My, my...where to begin. Well, the closest rival to this one would probably be Imperialism. But Industrial Giant is no Imperialism. For all it's simplistic design that game still ranks as the number one game concerning economic models in my opinion. Industrial Giant has it's heart in the right place but it relies too heavily on one or two things that either make or break it. The premise follows closely with the title. Build things and sell them. That in itself offers a lot of possibilities but IG seems to leave it at that. Of basic importance to this game is the ability to construct production facilities and retail outlets. The raw material factories are always set down at the beginning of the game and you never own them even though you may control what you take out of them. The main thrust really lies in the transportation network that you set up. Unfortunately, it takes some time to figure this out but once you do it makes the game a lot easier. You have trains, planes, automobiles and ships at your disposal but where you put them can make all the difference. The farther away a raw material plant is from your factory the more it cost to ship material to it. This follows in any other transporting you need to do. What this does is sink your chances early on if you don't calculate their placement at the first stage of the game. You also have to figure upon the same type of problem when getting goods from the factory to the retailer. What Industrial Giant suffers from is a lack of knowledge, namely yours. The action is real time which doesn't help you when you are scavenging the countryside for new opportunities. You see, your retail establishments can only serve a particular area and your success depends on the population of that area. So while you are frantically searching for optimal building sites your opponents (the computer) has usually already staked his claim to prime real estate. This makes for a challenge but it can also discourage you early on. It might not be so bad if the opponents at least made a mistake now and then as you are sure to. Enough of that though. What of the graphics? Well, XCOM Apocalypse was the first thought I had when I first saw it. It looks amazingly similar. That pretty much describes it. The sounds really do nothing for the game. Birds chirping, trucks trucking, rail car railing and the occasional tree falling. Unfortunately, the music is horrid and annoying. I guess they thought that office workers don't get enough muzak in the elevator. The whole soundtrack is the continual bleating from every dentist office you've ever been in. I turned it off and didn't miss it at all. The interface isn't bad but it comes no where near the simple approach used by Imperialism. Sometimes it is difficult to pick off your vehicles once they enter their depots. Most times you have to wait until they are on the street. The game does employ a 4 corner view approach where you can view from N,E,S,W but that can be confusing. Most of the build and buy options are easy to use, simple point and click. The load instructions operate the same way. Towns can grow and you can add to the landscape with pools, stadiums and other recreational facilities but I couldn't help noticing that there were no governmental or military facilities present or available. Well, that would make for a perfect world but I think they could have added some intrigue to the whole effort. But the game obviously concentrates on industrial development exclusively and sticks to that.