HI All, I recently bought Trainz Classics and thought I would write a mini review to share some of my thoughts about this game. I should point out first that the only other version of TRAINZ that I have Owned is the original first release way back all those years ago, so I have no other versions in which to compare TRAINZ CLASSICS with.
I bought my version of TRAINZ CLASSICS from an electronic department store and as soon as I got home unwrapped it to find a nice 90+ page manual and one DVD. The Game installed trouble free on windows XP and to date has not required the DVD to start the game, so we're off to a good start.
Having looked at the various menu screens to see what was available I tried the Harlem route first, and must say that a lot of work has gone into some of the stations, they look good and give a good impression when pulling into the station and leaving with your train. What I dont like about the route is that some of the commercial and residential buildings are repeated too much, giving the impression that we might be missing out on some real buildings along this line.
Okay onto the trains for the harlem route which basically comprise of just the passenger trains you would see in real life operated by METRO NORTH, nice external graphics on all engines and one really big improvement for me was the fact that the wheels now turn. In the first version of TRAINZ the wheels never turned and so the whole train looked liked it was sliding on the rails and from memory they floated just above the rails, not a good look!.
The stand out train is the Bombardier M7A and M7B consisit, from outside to inside it's very well done and has a nice drivers cab. The GM FL9 in NEW HAVEN paint scheme looks great but I was a bit Knocked back when I had a look at the cab, this cab appeared in the the original trainz and apart from in cab signalling it does'nt appear to have undergone any upgrades since. I can't imagine the real METRO NORTH FL9's being this sparse or lacking upgrades.
The game comes with some freight wagons which are a bit dissapointing because they are either not appropriate in era or country of origin. Roof walks on american boxcars and brake wheels near the roof dissapeared a long time ago and metro north don't have NSWR open wagon hoppers, and speaking of that open wagon it appeared in the first TRAINZ edition and has recived no upgrades either. WHY did'nt AURAN use more appropriate freight wagons to suit the modern era harlem line such as Gunderson boxcars or Thrall gondola wagons etc.
Since buying this game over a week ago I have discovered some amazing American freeware freight wagons which if AURAN had used would have raised the realism bar much higher that the back of the game box claims it is doing. My final thought about the trains is that there are no freight engines such as GP38-2 ,SD40-2 or CW44-9 etc, one or two of these in a paint schemes such as Norfolk Southern,CSX, or some other roadname appropriate to east coast America would have made the package perfrect and givin us some oportunity to make some realistic freight trains for our new routes we might create while waiting for volume 3 to be released.
The other route is a fantasy route called MERTOPOLIS and it has a modern city theme, set on an Island with trams. I don't know who created it but clearly it has been a labour of love, someone has a keen eye for city enviroments and loves trams. The Trams are very well done inside and out, and it's great fun to take them for a quick spin. Well done guys and Thankyou AURAN for including this in the first release.
The other big part of this game is the surveyor used for creating your own routes and includes everything you see in the Harlem and Metropolis routes, plus extra content. You can let your imagination go crazy here and spend long nights designing routes it's pure fun and once you get the hang of it easy to use, although I still don't understand it all yet!.
There are a few features that I think AURAN should add to the surveyor that would help Model Railroaders, me being one of them,
(1) the ability to shape the baseboards to what ever size or shape you wanted too, such as L shaped or U shaped layouts etc. (2) Being able to choose different size wood such as 2x2 or 4x4 etc to create benchwork for the layout.
(3) The ability to pan around under the layout like you can now on top of the board.
The reason I think this would be good is that I noticed when you start a new route you are giving several choices in model railways scales to work with and with what surveyor can do now and with the extra features, this would put it close to being a CAD programme.
My understanding is that once you register your serial number you unlock content creator which you can use to create locomotives,wagons, buildings etc. Use this with what I'am thinking about in surveyor and it would be close to being the ultimate model railway designing tool, just a thought.
Moving on again the last thing I wanted to discuss was sound in the game, it's there but it's just not balanced right. The locomotives such as the FL9 or The Genesis P32 lack any real gusto to their engines and don't have that deep throb or rumble that we love about big locomotives.
The airhorns are a different matter turn your speakers up far enough and you might as well be holding you ear next to real ones,loud and just plain brilliant. Other sounds such as wheels passing over rail joins is there but you have to use free roam camera to pan right under the wheel bogie to hear it.
The railroad crossing signals sound good and can always be heard in the trains as you go past, but other environment sounds just drown out any train sounds namely rain and thunderstorms.
