Industry Giant II returns after 13 years

Supply chain simulator Industry Giant II has returned after a 13-year hiatus, with current intellectual property holder UIG Entertainment launching a revamped version of the classic game on Steam.

Industry Giant II was launched in 2002 by JoWooD Productions, an Austrian company which went bust in 2011 after making a name for itself with the Gothic and Painkiller franchises, as a sequel to 1998's Industry Giant. Building on the success of its predecessor as well as the popularity of isometric sim-style titles including SimCity, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, and Theme Park, the game concentrated on building up a supply chain for a growing urban development, and while reviews varied the title was a success for the company. Sadly, the closure of the company and the march of technology has made it difficult for fans of the game to get their fix, thanks to incompatibilities with selected modern graphics cards.

That's where UIG Entertainment comes in. Having picked up the Industry Giant IP rights, the company has given the game a bit of spit-and-polish and launched it on Valve's Steam digital distribution service. As well as bug fixes and compatibility enhancements, the re-release includes higher resolution options better suited to modern machines. The core game, however, is unchanged - a fact which will give critics cause for despair but please those who enjoyed the title the first time around.

The game is available now via Steam, priced at £10.99 with a limited-time 20 per cent discount dropping it to £8.79. Early reviews, however, suggest that there are still bugs to be ironed out, including an unfortunate issue with Nvidia GeForce graphics chips which has been plaguing the game since its launch.