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Mostly just crashes, Software crashes that is.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: September 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Being a rail fan, I was happy to see a simulator for trains. I was hesitant because it was from Microsoft. My reluctance was well founded. The game is well meaning, but it is so riddled with bugs that it is virtually unplayable.

When the game does not out right crash or freeze it is plagued by serious simulation errors. Incorrect parameters in the physics setting of most of the rolling stock and track cause endless, random derailments and broken couplers.

If you visit the fan support sites you will find countless threads about these problems. Some of these bugs can be fixed by editing the simulation files ... long winded hand editing of hundreds of files required to fix the careless QC of the developers is not fun. These fixes also take away some of the realism. Because of the bugs you have to enter impossibly high breaking forces for couplers to keep them from randomly falling apart.

If you manage to survive all those bugs you will find many of the activities are so poorly designed that they can't be completed. The train orders may tell you to go west when the destination is east.

The activities are supposedly editable, but the tools included for editing the activities (routes, cars) are so incredibly unstable that I can't imagine the original designers actually releasing them, much less using them.

This game was a real disappointment. I had hoped for a realistic simulation. It could have been that, but the quality is just too bad. The only reason I give this game 3 stars and not one is because I love trains. Were it not for that it would be a 1 star because of the awful playability.

Do Not Buy This Product

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 20
Date: August 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This simulator is classic Microsoft m.o. Rush a product to market, do not adequately test or quality control it, issue patches and hope for the best. My hardware configuration is more than adequate for loading the game and I have purchased and loaded games from EA Sports and Jane's Simulations with great ease and success. Here however is Micro-garbage which will simply not load successfully no matter how one customizes (i.e. minimizes) the install. Please see other reviews for corroboration. I have very much looked forward to this item but please buy any one of the competitor's products for train simulation. Do not patronize MS on this one. You WILL be disappointed.

Microsoft Train Simulator

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It's a lot harder than you would think to move a train from station to station and this program allows you to experience many of the challanges actually encountered. Beginning at the easiest level of difficulty (to learn to operate the train and fimiliarize yourself with the track layout) and progressing to the most difficult level is much more difficult than you think. I have a great deal more respect for those responsible to move trains around the country. Yes, it could be better, but still a lot of fun and challange for young and old alike. Enjoy!

All aboard this modeled and detailed sim

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Well Microsoft brings out another simulator, on involving planes, and now one involving trains!!! This sim has 11 trains with many miles of track. From the Marinas Pass in Montana, to the Acela Express in the east, this game sure has featured trains from the past and from the present. My favorite is the Acela Express because of its unique design and the ability to go 125mph!!! There are challenges as well, good activity in the game.

There are always cons to even the best of games, first is the lack of a printed manual, why cant microsoft afford to print manuals anymore, were paying lots of money to buy these games and no manuals. Except ones on the cd. Also it feels like your the only human out there, no people and no AI trains passing you by, you are the only one out there.

If microsoft would pay attention to these cons, this game could have been 5 stars, but in school terms, its a B+

Be ready for a bunch of headaches

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: July 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

It sounds like a cool idea, it looks like a cool idea, and after numerous attempts to get it run, re-installing and re-installing and fooling around with error messages, I'm looking for my money back. I never did get it to run and I'm through fussing with it.

What do you expect for [price]

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: December 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I bought this for my train-addicted 6-year-old. I installed it on a less than state-of-the-art PII-350 with 256MB RAM and a Matrox G400 card.
My son is enraptured driving each route, and has started to "mix & match", running the Flying Scotsman on the Northeast Corridor, for example. I've tried some of the scenarios, stopping at stations, trying to stay on schedule. If anything, it's given me a greater appreciation for Amtrak's operations.
Unlike many reviewers here, we've experienced zero crashes (the computer kind; my son finds derailing the Acela at high speed very amusing).
As others have stated, the online PDF manual sucks, both in its lack of depth and the inability to refer to it during play.
The graphics and sound are amazing, even if the game play is a bit dull and lacking in imagination: Why are there no people on the platforms? Why don't the deer scatter (or splatter)?
On the other hand, the game has offered few major frustrations, which is very important when playing a new game with a child.
The game is rated for "all" audiences, although I would have liked an "appropriate" age range. If your child can't read yet, be prepared to spend a lot of time explaining...

