Rail Simulator
Our Rating
4.1
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Your Rating
N/A
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Rail Simulator feels less like a game and more like a career. Playing Rail Sim the term playing in this case is used very lightly can make even the most wide-eyed gamer drift into a deep slumber. So maybe the target audience for this game isn't your typical FPS fanatic; in fact, it's difficult to imagine anyone other than actual train engineers understanding or enjoying this game, and even then, who likes to bring their work home with them?
It may be lacking in the thrills department, but don't be surprised if you learn a thing or two from Rail Simulator. The game is packed with history written in excruciatingly small text on popular engines and routes in the US, UK and Germany. The game also includes two double-sided note cards that are absolutely dripping with information on how to play the game the kind of thing usually reserved for RTS tech trees. In addition to illustrating the often bewildering controls, these cards serve as a reference on railroad signing, signals, and distance markers in Europe and the US, including vintage and modern iterations. It's this sort of thing that while good intentioned and necessary to play the game will send casual gamers running to the hills.
Those who aren't intimidated by the railroad signing history lesson would do well to find a comfortable chair you're going to be sitting for a very, very long time. That's the nature of trains, though riding the rails down a set path for hundreds and hundreds of miles at a time. Depending on how much of a hands-on approach you want to take, there are a few different difficulty settings for driving the train; easy controls ask little more than turning the engine on and letting it ride, so you might want to grab a book or something; the intermediate controls give you more say over the train's braking and other systems; expert controls offer the deepest simulation, granting access to the train's firebox, blowers, cylinder cocks, and half a dozen other dirty-sounding gizmos you won't understand unless you drive a train for a living. Your choice of control method will ultimately help determine the mileage you get out of Rail Simulation, but no matter which one you go with, be sure to keep those note cards handy the game lacks any kind of tutorial.
This lack of guidance is Rail Simulator's greatest failure. Honestly, the only thing that's less fun than driving a train for forty minutes is driving a train for forty minutes and failing your mission because you had no idea what to do when you got to the destination. The menus used for monitoring cargo and navigation are so obtuse and cumbersome that resorting to trial and error can frequently result in train engines careening into the desert. It's very hard to picture driving a train something that sounds so simple on paper being any more infuriating than this.
Once things get rolling, though, Rail Simulator looks decent enough from certain angles, anyway. The problem with the graphics in this game is a lot of the terrain textures were designed to look fantastic at a distance, but the illusion is shattered when viewed up close and personal. Other issues arise when trains arrive at automobile crossings, in which case the cars approaching the tracks continue at full speed until they collide with the barrier, at which point they vanish forever. The game also falls victim to a lot of texture pop-in, especially when using some of the game's more dramatic, shifting camera perspectives. This is especially unfortunate, given that when everything loads up properly, it's among the best looking angles for the game. Yet another glitch crops up in this view and this may just be some weird system error exclusive to our computer where the game's attempts at the Doppler Effect are reversed, causing the train to sound like it's passing from the opposite direction.
It's hard to recommend Rail Simulator to anyone but the staunchest railroad fanatic. If a person exists who is patient enough, tolerant enough, and obsessive enough about trains, then this is the game for that person. The rest of us should probably stick to swearing as the railroad crossing barrier comes down and makes us late for work.
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4.0