User Reviews (1 - 11 of 15)

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Nay-sayers not always right!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: February 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Rail Simulator (RS) is an extremely good simulation that is extremely well supported by a website that includes additional downloads, a forum, news, etc. Add-on content is appearing on a regular basis and a major, free upgrade has already appeared, along with editing tools for the more adventurous. RS beats the pants off MSTS and Trainz, which isn't even in the running anymore because it is not compatible with Vista.
If you want to try driving trains, this is the simulator to get!

Rail Simulator

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: February 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a great train simulator (not a tycoon type game), though its early in its growth (US version has only been out a month or so as of this date) expect much content from both its creators and fans both as time goes on.

It has editors included out of the box so you can make your own maps and such, as well as developers tools which can be downloaded from the official website.

For more info on the game you can visit their website and also check out their fan forums as well.

Train Sim

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: February 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Rail Simulator is a fun game for train lovers. I will spend many an hour with this program. I have purchased past games of this type and have enjoyed them greatly and am enjoying this one also. So if you love to drive trains, create routes, or stations, etc. then this is for you.

Oh so realistic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have a passion for trains. I love playing this game because it is so realistic. I can run so many different trains and chose engines and cars and layout and scenery. It has great graphics.

New game has promise

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: February 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This can be a very good game, the graphics are great, the scope is limited now, but hopefully add-ons will expand it. The directions are limited, but getting on the forum,you can learn a lot. The scenery for the Cajon Pass is quite accurate. I have watched train tapes of this area to see it in real life. There are set scenerios you can use, make your own or just make up a train and go where you want. New engine skins, freight cars etc. are coming up almost daily. If you like trains and want to see what its like to be an engineer, This is for you.

Rail Simulator Delivers on it's promise

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: February 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have had limited time to run the simulator...but it seems like a very nice simulator...just enough hand-holding to help novice rail sim users get going

A new raikway simulator

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: April 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

With Rail simulator we have a new player on a stage that was so far dominated by MSTS and by Trainz. And what a performance! Of course like in every debut there are some very small details to brush up but the overall apreciation is very very positive.

For my Son

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have a younger son who wanted to play with trains but we did not have any room for a setup. At the simple level, he only needs three keys to to play and the number pad to change the views. So for us, this is great. Good family fun. Worth the special price Amazon had it up for (9.99).

A review by a Rail Fan

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 23 / 25
Date: January 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The other review on here was written by someone who isn't a big fan of simulators, so here's one from someone who is. I bought this game after seeing that Train Simulator 2 will be coming out next year, and in all honesty, I'm tired of waiting. I had been following this game months before it came out, and was surprised to see that they had already released it a few days ago. I have played it for a few days now, and here are its aspects:
Graphics: Now, the graphics of this game are much better than they are in MSTS. In all honesty, they should be; MSTS was released seven years ago when video cards weren't that powerful. Of course today, we have nice Nvidia 8800's and ATI 2900's (and so on). However, the graphics aren't as good as they could be. In fact, I hate to say it, but some of the photograps of renders in the game look better than they actually do in-game. Also, the resolution cannot be changed in the in-game menu itself; this must be done before you begin playing. But, surprisingly, this game supports HD resolutions, so maybe that's why the photos look good. I am using a monitor that only goes up to 1280x1024, so I couldn't tell you how that looks. I also do not like the fact that there are no anti-aliasing controls. I'm using an Nvidia 8800GT to power this game, and I want these games to take advantage of the hardware I own. But, in the end, the graphics are good; I have seen much worse. I do like the fact that people can be seen and that there is an engineer in the cab.

Sound: The sound in this game is again an improvement over MSTS. The natural sound effects are much more realistic (IE; the birds chirping, cars going by, etc.), but I don't understand why you can still hear these sounds clearly even when your train is going at a high speed. When was the last time you heard a bird whistling while your car was going 65? Exactly. Lol, but the locomotive sounds are nice, but I didn't like the fact that the two North American locomotive's horns were both the same; I like variety when it comes to the horns and whistles. The British horns on the diesels make me laugh; they sound like the horns those really old cars used to have (In my opinion, North American diesels have the nicest, prettiest sounding horns around)

Gameplay: The controls for this game are very similar to those of MSTS, so making a transition to this game should you buy it won't be hard. The only thing I had to get used to was the fact that the A key increased the throttle and the D key decreases it (vice-versa to the layout of MSTS; It was funny when I first played this game as I kept trying to slow down my train, only to realize I was speeding it up!) The display Menu's and HUD's are much more helpful, although it doesn't show you the speed limit of the tracks ahead (at least I don't think it does). The scenarios are nice, but I didn't think there were enough of them.

