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Trainz is awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 57 / 59
Date: April 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Trainz is what I wanted Microsoft Train Simulator to be. It is a simulation of a train set that you build and taylor in any way you choose. It allows you to design your layout and then ride it! The program allows you to choose what engine you want, the complement of cars you pull and design the environment that you operate within.

The most fun for me is the surveyor module of the game. It allows you to raise mountains, cut gorges, fill indentations you create with water and place a wide variety of structures. You can even choose the ground cover and weather. Graphically it is sharp, clear, and very photo realistic. The sheep you can place in a field even BAAAAA! as you go by! How much better does it get than that?

I'm not a train sim junkie. I dont care how many pounds of steam is in the engine and stuff like that. I bought this program because I like to create things my way and then thought it would be fun to watch my world go by. Right now this game has no goals or scenarios for you to complete, so if you love that kind of stuff, stick with train sim. According to the publisher's web page, there are many more options they will be presenting in the future including scenarios. The program includes a 3D utlity that according to the readme file, says it allows you to build whatever you want and put in in your set. I haven't touched it yet, but if it works at all, would add a good bit of more flexibility in this program.

Speaking of flexibility, this program includes lot of structures like train stations, houses, animals, factories, trees, people, cars, shopping centers, churches and bridges. You can build your layout any way you want, including tunnels and bridges and it is actually very easy. You dont have to be a 3-D animator with a PHD to build things and that is another plus. My 8 year old daughter can build a layout in about 15 minutes that is OK.

Of course, once your layout is done, you can ride it! You can choose from two methods of controlling your engine. You can choose the more realistic mode, that makes you push levers, buttons and knobs in the cab to get going or you can choose a mode that is little more than the transformer/speed controller on a real HO scale train set. Slide the slider in one direction and you go forward, the farther you go the faster. Reverse the direction of the slider and you go backwards. Easy!

You can choose from 3 views. The in-cab view, looking out the windows of the engine, the chase view, where you hover along next to the train's exterior as you go or the tracking view, where you are standing in various places as your train zooms by. You can move around and watch your train from any angle you choose by pressing a button or sliding your mouse. Again, easy.

I think if you like building things, you will like this program. If you are more into simulated train operations and are more concerned with watching gauges and pushing levers, stick with MS Train Sim, (I have both programs)but for my money, I enjoy this program more due to the greater level of creativity that you can explore with and create.

Much More Than Just a Sim

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: August 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Where do you start with this fantastic piece of Software?
There is so much to do from simply running the included examples, driving a single train from the cab, using the Artificial intelligence, Designing your own world including Cities, ships, canals, aircraft, roads including moving traffic plus much more.
Design your own objects and animate them with gMax(free). Or just sit back and view the action.

Now, with the latest free upgrade (SP3), its now even better.
Run the new scenarios or design your own.

Fed up with provided layouts and objects ? Then download hundreds of user-designed ones for free.

If you can spare some time away from the sim itself visit the Trainz Forums. Thousands of users to offer advice etc.

The only drawback is that you need a decent PC with a decent graphics card - a 100Mhz pentium just will not do.
There are,however, plenty of options to tune the performance of the software to your performance of your PC

I am impressed ? You bet! I have even removed MSTS from my hard drive.

Easy to have a model train layout and trains.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: June 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The Trainz program is the easiest way to enjoy model railroading I can think of. The operation is realistic, the program is very flexible and can be adapted to your needs easily. You can add on to existing layouts, create your own layout, create locomotives and rolling stock, and generally have a nice model railroad without all the usual problems of wiring, scenery, and so on that is attendant with constructing a layout. The whole model train system is contained within your pc - and best of all, you can take it with you on a laptop pc!

Hours and hours of creative fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: April 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

While it's possible to fire up this sim and just operate the trains on the 3 tracks that are included, the real fun lies in building your own scenery and tracks with the very powerful editing tools. You can create huge beautiful landcapes and tracks (hundreds of miles of track lengths are possible if you've got the time). The editor is extremely well-designed and intuitive--one of the best editors of any types I've ever seen. It comes with a good paper manual, however I was creating beautiful tracks without even giving it a glance. Only when I got into the more involved aspects did I take a few peeks at the book. The Auran website also has some great user-created tracks you can easily download and run. Most are around 3 to 5 megs in size. Bridges, tunnels, inclined tracks, hook tracks together for complex layouts--pretty much whatever you can imagine is possible to do here. Rolling hills or jagged mountain peaks; all are easily created. Cities complete with roads and moving traffic, or country towns with farm animals. The learning curve is gentle, yet its power is great. You'll likely spoend a couple of hours playing around and getting the basics down. And from then on, be prepared to lose a good chunk of your life to this.

As far as actually driving the trains, you can choose either a simple mode or a complex and highly realistic mode. You can do a first-person view from inside the engine, or a following mode or a system that views your train from various cameras that you place while building your tracks. All views are fully customizable. I highly recommend this for anyone who has any kind of interest in trains.

Alright

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

It's an alright program, for train lay out buffs. But if you want the real deal, like slowing down the flying scotsman before entering a station, real physics, and real routes. Then I suggest you go with MSTS, and ignore this simple program. There are hundreds of sites to download hundreds of new engines and routes, they only downside is that you have to create a consist for each new engine and car, but they have helpful tutorials to help you out, so I give this, 2 stars. Because of the simple control design. But, MSTS simulates the real thing, REAL engine controls, that need YOUR constent monitering. I'll probly get hateful reviews now.

bye bye railroad tycoon !

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 15
Date: July 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

so i used to think railroad tycoon 2 was like the best game ever. so much fun, so easy.. but i was absolutly blown away by trainz. this game is awsome. it puts railroad tycoon and ms train sim to shame. the only complaint i have is that the game has a very steep learning curve. especially in surveyer mode. but once you get the hang of it, its really really easy to play and design your own worlds.

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