Railroad Tycoon 3

Other products by Global Star

Product Features

• Create a booming railroad industry, exploit the stock market
• 25 challenging scenarios with improved, streamlined UI
• 3D graphics
• Modify landscapes with World Editor
• For 1 player

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000D12XH
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches ; 10.4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 28, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,053 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC

From the Manufacturer

The original Railroad Tycoon, released in 1990, quickly became a tremendous critical and commercial success, and at the same time created the Tycoon genre of game play.

The sequel, Railroad Tycoon 2, released in 1998, marked the rebirth of Tycoon games and was the first Tycoon game of the modern era, with great graphics, dozens of scenarios and Internet multi-player.

The Railroad Tycoon series has received critical acclaim and won numerous awards, including the coveted 'Game Of The Year' from numerous publications. This successful franchise has sold in excess of two million copies and established a massive and passionate worldwide fan base.

Now, the King and creator of the Tycoon genre is returning to reclaim its throne!

The original Railroad Tycoon was created by world-renowned developer, Sid Meier. It was the first Tycoon game ever made, and successfully merged a well-crafted business model with a player friendly graphical presentation. Railroad Tycoon was a critical success, winning 'Game of the Year' from the major magazines of the day, and became a worldwide bestseller.

In 1997, Phil Steinmeyer, CEO of PopTop and a huge fan of the original Railroad Tycoon game, began work on a new railroad game, designed to be the spiritual successor to Railroad Tycoon. A year and a half later Railroad Tycoon 2 (published by Gathering), was released, and like it predecessor became a massive critical and commercial success, garnering many 'Strategy Game of the Year' and 'Game of the Year' type awards. With sales of over 1.5 million copies it was clear that Phil Steinmyer had accomplished his goal, in fact the game is still selling today five years later.

Six months after Railroad Tycoon 2 launched, the game Rollercoaster Tycoon was released and proved to be a huge success, holding the #1 slot in the PC sales charts for many weeks. The tycoon craze was on - dozens of games have launched over the years since, attempting to duplicate the formula that made the Railroad Tycoon series resonate so soundly within the gaming community

Now, in 2003, PopTop and Gathering stand ready to release Railroad Tycoon 3, a big budget, gorgeous 3D transformation of the classic and the game that will usher in the third era of Tycoon games.

Product Description

Railroad Tycoon 3 lets you build a railway empire that stretches across continents and centuries -- if you can survive the cutthroat railroad business, that is! Bankrupt your friends in the great multiplayer mode

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

145 of 153 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but Disappointing, November 5, 2003

By	Charles Dexter Ward "carsc" (Hicksville, NY USA) - See all my reviews

RT2 is one of my favorite games--it's one of only a handful of computer games that has been on my computer continuously since I first loaded it. A game I have always been able to get pleasure from. The wonderful music, the fabulous gameplay, the fun & detailed graphics--Railroad Tycoon 2 is everything a great computer game should be. When I found out that there would be yet another edition of Railroad Tycoon I was delighted. 3D graphics? Great! New gameplay options? Bring 'em on! And over & above my anticipation of a new Railroad Tycoon was a steadfast faith in the game's creators that the game would be everything it should be.

My first impression was very favorable. The first scenario in the campaign, in which you have to build track from Boston to Buffalo, begins with the camera showing the Atlantic Ocean washing ashore on the east coast of Massachusetts. The sound of the waves hitting the beach, the gentle wash of the ocean, the colorful leaves on the trees combined to create one of those gaming moments that you remember for a long time. In short, the sound & graphics are great & it's a joy to play a game in such an ambience. And, of course, the music is back just as enjoyable as it has always been.

New features include other modes of transportation (such as trucks, boats, & planes) competing with your rail line to deliver cargo. In RT2, nothing moved unless you or one of the AI companies moved it. In RT3, sometimes those cattle will get to the packing plant on their own. This feature has promise but it's hard to tell what effect it's having on the game since it's hard to see the immediate effects of this movement. You can also set AI to manage your consists for you--i.e. decide what types of cargo your trains will carry. You can, of course, still do that on your own--more on that below. You can also build tunnels & large suspension bridges although those things are hugely expensive.

As you may have suspected there's a "but" coming in this review. That "but" is the gameplay, which I feel is inferior to the gameplay in RT2. My biggest enjoyment in RT2 comes from searching out profitable routes to build--finding places where cattle can be brought to a packing plant or grain brought to a bakery or even longer cargo chains (i.e. chemicals to a fertilizer plant, fertilizer to a grain field, grain to a cattle ranch, cattle to a packing plant, food to a city). Creating & managing these routes is, in my opinion, the most enjoyable part of the game. This is one reason why RT2 was so superior to Tropico, a game from the same company that uses the same engine. When you run out of cash in RT2, you can spend all your time managing cargo & connections while in Tropico when you run out of money you can do nothing but sit & look. In RT3, despite the wonderful graphics, the structures are almost impossible to pick out of the surrounding terrain. The icons are small & many of them are very similar. Likwise, the icons representing the freight cars are often completely indistinguishable from each other. Is that brown freight car filled with clothing or toys? You can't tell unless you mouseover it which is darned annoying & makes managing your trains needlessly difficult. In RT2 I would build stuff till I was out of money & then sit & play with the trains until I could spend more cash. In RT3, I find myself turning on the auto-consist manager & spending my time planning where to build track. This is more fun than many computer games, but it's a *lot* less fun than the previous edition of the game.

