Have you ever noticed that when you really need them to be on time, buses usually aren’t? Or if you are running late, and have to rely on public transportation, buses are running early.

So you grumble and groan, saying things like ‘how hard can it be to run a bus line?’ Well, here is your chance. Not only can you run that singular bus line, but also you have to arrange public transportation for an entire city. JoWooD had published a program called Traffic Giant that puts that chore squarely in your hands.

At first look, this game seemed like one of those ‘why’ programs; as in ‘why would anyone want to play this?’ C’mon, we are talking about a pre-built city, and paying attention to traffic flow, patron needs and then plotting the bus lines, train lines, monorail lines, to ferry people throughout the urban setting while reducing the traffic congestion that plagues that city. Not only that, but you have to set maintenance schedules, adjust driver’s wages, set transportation fees, and adjust the time so that your buses, or trains, have different departure times and aren’t running seconds apart, with a big lag after that.

Should there be heated stops, or just the basic sign on the sidewalk?

Traffic Giant challenges players to put together a system, and make money doing it. This game has managed to take the scope of a civilization game, reduced it to one aspect of that realm, and still put together a challenging task, which is suitable for players of all ages.

In speaking to educators who have integrated other civ games into the classroom teaching, this program had many of the elements that they sought.

On to the particulars …

The first thing that this program really needs is a more comprehensive manual. This isn’t really one of those games that you can just jump into and play. Rather, you will have to read and decipher the manual to learn the player interface – which isn’t as user friendly as it could be.

The game objectives are rather straightforward: minimally you have to attain a company value of one million (pounds or dollars – not really sure because all of the city maps used in this game seem to be towns in Great Britain), and a coverage of 40 percent of the town. You will also have to be the primary source of transportation for 30 percent of all visitors to the town to the leisure venues. The 16 campaigns all have different time lines and goals, and there is a mission pack already out for the game that features 15 new campaigns based in the United States.

In the Endless Game, there are approximately 30 cities of varying sizes that feature the variety of buildings one would expect. There is the usual array of recreational sites, construction zones, office buildings, shopping and apartments. Some of the cities are split by a river, which presents another challenge.

Difficulty levels are broken down into three categories – beginner, normal and professional – and you can choose from a real model or simple model while running from the perspective of an entrepreneur or traffic representative. The latter is important and comes into play simply because your computer foe takes the position of the other (and the multiplayer game is set up the same way), and tries to counter what you are doing. The entrepreneur is out to achieve the market share of passengers and build his or her company while the traffic council representative is trying to remove private transportation from the city.

After that, it’s off to the city selected to coordinate your lines.

The traffic flow of these towns and inhabitant behavior are drawn from the real world, as are most of the situations facing the game player. You will need to pay attention to advertising, the amount of passengers a line is drawing and, of course, your corporate image.

Graphically the game is very well done. The attention to the details of a city is very nice, and three-dimensional elements are fun to watch. The audio portion is solid and directional (as you pass a stadium in the zoomed mode, you are likely to hear the roar of the crowd), and the cutscenes add nicely to the flavor of the game. As stated, the player interface is a little confusing, initially, without solid, simplified manual support. An errant click while exploring the interface and you can eliminate a bus line.

Overall, Traffic Giant is the kind of game that may not seem like much fun, just reading the game description, but actually is enjoyable to play. The concept may seem rather odd, but after playing this game, it now seems like one of those games who’s time is long overdue. Once you have learned how the game works (give it a learning curve of perhaps 10-15 minutes), it is a simple matter to roll up the sleeves and start planning those traffic routes.

Though not rated, Traffic Giant is suitable for players of all age levels.

Install: Easy.
The initial install takes less than 300 megs of hard drive space, goes onto the computer quickly, and the time from install to play is short.

Gameplay: 8.
The player interface may, initially, interfere with the flow of the game while trying to get a handle on its options. However, the city maps are wonderful, and you can adjust the speed of the game to allow time to institute your plan.

Graphics: 8.
Very nicely done. There is some similarity to the cities, but each has enough of its own identity to give the game variety.

Sound: 7.
Solid, but nothing unexpected.

Difficulty: 8.
The campaigns all have different goals with time frames set to make it a challenge – regardless of what difficulty level or side you have chosen to play on.

Concept: 8.5.
This is a nice concept, drawn right from a social studies/economics classroom and integrated very well on the computer.

Multiplayer: 7.
While the game does support play, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of support for it as of yet.

Overall: 8.5
Graphically this game is very good, and the audio track is solid. The concept of this game is what really sets it apart – and allows the deficiencies of the manual to be overlooked. This is not a game you can install and play immediately, but once you have the concepts down, it presents variety and challenge. Hey, you don’t have to build a thriving city, you just have to service it – and therein lies the challenge and charm.