Growing up in New York City, I've always been fascinated with the subways and railroads. I've always wanted to climb behind the controls of a subway car...I've read so much about them I'm sure I could do a fairly competent job. Microsoft Train Sim allows anyone to get behind the controls of real world trains and guide their train along real-world routes.

This game has accurate re-creations of several different kinds of rail equipement...steam, diesel and electric locomotives. Steam appears to be a great challenge, as you must control the fireman (you can have an auto-fireman, but it's much less efficient) and I haven't attempted this yet. The scenery in the game is amazing. I'm a bit disapointed that they didn't extend the northeast corridor up to newyork and out to boston.

The game also ships with a robust set of tools that can be used to edit and create new routes, and also create new activities. These editors however are fairly complex, and are unsupported by microsoft. It does appear that it would take a significant investment of time to create a detailed route. Given amount of add-ons created for MS Flight Sim, I am hoping that there will be a decent amount of commercial add-ons for Train Sim (if anyone is listening, i'd pay anything for NYC Subway Simulator).

The graphics and sounds in this game are wonderful. With a good subwoofer you really can feel the power of the locomotive under your control. I also run this game in 1024x768/32 and the graphics are phenominal. The controls are layed out well and are easy to learn. I find keyboard controls to be a bit better than using the mouse.

The only "complaint" i would have is that my train ran over a deer, and nothing happened, as if it wasn't there. Also, rain and snow don't splash up against the windshield, so there is no use for windshield wipers (you don't even see them moving in the cab view, only from the external views).

As I said above, this game probably only will appeal to rain fans. My fiance has watched me play "Deus Ex" and thinks it's so exciting. She definately can't see the appeal of a game like Train Sim...and she finds it boring and doesn't understand how I like it.

I guess my fascination with rails and the desire to drive a train makes Train Sim the perfect game for me. Any model railroad enthusiasts or railroad buffs will really get a kick out of this game.




Recommended: Yes