All Aboard!



Genre: Train Sim
Developed by: Kuju Entertainment
Published by: Microsoft

First of, some details:

Contents : 6 Tracks : 2 Japanese tracks, 1 English track, 2
American tracks, 1 Austrian tack

Trains : Steam : Gölsdorf 380 (AUT), Flying Scotsman (GB)
Diesel : Dash 9-44CW (USA), GP38-2 (USA),
Kiha (JAP), KIHA 31 luxe (JAP)
Electric : Acela Express (JAP/USA),
Acela HPP-8 (JAP/USA)

Extra Skins : ICE (GER), Thalys (FRA/BEL/NED), Amtrak (USA)

Here is my first review as a freelance journalist for Erwin Pages. My topic and interests are trains, trains and trains. So that's why I am just the man for writing this article. People who have searched in the shops for Microsoft Trainsimulator have found it for 54,95 USD. This is an awful price for this game. Thanks to the monopoly that Microsoft has, it can allow itself to ask great amounts of money. The concept of the game is not bad at all, train fans were asking a long period for such a game, but Microsoft exploited it, as usual. There is also the problem that not all the railway fans are happy, because in Europe, you only have old steamtracks (Flying Scotsman and the Orient Express in 1920). Why can't there be a high-speed track from Paris to Marseille or from Brussels to London (Eurostar)? Other annoying aspects are the 2 Japanese tracks. You can drive from Yastushiro to Hitoyoshi and from Tokyo to Hakone. Which freak is interested in 2 Japanese tracks with stations as Shinjuku and Hon-Atsugi? I'm not sure, but as we all know Microsoft, there must be Japanese version of it, so leave the Japanese tracks out of the English version please…
There are three things in MS Train Simulator that are of high quality: the scenery, the sounds and the trains. Some trains, like the Gölsdorf (Locomotive of the Orient Express), are extremely good made with high meticulousness, even for the sound of the whistle. The most beautiful track I think is the North-East Corridor (Washington to Philadelphia). Why? Well, I like modern trains, not the old and worn steamy things. If you drive between two big cities in the United States then you can drive 130 miles/hour and you constantly see skyscrapers and nice buildings. The stations are not of high quality but that wasn't the intention of Microsoft. The big challenge was to make a working trainsimulator. Another thing that is great is that you can shift the switches by pressing "g" (standard), so you can drive with your train on each track that you see however most tracks that leave the mainline are dead ends… Microsoft can improve its game by making some extra tracks in Europe (and of course by lowing its price). Thanks to the big business of Microsoft, they managed to hold Trainz (another Trainsimulator which is going to be released at the end of the Autumn) on the background. Auran (makers of Trainz) is not that rich to pass Microsoft. It's a shame because on the screenshots, Trainz looks better to me. It is more a game (you must earn money to buy trains) and so it gives some advantages: you buy the train you want and do whatever you want. Trainz is almost 100% based on the real life English trainnet, so it has all the English trains and almost every track. That is what I call a trainsimulator. In short, we will see what comes…

EP sez:

Although MS Train Simulator deserves some credentials for being the first to publish a train simulator, Microsoft rather dissapoints with this game. It's not really fun, the graphics are so-so and it can't decide between being a hardcore sim or being an enjoyable game. This MS game reminds us of the old MS titles before the current quality wave acompanying the X-Box. Meaning, it is made with care, but it plain lacks fun and involvement.

© 2001 Erwin's Pages
Jeroen "Cheetah" Weckers
Http://www.weckersweb.vze.com
Email : Jw84@hehe.com

Score:

Gamplay: 7
Graphics: 7.5
Sound & Music: 8.5
Addictiviness (if you're a trains lover): 8.5

Overall: 76.5%


Links:

> Official Microsoft MSTS Site
> Microsoft