Trainz Demo

Remember those plastic train sets you had when you were a little kid? Ever seen the metal scale models being sold at any good hobby shop made for adults with too much time on their hands? Well Trainz is basically that, just on your PC.

The demo takes you through a "British" landscape with a small town which also, apparently, has a nuclear power plant.	The "USA" map set which will be available with the retail version. Screenshot from official site

So far, this demo is impressive. The graphics are a pleasure for the eyes. This is how Ghost Recon should have rendered the terrain. Of course, there is the irony of cargo cars with "Pennsylvania" written on them roaring through a "British" map, but then again it's only a demo. Everywhere you look you will see beautiful landscapes not unlike that trip to Canada New Zealand. This is the main reason why there are 10 screenshots for this review compared to 5 for the Aliens vs. Predator 2 review. The graphics are just that damn good.

Derail! Fun for the whole family.	And this is the "Downtown Toronto" set, presumably also with the retail version. Okay, okay, I'm joking... Screenshot from official site

The demo also has a "surveyor" mode, which allows you to customize the terrain. Happily, the program knows that double rails are 2 single rails put together, so you can have 2 rails from different directions join forces and form a double rail. This is like placing the models on a real life model railroad, recreating the model railroad experience. And you also have control over terrain and where the water goes. The demo doesn't, however, allow you to save your terrain. (Because, if you could, you might not want to buy the retail version.)

The demo allows you to set different weather conditions. This train is crossing a bridge in "heavy snow"	The internal cab view literally puts you in the driver's seat.

The attention to detail is nothing short of amazing. The sun rises and sets, as does the moon. And periodically, the weather changes, going from clear to cloudy to drizzle, then to rain, heavy rain, cloudy, and back to clear. The snowy weather also goes through a similar graduation, but the progression from clear to rain/snow takes a long time. You can speed it up by setting the clock to a fast speed. The sound effects are also very well done. When going through a level crossing, you can hear the warning bells clanging. You can also sound the horn any time you want by clicking the button that says "horn". (now that was simple...) You can also hear the engines starting and stopping and the clackety-clack of the wheels rolling over the rails.

You can "collect" trains. Isn't that obvious?	Stupid cars! Get out of the way! Pennsylvania RULES!!!

Trainz seems to be designed for easy expandability. And I'm not talking Microsoft Flight Simulator where the developer and other companies create expansion packs to milk money from you. It's something like The Sims, but not as open. The retail will ship with an export utility which is exclusively used with 3D Studio Max. The catch is, you have to buy 3D Studio Max seperately, and 3DSM doesn't come cheap. What Maxis is doing with The Sims is some official content will be made available through the website, all you need is a serial number. But it's not clear if Auran will do the same thing, or if you will also need money. There is a lot of the word "buy" and less of the word "free". They must think that their fans are really rich, which is the whole problem. Most aren't.

Can someone dirty minded PLEASE tell me why my neighbour seems to think this is sexually suggestive??	And so the tinny voice screeched, "Neewwwwtooonn"

However, with all the good stuff said, there is one big stumbling block. Pushing trains around and around a landscape in circles gets very boring, very fast. If you're not the model railroad type, be prepared to be ditching this pretty quickly.

GOOD: Gorgeous graphics, realistic sound effects, great attention to detail.
BAD: Good expandability, but you need 3d Studio Max, and the expandability seems to be for them to squeeze money out of you. Also, it gets boring. RATING: 70% (GOOD)

Scoring system

Links

Official Site

Requirements

Minimum Requirements
400Mhz processor
128MB RAM
16MB video card
Developer supports only GeForce cards, ATI Radeon 8500 works but is not supported, sayeth the website.
Voodoo cards are at your own risk.

Other Info

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