Another issue is the stability of the game. RT2 was a rock, but RT3 has already crashed to the desktop three times in the short time I've been playing it. Extremely annoying when you've spent a half an hour building an intricate set of track only to lose it to a crash. The game also sometimes gets stuttery after I create a save game.

My verdict? I'll give it a few more days & try to tease some fun out of the game. And if I change my mind I'll certainly post a changed opinion. But right now, the likelihood is that I'll be back playing RT2 very soon.

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the series and that's very good, indeed., December 12, 2003

By	Dick K (Centreville, VA United States) - See all my reviews

Real rating would be 4 1/2 stars.

As a piece of software, RT3 is not perfect, but it is better than 90% of what's out there. It's rock-solid stable on my computer but there are those who have experienced a lot of problems, almost all related to issues with graphics cards. There are few bugs with the code and none that detract from my enjoyment of the game. PopTop's support for their products has been top notch in the past and RT3 is proving that again. New maps and code updates have already been provided and more are coming.

Now, as a game... is it fun? You bet! If you liked either of its predecessor's then I really think you'll enjoy this one. The 3D engine incorporated is the first thing you'll notice right away. Then as you start to play you're going to really start to see how different this game/simulation is from RT1 & 2. In fact, that has to be said as a warning: RT3 is NOT just RT2 with 3D graphics. If that's what you want, this isn't it. For me, that's not the bad news, it's a major part of the good news. RT3 now has a whole new economic model underneath it that literally makes the entire game new. The world's farms and factories won't sit idle waiting for your railroad to haul the goods for them. If you don't move them, the 'invisible' transportation network (overland and by water) will move them instead--oh, and don't bother trying to compete with the canal and river transport in most eras.

As others have said the micromanagement aspects of the game have been greatly reduced. Some may not like that but I do--I feel much more in the role of the tycoon controlling a financial empire with a railroad as its centerpiece. You can manage every train and every carload but you're better off letting the game do that and concentrating on the strategic business of figuring out which industrial segments to go after and which cities will benefit you most if you lay track to them. On the other hand, I often find myself simply taking the 3D camera right down to the locomotive and going along for the (often spectacular) ride.

Yes, there are things I would have done differently. And there are things I don't like (the way maint. facilities are handled was better in RT2) but on balance RT3 is an excellent product and worthy follow-up to RT1&2.

Pro:
-- Still the addictive builder-sim gameplay as always.
-- 3D engine is very good; great "ride along" views.
-- Economic model is much more realistic, particularly for the golden era timeframe (late 1800's thru about 1920).
-- Most of the micromanagement is gone.
-- Excellent editor lets you modify current maps and make new ones.
-- Excellent support by the vendor and an active fan base.

Con:
-- The computer players (AI) are poor to awful. Don't expect them to be any real competition. However, improvements are promised in an update.
-- Too few maps come with it. (Fans and vendor updates are fixing this, tho')
-- Track laying and map scale issues result in unrealistic track grades that detract from the appearance (but have little effect on gameplay).

Bottom line:
If you like the builder simulation kind of game, this one is likely to appeal to you. If you like trains or railroad history then I'm confident you'll find RT3 worth the purchase price and then some. PopTop has another winner here and with a few changes it may be a superstar in the genre.

107 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best tycoon series around, November 1, 2003

By	Paul Cerra - See all my reviews

Back in 1998, Railroad Tycoon 2 basically kicked off the tycoon-game frenzy. Now RRT3 is here and it has gone fully 3D. PopTop software is using a very powerful 3D engine with an easy-to-use camera system, and the results are beautiful. Hills and valleys look realistic, lakes and oceans look gorgeous, and the game has a new night-and-day cycle as well as weather effects. Even on lower end systems, the game effortlessly zooms from a satellite view to a close-up look at the buildings in a town.

Players of Railroad Tycoon 2 will notice that managing cargo and routes is easier than ever before. The game features a campaign as well as standalone missions and maps. And the map editor is extremely powerful and easier-to-use than ever before. PopTop also listened to fans of RRT2 and has added the most requested features: bridges and tunnels. Your trains can also carry more cars than before.

The heart of the game, of course, is building your rail network and managing your empire. Laying track requires that you pay careful attention to the terrain to avoid steep hills, as you make profits based on how fast you deliver passengers and cargo. You have dozens of engines to choose from, all rendered in exceptional detail. The economic model has been strengthened and is now much more realistic -- passengers only want to go to certain cities now, and cities need to be supplied with goods to grow and prosper.

Of course, computer opponents will compete with you for lucrative routes, and other modes of transportation like rivers will also serve cities independently of the railroads, so careful planning will be rewarded. Fortunately the game gives you lots of overlays and data views to help you manage your empire, so you can spend more time watching your trains haul logs through dense forests or speed passengers along the plains to distant cities. PopTop has always been incredibly good at taking complicated games and making them accessible for everyone, even novice players, and Railroad Tycoon 3 appears to be no exception. This is a fantastic game that is only going to get better as the series' countless fans begin creating and uploading user maps, thereby making the replay value almost infinite. If you like strategy games, you really shouldn't miss this one.

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