TransOcean: The Shipping Company

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TransOcean: The Shipping Company is a tycoon-style game that simulates the operations of a global shipping company. Build and manage your fleet, establish trade routes, and negotiate contracts to grow your business. The game features realistic ship models, dynamic weather, and a day-night cycle that adds depth and challenge to the experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

73%

Audience ScoreBased on 398 reviews

gameplay15 positive mentions

grinding24 negative mentions

Great nostalgic feel for fans of the classic Ports of Call, with modern graphics and gameplay.
Fun and relaxing gameplay that allows for strategic planning and management of a shipping company.
Decent graphics and unique port designs that enhance the overall experience.

Repetitive gameplay that can become tedious, especially with manual docking and undocking mechanics.
Lack of depth and complexity in the economic and competitive aspects of the game.
Bugs and performance issues, particularly when managing a larger fleet of ships.

gameplay
59 mentions
25 % positive mentions
68 % neutral mentions
7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally straightforward and addictive, with a mix of management and simulation elements that can engage players for a while. However, many users find it becomes repetitive and tedious over time, lacking depth and variety, particularly in later stages. While the graphics and mechanics are praised, the overall experience suffers from a lack of meaningful content and long-term motivation.
- “Gameplay I have found to be highly addictive in the 'just one more turn' sense.”
- “Transocean is a great management game with surprisingly addictive gameplay, trying to manage each ship as it sails across the globe is fun and being able to dock manually both breaks up the monotony and serves as an interesting gameplay mechanic.”
- “The gameplay itself is very straightforward and is something you get the hang of within an hour or two.”
- “Unfortunately it suffers from repetitive gameplay and the tedious management of your ships.”
- “Tedious gameplay, very shallow realism, virtually non-existent long-term motivation, and full of inaccuracies. Also, I find the amount of highly unrealistic and extremely repetitive micro-management very boring.”
graphics
51 mentions
35 % positive mentions
57 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the updated visuals and clean design, while others find them mediocre or lacking in detail, particularly in ship models and environmental effects. Some users highlight the game's aesthetic appeal, especially in specific elements like the docking mini-game, but note that it doesn't meet modern graphic standards. Despite the graphical shortcomings, the gameplay remains engaging and smooth, with a user-friendly interface.
- “The graphics are quite pretty, and it's neat that each port is unique, but you probably won't get to see most of them.”
- “Even on my older system playing with some of the lower graphics settings, the game environment looks absolutely gorgeous.”
- “Graphics wise, the sim is pleasing to the eyes, beautiful colors, non-cluttered interface, lots to look at without getting bombarded with useless information.”
- “Ship models are oversimplified, graphics are mediocre.”
- “Graphics quality were lower than I expected, and I already expected low for a title like this.”
- “I was playing Ports of Call in 2002 and at the end of 2014, the same game is here with only better graphics.”
grinding
25 mentions
4 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
96 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, particularly due to the manual ship docking mechanic, which becomes monotonous as the fleet size increases. While the initial docking mini-game is enjoyable, it quickly loses its appeal, leading many to prefer auto-docking despite the associated costs. Overall, the lack of automation and the repetitive nature of tasks contribute to a sense of grind that detracts from the overall experience.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “While I love the idea, concept, and playability, I feel there's just not enough content or challenge, and it's just grinding for even more resources once you establish yourself.”
- “The docking part of the game is quite fun but when you have 10+ ships it can become very tedious to dock every ship.”
- “Unfortunately, it suffers from repetitive gameplay and the tedious management of your ships.”
story
21 mentions
14 % positive mentions
71 % neutral mentions
14 % negative mentions
The story in the game revolves around the player's struggle to improve their shipping company and buy back shares from an intrusive investor, providing a mix of engaging objectives and challenges. While some players appreciate the narrative's integration with gameplay, others find it lacking depth and feel that it could benefit from further development. Overall, the storyline enhances the experience, but it is often conveyed through text and images rather than cutscenes, leading to mixed feelings about its execution.
- “Unlike in Ports of Call, Transocean has a story involving an investor meddling in the operation of the shipping company, and the player and their partner striving to improve the standing of their shipping company so they can buy themselves back from the annoying investor.”
- “The campaign is challenging and fun, especially with a storyline that enhances the game so much more than just simply playing in freestyle mode without obstacles and consequences that affect your company name and rank for the good or bad.”
- “A truly enjoyable game with a great soundtrack and a good storyline.”
- “No story or real campaigns.”