Game Options: This is the part that aggravates me: In MSTS, you could choose the locomotive you wanted for a route, and play from there. There was also a seperate place to make your own consists. In this game, you have to do all of this in a scenario editor, something I don't yet understand. I may be good with computers, but I'm not this good. I have downloaded content for it, but I haven't been able to use most of it. I'll have to learn more about this process.

Overall: I am glad I bought this game. I am enjoying it, but all the while I feel as though there could have been more potential to it. Perhaps the company will release patches for it that fiz up minor areas and add more options. They already give away official content for it for free (you just have to make an account with the site, which is also free) I will continue to play this game until MSTS 2 comes out, which will probably be one of the best Train-Sims out there. It will be using DirectX10, so it will definitely be using my hardware to is potential. Lol, by the time this game is out, Nvidia will most likely have there 9000 series out, so this card won't be one of the greatest anymore. Oh well. Overall, I give this game three stars. I hope this review has helped some of you.

THE BRIDGE IS OUT, THE BRAKES ARE SHOT - BUT, HEY, ENJOY THE VIEW

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 60 / 72
Date: January 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I must confess: I am not a great fan of simulators. I mean, until we manage to rig-up an actual holodeck, what is the point? Over time, I tried most of them: steering ships and piloting planes and conducting trains - on rainy Sunday afternoons, in a T-shirt and flannel PJ pants, in front of a 17" TFT-panel: how immersed can one get? Honestly.
But I guess the little boy in us will always be impressed and yearn to be in the helm of great powerful machines. To prove to ourself that we can tame these beasts. So I couldn't resist and gave RAIL SIMULATOR a try. After all, it was supposed to be MICROSOFT's TRAIN SIMULATOR successor, sharing the same developer and all.

Is it realistic? Well, I am no real-life conductor, so how would I know? It would hardly be fair for me to comment on subjects that I am not an expert on, so I will refrain from doing it.
What I CAN tell you is that the game physics give off an original feeling all right. Heavier trains need a long stopping run; apply too much regulator and the wheels will slip; and one needs to master the reverser to successfully negotiate steep hills.

Graphically the game is improved compared to its "predecessor"; the routes are delightfully recreated, as are the individual trains - and I especially liked the option to have a free-roving camera instead of just the one following the train. Yet it manages to convey a feeling of unfulfilled potential. Much better graphics are available today.

The sounds are one of the first aspects that ruin immersion - and made me withhold the first star. True, the diesels and electrics all have their own distinctive engine notes, and environmental sounds (birds and church bells) were considered a nice touch. Yet, like a badly conducted orchestra, they managed to miss their mark every time it counts. It makes no difference whether you are in or outside the cab, the sounds are the same! And who can hear birds twerping when passing by in a speeding train?

What really ruins this game's potential is the inevitability of crushing bugs - another star missed. When certain combinations of warning signals and speeds coincide: back to the desktop. Try using the 2nd map: ditto. This one got rushed into the pre-Christmas market - and it shows.

The game comes with a nice and friendly editor which lets you edit the world, and even create your own levels from scratch. Moreover, it is backed by free downloadable content [railsimulator(dot)com] from where one can get free engines, carriages, some new scenarios as well as whole new editor packs. Apparently, RS developers are counting heavily on the fan-base to come up with new models and MODs. This is supposedly a greatly supported game. Now, let's only hope they support it with some much needed patches! Don't release a half-baked game and expect the gaming community to do the rest.

Finally, such a complicated game just screams for a good ol' thick detailed manual. No such luck I am afraid - and this is where it looses its third and final star. I understand that those RS-GUIDES are not going to sell themselves - but, come on, paper is cheap, through us a freaking bone here!...

My suggestion: a good game but wait till they fix it.

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