Airline Tycoon 2

About

Airline Tycoon 2 is a single player strategy game with a business theme. It was developed by b-Alive and was released on October 24, 2011. It received negative reviews from players.

In Airline Tycoon 2, players step into the role of CEO for an airline, managing all aspects of operations, including flight schedules, aircraft maintenance, and staff assignments. The ultimate goal is to turn a fledgling airline into a successful global business, while outmaneuvering competing airlines. The game features real-world aircraft and dynamic economic conditions, adding an extra layer of realism and challenge.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

19%

Audience ScoreBased on 474 reviews

graphics12 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Airline Tycoon 2 offers charming graphics and a humorous tone, providing a lighthearted take on airline management.
The game features a deep and engaging experience with options for designing routes, managing finances, and dealing with competitors.
For casual players, the game is accessible and can be enjoyable, especially for those who appreciate the tycoon genre.

The game is considered a significant step down from the original Airline Tycoon, lacking many features and feeling unfinished.
It suffers from numerous bugs, poor optimization, and a clunky user interface that makes gameplay frustrating.
Players are required to create a separate account to play, leading to issues with product keys and overall accessibility.

graphics
66 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
70%
12%
The graphics of the game are generally described as charming and cartoony, providing a lighthearted aesthetic that suits its business simulation theme. However, many users criticize the performance, noting significant lag and poor optimization, which detracts from the overall experience. While some appreciate the visual upgrade from the original Airline Tycoon, others feel that the graphics come at the expense of gameplay depth and fluidity.
- “With its charming graphics and humorous tone, it offers a lighthearted take on the challenges of running a successful airline.”
- “The cartoony graphics are great for a dedicated business sim.”
- “Graphics and textures are top notch for its time.”
- “The game is slow, as in, it only requires one GB RAM to run, but it will still lag horrendously even on a PC running with 16 GB RAM and a Titan X graphics card with an i7 processor.”
- “There's no real strategy, and the graphics are very dated.”
- “Graphics on this game are poorly optimized.”
gameplay
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
52%
12%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it accessible and entertaining for casual gamers, while others criticize its lack of complexity, clunky mechanics, and poor user interface. Key issues include tedious staff management, a confusing navigation system, and a slow-paced experience that detracts from the overall enjoyment. Although the game features charming visuals and some interesting mechanics, it ultimately falls short of delivering a satisfying and engaging gameplay experience.
- “While it may lack some of the complexity of other tycoon games, its accessibility and entertaining gameplay make it a great choice for casual players.”
- “Gameplay was straightforward, with many options and replayability.”
- “It presents a complex economic simulation, customizable planes, interesting characters, and engaging mechanics.”
- “Not only do they expect you to give them your email so that you can register (which took me forever to receive) before you can play, but the gameplay was boring, confusing, and not at all enjoyable.”
- “Another major gameplay issue is that hiring staff feels like a massive chore rather than a quick formality, as you have to manually assign all your staff, and if you want a fully staffed plane, it's at least a 2-day ordeal because only a handful of staff ever apply at one time.”
- “The mechanics are there but die on the vine, as the way in which flights are scheduled and staff is hired seems like the actual business of running the airline was an afterthought to graphics and kitschiness.”
humor
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as lighthearted and charming, particularly in its graphics, but many players feel it ultimately falls flat compared to its predecessor. While some found initial amusement in the quirky character designs, the overall comedic elements, including voice acting, were criticized as annoying and unfunny. Overall, the game is seen as lacking creativity and failing to deliver a satisfying humorous experience.
- “With its charming graphics and humorous tone, it offers a lighthearted take on the challenges of running a successful airline.”
- “Come on guys, what a funny game :)”
- “It was funny for some hours.”
story
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
58%
25%
The game's story is criticized for being uneven and difficult to follow, with players spending more time on aircraft design than engaging with the narrative. While there are several campaign missions available, the experience is marred by frequent bugs and loading issues, making it challenging for players to progress. Overall, the plot lacks depth and coherence, detracting from the overall gameplay experience.
- “Went back and played an hour recently and got past the tutorial, understood the schedules a little better, and dipped into the first mission.”
- “There are six or seven missions that can be completed.”
- “The graphics are noisy, the plot is uneven, and you spend a lot more time designing planes than managing the business.”
- “The game is hard to understand, there are loading screens every 10 seconds, and to top it off, for me at least, the starter missions are bugged so you can't get past step one.”
- “Managed to get it through to the menu screen, then it froze again trying to load a mission/tutorial.”
optimization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with users reporting poor performance and frequent loading screens despite the graphics being acceptable for its age. Many players experience frame rates struggling to reach 30 FPS, indicating significant issues with the game's engine optimization.
- “The engine is horribly optimized, so there are loading screens on everything.”
- “Graphics in this game are poorly optimized.”
- “Performance is bad; your FPS won't even get close to 30, and the graphics are strange as well.”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with numerous glitches making it largely unplayable. Users report frequent crashes and a frustrating experience, compounded by the requirement to create a separate account that generates unwanted email spam. Overall, the game's instability has led to widespread dissatisfaction among players.
- “On top of having to sign up for a separate account that spams your email just to play a game you already purchased, there are numerous glitches in the game that make it unplayable.”
- “I found this game to be buggy, barely playable, and when it was playable, it didn't seem to involve much significant airline tycooning.”
- “Not user friendly and full of glitches; I completely regret buying this game.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Monetization in the game is heavily influenced by the quality of various elements such as meals, staff, plane interiors, and advertising, indicating that players must invest in these aspects to enhance profitability.
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a charming, cartoony audiovisual atmosphere that enhances the tycoon experience; however, players find the mechanics and user interface clunky, requiring cumbersome navigation through office cubicles to manage their business effectively.
- “Charming cartoony audiovisual tycoon atmosphere, but clunky mechanics and user interface that forces environment navigation between office cubicles to make changes to your business.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development has received criticism for its poor design choices, with players noting that the character models appear exaggerated and unappealing, reminiscent of a "big head mode" gone awry. This has led to disappointment among veteran players who expected a more polished visual representation.
- “As a veteran player from the first game, the first jolt is the horrendous character designs that make you think some coder thought it would be funny to leave big head mode on by default.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the game's straightforward gameplay and the variety of options available, which contribute to its high replayability.
- “The gameplay is straightforward, offering many options and high replayability.”
- “The gameplay is straightforward, providing numerous options and excellent replayability.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game has been consistently criticized as terrible, contributing to an overall negative experience alongside the lagging graphics.
- “The game suffers from graphics that lag greatly in the terminal, and look overly cartoony, and the music is terrible.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and boring, particularly due to the requirement of manually moving their avatar between different departments while under time constraints. This repetitive task detracts from the overall enjoyment of the gameplay.
- “Having to 'walk' your avatar when the clock is ticking to different departments gets tedious and quite boring.”