- “The 'story' in the campaign is 'told' by pictures and text - no cutscenes or voice acting anywhere.”
- “Although most of the time is spent struggling to enter/exit ports, the game has a good balance of monotonous control vs. a progressive 'storyline' (not exactly a storyline but the main objective is to progress and buy back your shares and escape from investors' extortion...)”
music
10 mentions
30 % positive mentions
40 % neutral mentions
30 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many praising its charm and quality, though some find it repetitive over time. While the soundtrack is enjoyable and complements the game's atmosphere, certain tracks, like the elevator music, are recommended to be turned off for a better experience. Overall, the music is described as calming and fitting, despite some criticisms regarding its repetitiveness.
- “One of my favorite elements is the soundtrack: while there isn't that much material, what there is is really well done and somehow I never get bored of it.”
- “A truly enjoyable game with a great soundtrack and a good storyline.”
- “Music gets a little repetitive in the world view as you spend a lot of time there, but each port is individualized and, overall, it's a pretty calming, uninvasive soundtrack.”
- “The music is charming enough, but not the best mood-setter.”
- “The game comes with a set of elevator music tracks which I recommend you switch off from the beginning; then it just plays relaxing seaside sounds.”
- “I remember reading a comment somewhere saying that the music was repetitive and annoying.”
optimization
10 mentions
20 % positive mentions
50 % neutral mentions
30 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization has received significant criticism, with players reporting low frame rates, lag, and freezing issues even on relatively powerful hardware. Many users have attempted various tweaks to improve performance, but these efforts have largely been unsuccessful, leading to a consensus that the game's coding and optimization need substantial improvement. The lack of ongoing support from the developers further exacerbates these performance problems.
- “These lead me to suspect the coding to handle shipping consignments is at best weak and poorly optimized.”
- “Works really good, performance of the contract list could be better if you have 5+ ships in one harbor, if you like 'Der Planer' from the 90s you'll love it.”
- “Good game, but badly optimized with my rig, i5-10200h @2.40GHz boost @4.10GHz, GTX 1650 4GB VRAM, 16GB 2933MHz. It's a bit laggy and has very low FPS, sometimes freezing for 1/2 seconds. I've already made some tweaks, but none worked. I also used the high-performance NVIDIA processor in the NVIDIA control panel. Overall, it's a good game, but there's been a bad follow-up from the developer. They should have kept updating this game instead of ignoring it just because they had a sequel. It really needs an update though.”
- “Hardware optimization is terrible. Even with a quite powerful card, I get 15 FPS when trying to look far, and only 50% GPU usage at the same time!”
- “Performance issues make it unplayable later on in the game for me.”
stability
9 mentions
33 % positive mentions
-22 % neutral mentions
89 % negative mentions
The stability of the game is a mixed bag, with some users reporting frequent bugs, glitches, and lag, particularly when managing multiple ships or navigating the in-game menu. While a few players have experienced no issues at all, the overall sentiment leans towards frustration due to the game's instability and lack of developer support, leading many to advise against purchasing it.
- “The game runs smoothly without any major bugs, which really enhances the overall experience.”
- “I've had a stable experience with no crashes or glitches, making it easy to enjoy the gameplay.”
- “The developers have done a great job ensuring the game is free of bugs, allowing for a seamless experience.”
- “It is playable as it is but has 2-3 major bugs (if a port has more than one ship of yours in, it is really complicated to handle as laggy and buggy, and sometimes (correction many times) the forward daytime gets stuck and results in a disastrous moment to pass 20-25 days.”
- “The penalties for not on-time delivery are running and you see that you are losing hundreds of millions of your money by not your mistake, and most of all the in-game menu is very buggy - you have to push the buttons with the mouse 2-3 times to start the action you were supposed to do, and it's kind of lame for a game that has no graphics needs.”
- “Don't buy it, had the potential but now it's buggy and no longer supported by developers.”
replayability
7 mentions
29 % positive mentions
29 % neutral mentions
43 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players find it addictive with excellent replay value, many others criticize it for being low or non-existent after a few playthroughs. Improvements in graphics and gameplay depth could enhance the replay experience.
- “Very addictive game, excellent replay value.”
- “The gameplay and replayability is really not much better than some free mobile games, but there is no wait time and no pay-to-win.”
- “The gameplay and replayability is really not much better than some free mobile games; besides, there is no wait time and no pay-to-win.”
- “It would have been a fun and killer game if they spent more time on graphics and replayability.”
- “Replayability is non-existent for me after three run-throughs.”
humor
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that the humor in the game falls flat, with many players expressing disappointment that it fails to deliver laughs, particularly towards the conclusion.
- “At the end, it just wasn't funny!”
- “The humor fell flat and felt forced throughout the game.”
- “I expected more laughs, but the jokes missed the mark.”