If you're really just interested in getting down to the nitty gritty of running a virtual business empire...
No, this is almost not a game, but rather something that should be used as a business simulator for those interested in pre-graduate economic studies - it's that good, when it comes to emulating all the factors that affect a budding corporation in a "scaled down" world economy.
Gameplay:
Given the constraints of a virtual economic environment, it's almost hard to better the gameplay in Capitalism II.
As a "self made" entrepreneur, you need to decide exactly how you are going to make money and where, with the option of "trading" in up to four virtual world cities at the same time, while having to contend with "local" competitors and a number of AI managed players (assuming you are playing single player of course).
Each city has its own economic cycles and climate shifts, from boom right down to recession, all of which naturally have an effect on your industries in that particular city, be it a silicon mine, oil field, manufacturing plant or grocery store.
You can trade in literally dozens of different goods, from sneakers to gold watches, computers, cameras and even perishable goods. You can buy and sell, import or even manufacture your own goods if you have enough dough and want to beat the competition as far as price and quality is concerned.
For the latter you can also do research to improve your product quality and ultimately get an edge on the competition by being first to market with some new product or technology.
The game is so detailed, that it even incorporates several business processes at a fairly low level, such as the relationships between Marketing, Sales, Logistics and Procurement in each of your businesses. For manufacturing plants you can even manage processes associated with the flow of raw-materials, right down to finished goods and ultimately Sales.
Factors such as quality, branding and brand awareness are all incorporated into your products (purchased or manufactured) and ultimately play a big part in how competitive your business will be against AI competitors.
There's almost too much depth here to mention in a relatively short review, but you will also soon learn the relationship between economic climate, revenue, profits and other factors affecting your virtual share price. Beware, if the price to earnings ratio of your share becomes to attractive, the AI managed players will soon gobble up most of your available public shares and you may just end up working for one them!
There are so many other factors that need your constant attention such as hiring the right CFO and COO among others - too much to cover in any great depth here.
Suffice to say, the gameplay is almost perfect as far as I am concerned, although the interface may appear a bit "clunky" to most first-time players. Don't let that put you off - you don't need a fancy 3D environment to do what is needed in this game.
Graphics:
Almost redundant, since you will probably end up spending most of your time looking at individual business reports and other data regarding your business, and hence why the developers probably didn't put too much detail into this. Overall, the game actually doesn't look that bad either.
Sound:
How much sound do you need except the sound of money - whatever that may be.
Value:
At the recommended retail pricing I have seen, you simply can't go wrong if you are into this kind of thing.
Who Should Get It:
Anyone who is serious about learning - in some detail - how to manage a large corporation without having to go out and borrow a couple of million from someone.
Who Shouldn't Bother:
Anyone who enjoys shooting, blasting, punching, crawling, chasing, driving, flying or living in a fantasy world with their cherished avatar, unless of course you also have a fair amount of patience and like to watch a business grow.