"The ABCs of CEOs"

You know your having a bad day when you steel supply has just be cut off and your stock just crashed 19%.

Intro
Capitalism II is all about what the previous games tried to install into our brains. Buy, Build, and Sell... at a profit, then repeat.

Story
You're a new CEO of a company that just went public and you don't actually have any products yet. So start small and build your empire one product at a time.

Music
I cannot seem to remember anything outstanding but its better then Capitalism Plus (which had 2 song tracks that just repeated over and over.)

Gameplay
Oh , where to begin. The same concepts of CapII are just like the other games. If you never played a Capitalism game before, prepare to LEARN. The learning curve is very tough to newbies. But if you can get past that. Then a very fun experience this will be. Any fan of Sim City will tell you that cities go through a economic cycle (Boom to Bust then repeat). But now you have to contend with that. Also new to the game is Purchasing Power. Cities in the United States and Europe will have more money then say , China or Thailand. Even your starting locations are random (as opposed to picking your own maps and Cities) which seems like a step back from Cap Plus. Sadly, you can now have a maximum of 4 cities to play in.

RCI isn't Just for Sim City anymore
Another new treat to gamers is the ability to buy Real Estate. You can purchase new buildings or buy previous built. Your success though seems to be rather random.

Commercial Buildings come in different verities too. Before you could sell everything in a department store (even cars) but now there are specialties stories. So only buy that car at an auto dealer, or buy your headache pills at the drug store.

Industry hasn't changed that much, only the fact that you can buy different sized factories.

An interesting twist to the game is the fact you can buy media companies now. No longer must you shell out your hard earn cash to get your 30 seconds of fame, when you can buy the whole thing for hundreds of millions of dollars and charge everyone else.
The stock market works just like the previous installments. Including the names of your competitors (Ah Happy Resources we meet again). Issue new shares to pay off debt or acquire another company.

With so much to command you would think things would be easing sailing right? Unfortunately you have to play against other companies for the same customer. So you have to keep your costs down, look for new products and (with a Head Quarters) hire some of the best people to micromanage it for you. Its all about networks baby.

Graphics
Instead of SimCity 1 graphics we get Sim City 3000 type graphics. Also you can now zoom to street level and watch people and cars go by, including in your stores and factories (minus the cars of course). Funny how the Bank looks like the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Replay
There are always new things to build and invent. Scenarios can challenge your skills from the main game (not as many as Cap Plus) and as they say on Wall Street, if at first you don't succeed, start another company.

Final Tally:
Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 7
Music: 5
Story: N/A (its a sim)
Replay: 10
Final Score :7.9
GameFAQs Score :8

Closing Thoughts
While going farther then it's brothers, Capitalism II could have gone farther still. Why not take advantage of the SeaPorts and Airports (Shipping tycoon) What about some Cities Services (Banks, Garbage, Power, Water, Internet). Hopefully CAP II raises the bar for a CAP III.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/23/04