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Trainz: the railroad experience of your life
It’s no surprise, the choo-choo-train toys have always been on a kid’s wish list. As fascinating as they were, these mini-toys provided an easy and imaginative source of entertainment to kids and for some a great way to escape from the fast life around them.
The TRAINZ: Railroad Simulator 2004 isn’t just another tycoon game; it’s a marriage between the Train Aviation and the dedication of the Hardworking people at Auran, the developers of TRAINZ.
The TRS 2004 is in a class of its own. No boundaries. No limits. No finish line. This game promises to be a truly creative and imaginative simulator to work at. The game seems to defy the meaning of modern gaming due to its endless possibilities of model railroading. It’s purely the “king of simulators”.
You are in charge of everything in this game. There is nothing about winning or losing here. Build your own terrain, set up industries and devise your own transportation routes. A deep look at the history of the amazing trains, from the early 1900s to the current era. From freight locomotives to electric passenger trains, you lay your hands on a wide selection of monstrous locomotives. Your imagination is hard pressed to make things work and patience is the key to success. So who says playing with trains is kiddy stuff.
A new experience
For the first time ever, you are a train driver. You can either control the train using simple dials and buttons, or actually sit in the cockpits of each and every train and toy with all the levers and pedals. With so many Physics applied on each train, it takes a lot of time to understand every bit of technique offered in the game.
Each train is followed by a brief description of its history and some physical data like horsepower, etc. You can transform your train into any form you like, passenger train or goods train, you have to carry goods from one industry to the other or carry passengers to a memorable rail trip. All of this work is done on a carefully designed realistic 3D environment. Having said that, the game is not for quick action gamers, as mentioned earlier you aren’t fighting for glory instead your respecting the great work of the people at Auran, who came up with something new and innovative. Auran has also provided a lot of downloads and updates to this game already, including a toy model train.
Terrain editor: Level editing is the oldest trick in simulation games so it’s not an entirely new concept but it has always been boring job to work at. But in TRS 2004, it is very easy and fun to make your own environment and modify existing environments in 3D. Remember, it’s all about using bits and pieces of your imagination and transform it into a virtual world of railroad-making. A free-roaming camera is available which allows negotiating directions with ease.
Game play: It’s amazing to see that the programmers have laid so many complex controls in your hands, but it’s up to you if you want to use all of them. Plus did I mention the word “Physics”? Well, as an experienced Sim gamer you’ll have to keep an eye on various features like brake pressures, throttle, air flow and many other tangling stats. Handling of trains also differs slightly in weather variations. Of course, you don’t have a steering in a train, but over-speeding or unnecessary acts causes the train to derail or crash, really beautiful. The game play can sometimes be very annoying, specially when you take the wrong route and find yourself wasting time in observing the map and reversing the train at a turtle’s pace to take the correct path. As a perspective, there really isn’t much of a game play because of the distinct nature of the game. On the whole, the game is very pleasant to play, not too easy or too difficult. If you like it you’ll find yourself spending endless hours playing it. In case you don’t like the nature of the game then you are sure to uninstall it the same day.
Graphics: The game doesn’t disappoint in graphics. Dedicated attention has been given in designing the realistic environments and different model trains. You can enjoy the graphics just as much as like watching a real train passing through the deep green valleys on Discovery channel. The surrounding lakes, bridges and tunnels make up a very pleasant scenario. The fog can be thickened or lightened as desirable and the viewing distance can be adjusted quickly for performance gain. Every train’s cockpit is designed in 3D to perfection. Every gizmo inside is easy to locate and its really cool driving a train from the cockpit except that most of the outside view is blocked, but that’s the way it goes.
The game has a very stable graphics engine which can be tweaked outside the game, leaving you only with minor graphic adjustments within the game.
The Game supports Direct X 9.0 and extended support for OpenGL has been provided. However, the graphics though aren’t completely rock solid. I can’t see the wheels of my train spin and the rail tracks looks like I’ve made them. These flaws are only witnessed when a particular object is focused completely, but it’s not as annoying when you play the game. Anyhow, the real thing was to capture the real essence of rail trip and the programmers managed to do it in style.
Sound: The game’s sound FX are fairly good. The sounds of the rattling engines vary from model to model. The stunning horns, hard-braking and the clanking underneath the trains are all there. The only exception is the non-availability of theme sound tracks which are popular in modern games, but after stepping into this game one realizes that the sound tracks are of no use. Auran wanted to capture replica sounds of the roaring engines and environments and they have provided with that too.
So, there you have it. The Trainz 2004 is a fine work of art; it provide a very pleasant and enjoyable train ride which was never experienced before on a PC. So it deserves a respected 7.5/10 marks.
Hardware requirements
Minimum hardware: Intel P3 700+ MHz or AMD AthelonXP at 800+ MHz, 32MB Dx9.0 compatible AGP Card, 128MB RAM (256 + for XP/2000), 1.3GB (plus more temporary storage).
Recommended hardware: Intel P4 1.5+ GHz or Athelon XP 1800+; GPU: GF 4 Ti, FX 5600, ATI 9500 Pro or better; 256+ MB Ram; large page file size (over 500MB)
Reviewer’s machine: Over-clocked P4 1.5GHz (2.1) GHz, extreme modified Leadtek Winfast A250LE TD VIVO, 25 MB DDR.
Pirated versions of the game will cause the game to load but without having to allow you to play it. Make sure you copy the crack file provided on the first disk to the games “\bin\” Directory. Latest versions of your AGP drivers are necessary for compatibility. For quick performance gains, play the game with a high angled camera view and decrease the viewing distance to achieve better frame rates.
The writer
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