A-Train

Genre:

Strategy

Year:

1992

Developer:

Artdink Corporation

Publisher:

Ocean Software

Perspective:

Isometric

Theme:

Managerial, Trains

Releases:

DOS (1992), Amiga (1992), Macintosh (1992)

Also known as:

Take the A-Train

Transport Tycoon Deluxe (TTD) is very well known by everyone, less known is strategy game A-Train. TTD is maybe mainly focused on trains, but you can also earn money with cars, ships and aircraft. In this game, you can only use trains. You become the owner of a large railway company that already has some tracks and their own trains. Your goal is to be a wise megalomaniac and build the greatest rail empire. Primarily, you must keep in mind your own business and profitability, but you should think about the development of cities where you have your business, because it will also bring you more business opportunities for your company. A-Train is not a sweet, easy-to-understand fun strategy game like Sim City or Microprose's railway saga "Railroad Tycoon". The manual, which is a good 100 pages long and not easy to digest, needs to be worked through first. Even if you have the basic rules down, you don't exactly have the fun to play. The games mentioned above have become such great successes not least because they are also easily accessible to casual players. With all due respect to the undeniable complexity, A-Train fails on this point. Everything seems quite tedious and labor-intensive, the first sense of success doesn't come straight away and the moving trains don't inspire as much hobbyist pride as the cute puffing locomotives in Railroad Tycoon. Die-hard strategists, business students and other high-tech tinkerers are welcome to disagree, but its complicated structure has made A-Train “just” an expert game.