Rail Simulator

Other products by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Drive 8 great trains of today and yesteryear in this customizable railway simulation
• Travel over 1900 km of track on faithfully reproduced UK and continental routes
• Create and share new content with powerful, user-friendly editors
• Expand your rail world with a range of professional add-ons
• Simple, family-friendly interface delivers an authentic railway experience

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000YIYB3K
• Item Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: January 15, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,374 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

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Product Description

From the Manufacturer
Drive a train through the legendary Cajon Pass and across the rolling expanses of scenic desert between Barstow and San Bernardino in Rail Simulator. In the Thorn Pack, available only in this pre-order campaign, you’ll get seven unique locomotives and rolling stock, as well as the exclusive Thorn Reversal scenario. Deliver a rake of mixed freight to the sidings at Thorn, then stop off at East Victorville on the way to pick up a new set of wagons.

Features:

• The next evolution in railway simulation: enter the most authentic, customizable railway simulation, from the pioneering team that shaped the world of train simulation.
• Accurately re-created routes and rolling stock: travel over 1900 km of track on faithfully reproduced UK and continental routes, driving eight great trains of today and yesteryear.
• Your imagination is your only buffer: create and share new content with powerful, user-friendly editors; expand your rail world with a range of professional add-ons.
• Developed by enthusiasts for every simulation user: simple, family-friendly interface delivers an authentic railway experience; you’ll drive and design in Rail Simulator for years to come.

Product Description
Developed by Kuju Entertainment, Rail Simulator is the ultimate experience for train enthusiasts and gamers alike, allowing players to take the controls of historic and contemporary trains on more than 1,000 miles of real-life routes from around the world. New to the North American release is the highly popular Barstow to San Bernardino route alongside all-new Union Pacific locomotives and rolling stock. Rail Simulator puts players in control of every aspect of the train's operation and even gives players a track editor to create their own routes and share them with other gamers online. Varying difficulty levels, from Easy to Full Simulation, tailor the game to players of all skill levels. ESRB Rated E for Everyone

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A review by a Rail Fan, January 26, 2008

By	B. Brewer "Trainbuff" (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

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.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Flawed Train Simulation, February 3, 2008

By	Northern Warrior "Northern Warrior" (Swindon, England) - See all my reviews

Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

Two and a half years in development this game was eagerly awaited by the train sim community as the title which would re-define the genre after a long gap between genuine new releases.

Unfortunately I can only concur with previous reviews regarding the buggy and flawed game we have been given. It appears as if all the money and effort has been expended on the graphics engine, which does not look a whole lot better than improved MSTS/Trainz anyway, rather than the core features such as signalling to make a train sim work properly. The cabs are quite detailed and 3D but not many of the switches or levers work correctly. In external view the train often looks like a sprite floating over the ground and in both cab and exterior view there's a disturbing and nausea inducing side to side "hunting" of the track which, if it's supposed to represent the cab swaying, is totally wrong.

Sound is not much better. The HST is quite good but the Turbo DMU sound like it was sampled from a bin lorry. The Deltic is rather weak and the Class 47 just doesn't sound right. there's no distiction between the level or type of sound heard in exterior or interior view either. Track sound is awful a sort of disembodied tinkle every now and again or when you cross over points. A Gameboy would put it to shame.
The North American version is missing the York to Newcastle route of the European release with a version of Cajon Pass in California instead. Although the publisher (now working under the Rail Simulator Developments - RSDL - banner rather than Kuju) has stated they will release the respective routes at some stage (free or paid unclear) this creates an immediate incompatibility between the two versions for third party routes etc. which use objects not found in its transatlantic counterpart.

One reasonable point (which is why it gets two stars rather than one) is the train physics. The HST actually takes a realistic time and distance to accelerate and brake though the top end of the power curve is questionable on all the traction. They should just about hold top speed one notch below full power but they want to keep on going. steam physics is about on a par with MSTS, that is to say a reasonable stab but wide of the mark. It does not seem possible to induce wheelslip on any of the locomotives.

Where the sim really falls down is on the operations and signalling. The signalling is poorly scripted and implemented - it does not give proper warning of upcoming junctions and can easily cause your train to derail or collide with another even when you get the correct aspects. The German signalling seems to be derived from the UK signalling and is totally wrong for DB practice. There's a lack of proper warnings for upcoming speed limits. The "Track Monitor" is useless as it only shows the state of the line about 800 metres ahead.

Very few activities or scenarios are included in the box, some will have beginners scratching their heads with complex shunting while others are "broken" as a result of the pathetic signalling. It's not possible to run to a timetable and the game shipped without the proper tools to create such an activity. The development tools need to be downloaded seperately and only after signing a licence with RSDL - reason for this is not entirely clear, but seems tied up with ensuring any commercial third products sold for this sim pay a royalty fee back to the developer. Route building is not as intuiative or easy as MSTS and light years behind Trainz - everything has to be set up via blueprints and the documentation, which also has to be registered for and downloaded separately is quite muddy in places and seems more aimed at the technical high end (commercial?) orientated user than the little guy. The route editor itself is quite buggy particularly when it comes to joining tracks, creating junctions or laying roads and fences.

In conclusion it's a bit of a mess and a disappointment. There is potential there but it will take a bucket load of patches and/or a major rewrite of some of the code to get there. At the time of writing (Feb 2008) a patch is imminent but if you're really eager for a new train sim you might be better advised to wait and see what Microsoft have to offer in their proposed new train simulation some time in 2009.

48 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars THE BRIDGE IS OUT, THE BRAKES ARE SHOT - BUT, HEY, ENJOY THE VIEW, January 18, 2008

By	NeuroSplicer (Freeside, in geosynchronous orbit) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

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.