Sid Meier's Railroads! is now FREE

[Pulsar_t]

Check out this channel on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/RailSimulatorDotCom

[Niode]

Is there anyone else out there who completely loses interest in sim games when they're 3D. I despise RCT3 but love RCT 1 and to an extent 2 (but not as much due to it not supporting window mode unlike it's predecessor, why would you remove a feature like?!).

[AARST]

Check out this channel on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/RailSimulatorDotCom

Ohhhh, thanks for that. Now I can give proper judgement!

Is there anyone else out there who completely loses interest in sim games when they're 3D. I despise RCT3 but love RCT 1 and to an extent 2 (but not as much due to it not supporting window mode unlike it's predecessor, why would you remove a feature like?!).

I didn't like 3 not because it's 3D but because it looks like ass. It's the worst looking 3D game I can think of, which makes me sad. I suppose it loses a lot of it's style once it's 3D because it is limited to polygon count and texture quality, removing some of the more subtle details possible when drawing 2D sprites.

[Erik_Twice]

]I didn't like 3 not because it's 3D but because it looks like ass.

I disagree very strongly, I think it looks nice. I can look at the trees and they are fine, the trains are fine, the tracks are fien and the buildings are fine. I mean, I don't see what's the problem. Perhaps you have the settings too low?

Also it's a game made in 2003. It's 7 years old by now.

It's the worst looking 3D game I can think of, which makes me sad.

Let other gamers judge, do you think those graphics suck?



Take into account that they are putting the camera at ground level, in a sim game...

[Niode]

Compared to RCT 1 and 2, 3 just absolutely and utterly fails. The gui just makes no sense. Takes me three times as long to make a rollercoaster because I keep either deleting what I've just done or it doing the wrong thing over and over again. I wish sim/tycoon games would go back to being 2D. 3D just makes these games suck. The precision of 2D simply cannot be beaten.

[AARST]

I disagree very strongly, I think it looks nice. I can look at the trees and they are fine, the trains are fine, the tracks are fine and the buildings are fine. I mean, I don't see what's the problem. Perhaps you have the settings too low?

The problem is, they should have done one more 2D game and then hopped over to 3D somewhere between 2004-2006. Railroad Tycoon 2 on the Dreamcast looks better than this... Maybe. I haven't played it.

I really do feel it looks terrible, though. And yes, it's on highest settings plus some extra videocard-modified settings.

[J T]

Apparently there must be some subculture of railroad enthusiasts. I have found this place a few blocks from my house that is two giant levels of models with an entire grocery store size floor dedicated to trains. It has to be one of biggest in the country, unless building little miniature trainsets is an even bigger hobby then I realized. This place has everything. Little light switches, models of different species of trees, miniatures people and animals. Every little piece seems to cost $10-$20 dollars too. It's crazy how much stuff there is just devoted to train models. Honestly, the place kinda freaks me out a little.

[Pulsar_t]

It's a little more "mainstream" hobby in Europe but I don't know why it should freak you out. I like trains in general so I can see where such hobbyists are coming from.

[AARST]

I love miniatures and it would be awesome to have one of those elaborate model railroads with little people and a fully detailed city attached. I don't know why exactly, must be something a lot of people have.

So I play games like Sim City, the Sims, Civilization, Transport Tycoon and Railroad Tycoon where I can manage and create every aspect personally. I was hoping Spore would be the one game to bring it all together, but it let me down with very limited gameplay options...
I want a game to come along where I can zoom in and out when ever I wish.

Say, I start with one person and I run around and fight bad guys or whatever a la an RPG or button masher. Then I zoom out. Now I'm creating the dungeons and the castle nearby a la Dungeon Master and Stronghold. Zoom out again. Now I'm controlling whole armies and managing trade routes between nations a la Ceasar and Medieval Total War. Zoom out once more. I command an entire nation, capturing cities and managing scienbtific advancements a la Civilization. Zoom out once more... I am managing the whole planet and it's surrounding space in future times, perhaps commanding fleets of space craft opening options for more zoom outs where I could manage colonized plants in far away solar systems and other galaxies... Who knows!

And being able to zoom in and out at any time to control each aspect of this world. That's my dream game.

[J T]

I like the idea of combining a sim and an action game by zooming in and out. Actraiser did that on the SNES, but its weakness was that it just felt like two alternating games. It would be cool if the two levels affected one another... like if you excelled in the zoomed-in action segments, it would put some probabilities in your favor at the zoomed-out strategic level. Or if you made some poor strategic decisions, it would make the action sequences more mercilessly difficult. That's a pretty cool idea for a game AARST. Too bad you don't have Sid Meier or Will Wright's telephone numbers so you could pitch it to them.