Train Simulator

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Train Simulator is a well-written game, but there are some things that could be better. On the plus side, it is a fairly accurate representation of what driving a train would be like. It has 3 different locomotives to drive: steam, diesel and electric. It is interesting to compare the 3 types. Unfortunately, there is a learning curve in the beginning (to be expected in a simulation game) which may make the game not as much fun at first.

I was disappointed in several things, though. There is no representation of an American steam engine, which I was looking forward to. There is an Amtrak train, which doesn't represent the great era of railroading in America. There are several routes in America, several in Europe and some Japanese routes. I would like to see more routes in America, which at the height of railroading, were all over the U.S, going to all major cities and many, many smaller ones.

The other thing that was a disappointment was that you have a trade-off between scenery and the train running at a good speed. The scenery is nice and somewhat authentic, but, if you choose to be a passenger and the scenery is what you want from your ride, the train runs very slow.

There are multiple views which is very nice. The sounds are authentic and you can put in different weather conditions also. There is a manual you can print out which should be printed before playing the game or any scenarios.

Altogether, Train Simulator is a pretty nice game, with a learning curve in the beginning and a few things left out (in my opninion). But I'm enjoying it anyway.

dead environment

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: August 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game does not live up to the standards established by previous Microsoft simulators, such as the popular Flight Simulator series. Think twice before buying this game.

The system requirements are pretty high, compared to other sims, such as Microsoft Midtown Madness. This is pretty outrageous, considering that you can do more in the car sim than in the train sim! The game was extremely choppy and crashed often on my PII 400 MHz, 128 MB, 12 MB Diamond Monster II machine. Granted, it's a few years old, but it should handle something as simple as this.

The game play was dull and uninteresting, even for a train enthusiast. The scenary is very dull with the same type of objects gliding by mile after mile, 2D trees, and unrealistic placement of the buildings. There are barely any railroad crossings and you can't hear the sounds of the gates as you fly by. When trying passenger runs, the first thing you'll notice is that there are absolutely no passengers standing on the platform waiting for you and there are hardly any other trains or vehicles during the rest of your train ride. Driving through some of the mountains is also boring. I left the game on for 10 minutes and didn't see anything except grass, a few trees, and tunnels. There is hardly a challenge here.

In addition, the game crashes quite often, and has many bugs. Outside views of the train are frequently clipped from environment shadows, as a passenger, you can see the train tracks beneath you (as if there's no floor!), and the train signs are hard to read. The controls are not worth much either and you'll spend most of your time fighting with the controls instead of trying to control the train!

A great idea, but needs much, much more work to be considered a serious sim.

Buggy software

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 17
Date: October 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this game in eager anticipation of the beautiful sites I would be passing by on my way to exotic destinations around the world. Didn't happen. I have tried many of the different scenarios and the game always crashes after about 5 or 10 minutes of playing. I've tried reinstalling the game several times to no avail.

I am disappointed because I paid around $30 and I feel like I wasted my money. I am also surprised Microsoft released such a crappy, buggy product. I am not at all accustomed to Microsoft softwares crashing on a regular basis. Microsoft is after all, a software company.

I will say this, for the few minutes that I am able to get the train up and running it is fun looking at the surrounding landscape.

Fun, but misleading in some respects.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: July 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

My biggest beef with this game is that Microsoft does not publish "recommended system requirements." You should have at least 1.2 GB available on your hard drive. I am running the game on a Celeron 450 with 8MB on the video card and 256 MB of RAM, and the video is still choppy. Fortunately, that's not as critical on a train simulator as it is on a flight simulator.

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