Happy National Train Day!
In celebration we here at GAMbIT will be talking a look at some of the very best, and weirdest, train related video games.
All aboooooooooarrrrrrd!!!
Choo Choo!
A-Train (1992) MSDOS
Maxis is a name well known to anyone during the 90s and the heyday of the sim building game. Best know for the legendary series SimCity and The Sims video game series.
During the companies peak, they searched for ways to expand their catalog and A-Train was one such title. Developed by Artdink, A-Train, while not successful, would go on to heavily inspires the look and feel or SimCity 2000.
A-Train (Let’s Take the A-Train 3 in Japan) is a series of train simulation video games that were originally developed and published by Japanese game developer Artdink in Japan. The first game in the series was published in 1985.[1] The first release in the United States was Take the A-Train II, published in 1988 by the Seika Corporation under the title Railroad Empire. However, the most well known U.S. release isTake the A-Train III, published in 1992 by Maxis as simply A-Train. (Wikipedia)
Transport Tycoon (1994) MSDOS
Chris Sawyer, a man any sim loving gamer knows, entered into the industry with Transport Tycoon, his first management simulation game.
He would later go on to create the massively popular series RollerCoaster Tycoon.
The original Transport Tycoon has since made its way onto iOS and Android devices.
Transport Tycoon (TT) is a video game developed by Scottish games designer and programmer Chris Sawyer and published by MicroProse in 1994. It is a business simulation game, presented in an isometric view in 2D with graphics by Simon Foster, in which the player acts an entrepreneur in control of a transport company, and can compete against rival companies to make as much profit as possible by transporting passengers and various goods by road, rail, sea and air. (Wikipedia)
Chris Sawyer’s Locomotion (2004) Windows
Locomotion is the followup to Transport Tycoon (only took 10 years!) and released by Atari for Windows PCs.
The game used the RollerCoaster Tycoon engine that helped make that series so popular. Unfortunately, the game was not well received by critics and players alike.
Chris Sawyer’s Locomotion is a computer game by independent game developerChris Sawyer. In his words, it is “the spiritual successor to Transport Tycoon“. The game allows the player to use railroads, trams, trucking lines, buses, airplanes and ships to earn money in a transport company between the years 1900 to 2100. It contains over 40 pre-designed scenarios and a scenario editor, and can also be played in multiplayer mode with another human-controlled competitor. The game is played in an 2D isometric view like the other games by Chris Sawyer, particularly RollerCoaster Tycoon, which uses the engine that was originally developed for Transport Tycoon. (Wikipedia)
Sid Meier’s Railroads! (2006) Windows
Sid Meier, not one to be left out of any simulation conversation (nailed it!) threw his hat into the ring with Sid Meier’s Railroads! These guys all loved sticking their name on everything.
The game received favorable reviews from critics when released. One thing of note is that the game is not a full and deep management sim like other games on this list. You can think of it more along the lines (I’m on fire today) of a toy-box.
If you are looking to get started into a rail-game, this is one I would personally suggest.
Sid Meier’s Railroads! is a business simulation game developed by Sid Meier on the Gamebryo game engine that was released in October 2006 and is the sequel to Railroad Tycoon 3. Although Sid Meier created the original Railroad Tycoon, subsequent versions were developed by PopTop Software. After a visit to Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, Sid Meier was inspired to reinvent his original creation. A version for theMac OS X was published by Feral Interactive on November 1, 2012, under the latter’s Feral Legends label.
Railroad Tycoon (1990) DOS
Probably the first major hit in the train simulation genre and at a time before Sid Meier put his name on anything he did, Railroad Tycoon spawned a very popular series that would lead into Railroads! (Above).
It was quite successful and received several perfect scores and Game of The Year awards from press outlets.
Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon is a business simulation designed by Sid Meier. The DOS version of the game can now be downloaded and played for free. The game is the first in the Railroad Tycoon series. A port of the game for the Super NES was planned for a summer 1993 release, and screenshots were shown in the March 1993 issue of Nintendo Power, however the port was never released. Though no reason was officially given, it may have been due to the DOS release of Transport Tycoon, and its planned release on the upcoming Playstation console. (Wikipedia)
Railfan: Chicago Transit Authority Brown Line (2006) PS3
One of the weirdest games out there, Railfan allows you to drive a train, that’s it.
What makes the game unique is that the view from the cockpit is all pre-recorded footage from the actual trip.
Railfan: Chicago Transit Authority Brown Line or just Railfan is a December 20, 2006 train simulator co-developed by Ongakukan and Taito for the PlayStation 3 system. Although Zone 3 and Zone 2region locking logos are displayed on the Blu-ray Disc box art, the game is actually All Region which makes it playable on all PlayStation 3 versions worldwide. The Mission mode is a driving tutorial including several basic and progressive lessons such as learning how to start and stop the train and limitation and traffic signboards. These missions are specific to each train. (Wikipedia)
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