Oct
21
Sid Meier’s Railroads!
Filed Under Entertainment, World News
The Pros: Nice graphics
The Cons: They've simplified the strategy out of the game.
Conclusion: OK, but Railroad Tycoon 3 was better.
The new track laying takes a bit of getting used to. It's still the same click and drag like version #3, but double tracking is where the confusion will come in. A double track, is a separate track line, and not two adjacent rails. In one way, that's a good thing. Because it allows you to create better track branches, and overall the tracks look more satisfying on the map. However, in some cases it can be completely impossible to double- or triple-up on a line. Because of geographical limitations, or other track you've laid that crosses it. This has caused me to have to abort / do-over several games after finding it impossible to widen / expand a critical trunk line. Also, the requirement that you build crossovers between double/triple tracks seems silly.
It's not possible to build tracks that join those of your opponent, without building a massive and train-slowing-down bridge. I guess this fixes an exploit in RRT#3 where the tactic was to join cities, from competing companies, which made the computer pay extremely high fees to use your track, which ultimately bankrupted them? But for me at least it just makes filling the connect-these-cities missions annoyingly difficult. I played a game where it was impossible to get to Washington and Philadelphia, because there were so many tracks going into the city.
On a related note, it appears if coal is desired on the other side of the map, you must specifically make a train to take it there. You can't shuttle it between different routes. This totally defeats the more efficient track layouts you can create. It's possible to end up with an intractable traffic jam, one that will literally never resolve itself until you go in and delete several of the offending trains.
Not enough included scenarios! Version #3 had a lot more maps, senarios, and game options, which create a lot of different ways to play. It feels like they're relying on players to use the map editors, and come up with their own maps. Also, there seem to be fewer trains. This smells like an expansion ploy. However, I didn't play long enough to actually see how many trains there are. I uninstalled this game, but will give it a second try. The game is still enjoyable, as long as you're careful about the track-laying / routing issues. But I'm not sure this should be considered "Railroad Tycoon 4″. Which is what I thought it was. It isn't a sequel, it's an update of Railroad Tycoon #1.
UPDATE: I gave this game a second chance, but I only found more problems. I set the highest difficulty, and couldn't build anything to the next city. So, I sold all my stock. While laying the track, I screwed up and had to delete it. But, you don't get all your money back! Now I don't have enough to build anything!! Restart - Sold all stock, except this time the computer player built there first, forcing me to overpass, which I didn't have enough money for. All this game makes you want to do, is play Railroad Tycoon 3 again. UNINSTALL!!
Jeff Knooren has been a professional software and website developer for over 8 years. Working in leadership roles for political candidates, b-list musicians, and fortune 1000 companies.
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4 Responses to “Sid Meier’s Railroads!”
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TOTAL AGREE
TOTALLY DISAGREE! I love Sid Meier’s Railroads! and play it quite often. The patch has fixed up a lot of issues for a lot of players but I think the game has a ton of charm and is very addicting. It’s nice to have a simple game that is just pick up and play. Others I know have complained about that with Railroad Tycoon 3.
If you want a game you can “Pick up and Play” I’ve seen commercials for Burger King riding around in bumper cars. For $3.99, maybe those are more your speed Javier.
That would work if I owned a 360 but you made a very poor suggestion. If there’s anything I’ve ever hated the most is that Burger King guy. Gives me the creeps. I’ll stick with Sid Meier’s Railroads for now.
I just don’t see how you can find so many problems with the game. The second patch has definitely fixed many things up. It’s nice not that hard to mod the game a bit, for example, adding a favorite city such as a hometown to a map. Apparently, they went with this approach because Railroad Tycoon 3 simply didn’t do well. They needed a game that could reach a wider audience. I think they’ve done well, it’s nice being able to play something new. I would never have thought of playing a game based on trains. Figured I’d give it a shot knowing how great Pirates! and the sequel were.