then digs out the ski run for you. With a bit of experimenting you can dig out beginner, intermediate and advanced runs quite easily.

It is pretty easy to flatten out a large section of land. ''Sculpting'' a slop, however, is a lot more fiddly. It gets easier with practice, but I found it pretty hard to get a slope how I wanted it. It was very annoying to try and get a slope the right steepness for beginners or intermediates etc.

You can rotate the view 4 ways, and there are 3 zoom levels. There is a wide range of graphics options to adjust to suit your system. I can't comment on the 3D first-person view as my 4mb graphics card could not handle it.

My favourite feature is the one where you can create your own mountain. You define heights for 9 points around the mountain, then define a rockiness factor an generate a random mountain. I was able to fulfill my cool idea of having the resort at the top of the mountain, and having chairlifts bring you back to the resort after your ski run!

In summary I'd say this is a tycoon game of average difficulty level. Graphics are pretty good - your resort looks especially cosy at night. Sounds are annoying (turn them right down or off). Music is repetitive but I found it pretty catchy (of course this is a matter of personal taste) Apart from bugs I have mentioned, it is a pretty good implementation of a unique idea.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/03, Updated 01/22/03