I got it yesterday. Going through first tutorial now.
It feels just like any business simulation game on PC. I've never played an A-Train game before BTW.
It's pretty good so far, but then it's my favourite genre (simulation). For a handheld game, it's actually pretty indepth. Normally the genre is 'dumbed down' somewhat on handhelds/consoles, compared to PC games.
If you're looking for more good simulations on 3(DS), check out Dawn of Discovery (or Anno 1404 if you're in EU). It retains lots of stuff from the PC version and isn't very dumbed down.
There's a review already? Well a bad review is kind of to be expected. Some people don't have the patience for slow-driven genres like simulation games. They'd rather shoot people or smash things instead of building a city or creating transportation routes. That's mainly because these games are mainly on PC, while consoles/handhelds get barely any due to consoles not having mice that are crucial for simulations with point-and-click interfaces. Most people would probably find the game too slow (dull, pointless, etc) for their tastes, not having grown up with slower-driven games.
Note that this is a full blown simulation game. It's literally a PC simulation game stuffed into a cartridge. If you love PC simulation games like SimCity or Pharaoh, you'll like this game a lot. It's not 'dumbed down' for the masses. If you're expecting a quickie game where you expect to finish a scenario in half an hour, you won't like this game at all.
Update: I don't see a review on this website. Are you sure you're not thinking of Suspension Railroad Simulator? I noticed there's a review of it on this site. That's a totally different game than A-Train. It seems like a low budget simulation too. Euro Truck Simulator 2 on PC though is an excellent game and has high quality polish in it.
I've taken interest in this game, I'm a simulation game fan myself
I haven't purchased the game yet as it is download only and is £19.99 (UK price) so if I don't like it then I can't sell it on and I'm stuck with it.
Been curious to find info on this game but info has been very scarce, there doesn't seem to be a review anywhere as of yet. Would you say this game is worth the £20 price tag?
I've played Sim City and Tropico games, are they anything like those games? (Tropico is a politically based banana republic island nation management game)
Well worth the price tag. As I mentioned before, the game is as indepth as a normal PC simulation game, not 'dumbed down' like some others. Bear in mind though that SimCity and the Tropico series are city builders (although Tropico has an economical slant) which isn't what A-Train is.
As the name suggests, A-Train is a transport simulator. Instead of building a city, you're managing transportation lines, and you build all the infrastructure. As more people take the train/street cars/roads, the cities (there's ore than one in the game) grows to accommodate, and eventually you'll see bigger buildings (apartments, offices, etc) appear. A-Train is similar to such games as Transport Tycoon (a popular series although I've never played any), Railroad Tycoon (another popular series that I've never played) and Transport Giant (I actually have this game). In fact, A-Train reminds me of Transport Giant a lot, actually, although TG has a lot more industries.
While A-Train isn't a city builder, you'll still feel right at home with the game if you've played simulation games before (which includes SimCity, etc). There's plenty of icons to click on, and maps and bars and stuff. There's a lot of stuff to learn.
I doubt there's going to be very reviews on this game, considering it's niche-y nature for consoles/handhelds. People tend to bypass these games for reviewing. Hopefully I'm wrong, but if there are reviews, I'm sure some of them are going to count the slow-paced nature of the genre as a negative.
20 pounds (it's pounds, right?) for a PC game on a handheld sounds like a steal to me.
Thanks for your reply, didn't expect it to be so in depth and I appreciate it
It does sound like the sort of game that I'd enjoy and if it's as complex as you're implying it to be then that isn't an issue either.
I haven't played any of those games you mentioned (other than SimCity and Tropico) but I've never really had a gaming PC so never got a chance to enjoy the vast amount of sim games on it, I would have enjoyed the Tycoon series games if I got a chance to play them.
I actually like the sound of this game focusing on the infrastructure aswell, thanks for clearing that up.
I think it's sad that sim games don't get as much attention as other games, sim games can be just as enjoyable as other games and it annoys me when they get dumbed down and try to appeal to casuals. For this reason, I wouldn't view a negative review as a sole "will not buy" decision maker because I know game reviews are done with a view point to how they cater to all types of gamers and some game genres don't review well due to this.
If anything you could say a bad review in sim games can also be a good thing.
I would have most likely downloaded this eventually, I might pick this up much sooner now.
Im downloading it now. I just hope theres alot of train types and that theres a option to ride your train in First person. Oh and If your following Natsume on Twitter, they said that there will be a Demo for the game in the future. So if your unsure you can wait for it. But now they are working on localization of the DLC.
There's no new trains at all the tutorial (finished the first one) so I can't say how many there are. There are streetcars too though, and cars, if you didn't know, so there should be a fair amount of vehicles.
There is a view that lets you get up close though where you can view the people walking around the city and waiting for the trains, but I don't know if that also means you can ride the trains too. It'd be really cool if you could.
I hope you enjoy the game, Flopsy86. If you have anymore questions, you can ask me. You should get a decent PC though and try out the dozens of simulation games :3 I'm a big SimCity fan, and I have some Tropico games too.
I will download this at some point in the next week, just in the process of upgrading to a New 3DS XL at the moment and I'd rather download it after I've upgraded.
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