LOGistICAL 2: France

LOGistICAL 2: France is one of my top favourite modules so far. It has a great balance of puzzles to solve, both small and large scale. The rewards for solving a puzzle keep you motivated, and are commensurate with the size and nature of the puzzle. It does include some of the L2 businesses, but only as points of interest, not to block town completion. It also makes use of the real world style roads, which make for a nice visual appeal as your trucks wind their way across the country. If you like LOGistICAL, you'll like France.

I enjoyed the “Logistical 2: France” module very much. Especially: - the new products - the speed and super-sized speed bonuses. - uniform roads allowing use by all trucks (except 80 tonners). - no need to complete businesses to unlock the towns. - no super-sized town or road completion requirements. - interesting exit and entry puzzles for the quarantine zones. - the demanding logistical puzzle for the completion of Corsica. - the busy, constant flow of the module with no tedium points – other than Notre Dame. - no bugs such as missing towns, businesses, products or roads. Good quality control. - one negative, for me, was that most road repairs were cosmetic and not necessary for expansion throughout the country nor for the completion of the towns. Overall, in my opinion, “Logistical 2: France” is the most balanced and enjoyable module of the 20+ modules and DLCs from the Logistical family so far released. I would encourage more modules like this.

I thought I was the right public for this kind of game, but obviously I'm not, I loved Sokpop's Good Goods Inc, thought this would be a more advanced iteration on the concept... Well, it's not, the maps look bad / blurry, the developer seems to have made the worst choice in every design decision he made... The UX could be worse, but still, it's very clumsy, without playing the tutorial there's no way you could understand how to play it intuitively. I guess the fun starts a little later in the game but I couldn't stand one more minute playing it. For the record, I had been waiting for the price to drop for a looong time, bought it under 5€, and I'm going to ask for a refund, I'm very disappointed. But hey, most reviews are positive, so maybe I'm just too picky and that's just a matter of taste.

The usual Logistical problems apply, regarding interface or sound design, so I won't spend much time on this, a new UI is long overdue, or an ironing of the current one. Likewise, so many redraws stay a problem. On the content side though, this one is great. I'm nearing the end (4 cities left), and apart from the pacing, I liked it a lot. You start in the PACA region where most industries are, and some key ones are locked. After some repairing, lots of unlocking, and growing a better roaster, you go and spend a LOT of time to discover most of the map, looking for some specific unlocks. The way roads are in Logistical 2 made this process a little too long, and I spent time unlocking more cities where I could, but progress is locked until you find at least 3 specific cities and their materials. A little guidance in the quests would have helped. Then came most of the playtime, compleating all the regions of the mainland. The Ile De France is composed of attractions that don't deplete, and some go up to 51k of a dozen materials, making it quite time consuming but good on the money. The last part is Corsica, big step up in difficulty. You will need to swap in and out industries a lot, …

Suffers from the same issues other games of the series do - poor UI, boring mid-to-end game... But Corsica was rough. But good rough. Good change of pace Ultimately if you like the series, this is more of the same

It's certainly not a game for everyone... you need LOTS of time and patience, a sizeable part of this game is just waiting for stuff to finish, and watching trucks scurry back and forth, back and forth... But if you're ready to make that investment... it's very rewarding, and oddly addictive. The feeling of finally unlocking a key industry (steel, engines, machinery) that you know will jump dozens of towns ahead in their development is absolutely worth it. A clear thumbs up from me.