The most annoying thing about the sound is that you have no control over it, there are no menu screens with sliders to adjust the sound to your preferance such as 90% trains and 10% environment etc.
It should be noted that despite some sound issues that I have experienced none of them impact upon game performance such as frame rates or stability, so AURAN should be able to fix these problems as each volume in the series is being released.
In conclusion despite my one or two negative comments I love the game, It's stable, does'nt need the dreaded CD/DVD in the drive, does'nt suffer from CTD issues, has some nice locomotives and passenger stock and considering I paid just $39 dollars AUS for it, It's worth it for just the surveyor. looking forward to volume 3, CHEERS EVERYONE. :wave:
I bought my version of TRAINZ CLASSICS from an electronic department store and as soon as I got home unwrapped it to find a nice 90+ page manual and one DVD. The Game installed trouble free on windows XP and to date has not required the DVD to start the game, so we're off to a good start.
Having looked at the various menu screens to see what was available I tried the Harlem route first, and must say that a lot of work has gone into some of the stations, they look good and give a good impression when pulling into the station and leaving with your train. What I dont like about the route is that some of the commercial and residential buildings are repeated too much, giving the impression that we might be missing out on some real buildings along this line.
Okay onto the trains for the harlem route which basically comprise of just the passenger trains you would see in real life operated by METRO NORTH, nice external graphics on all engines and one really big improvement for me was the fact that the wheels now turn. In the first version of TRAINZ the wheels never turned and so the whole train looked liked it was sliding on the rails and from memory they floated just above the rails, not a good look!.
The stand out train is the Bombardier M7A and M7B consisit, from outside to inside it's very well done and has a nice drivers cab. The GM FL9 in NEW HAVEN paint scheme looks great but I was a bit Knocked back when I had a look at the cab, this cab appeared in the the original trainz and apart from in cab signalling it does'nt appear to have undergone any upgrades since. I can't imagine the real METRO NORTH FL9's being this sparse or lacking upgrades.
The game comes with some freight wagons which are a bit dissapointing because they are either not appropriate in era or country of origin. Roof walks on american boxcars and brake wheels near the roof dissapeared a long time ago and metro north don't have NSWR open wagon hoppers, and speaking of that open wagon it appeared in the first TRAINZ edition and has recived no upgrades either. WHY did'nt AURAN use more appropriate freight wagons to suit the modern era harlem line such as Gunderson boxcars or Thrall gondola wagons etc.
Since buying this game over a week ago I have discovered some amazing American freeware freight wagons which if AURAN had used would have raised the realism bar much higher that the back of the game box claims it is doing. My final thought about the trains is that there are no freight engines such as GP38-2 ,SD40-2 or CW44-9 etc, one or two of these in a paint schemes such as Norfolk Southern,CSX, or some other roadname appropriate to east coast America would have made the package perfrect and givin us some oportunity to make some realistic freight trains for our new routes we might create while waiting for volume 3 to be released.
The other route is a fantasy route called MERTOPOLIS and it has a modern city theme, set on an Island with trams. I don't know who created it but clearly it has been a labour of love, someone has a keen eye for city enviroments and loves trams. The Trams are very well done inside and out, and it's great fun to take them for a quick spin. Well done guys and Thankyou AURAN for including this in the first release.
The other big part of this game is the surveyor used for creating your own routes and includes everything you see in the Harlem and Metropolis routes, plus extra content. You can let your imagination go crazy here and spend long nights designing routes it's pure fun and once you get the hang of it easy to use, although I still don't understand it all yet!.
There are a few features that I think AURAN should add to the surveyor that would help Model Railroaders, me being one of them,
(1) the ability to shape the baseboards to what ever size or shape you wanted too, such as L shaped or U shaped layouts etc. (2) Being able to choose different size wood such as 2x2 or 4x4 etc to create benchwork for the layout.
(3) The ability to pan around under the layout like you can now on top of the board.
The reason I think this would be good is that I noticed when you start a new route you are giving several choices in model railways scales to work with and with what surveyor can do now and with the extra features, this would put it close to being a CAD programme.
My understanding is that once you register your serial number you unlock content creator which you can use to create locomotives,wagons, buildings etc. Use this with what I'am thinking about in surveyor and it would be close to being the ultimate model railway designing tool, just a thought.
Moving on again the last thing I wanted to discuss was sound in the game, it's there but it's just not balanced right. The locomotives such as the FL9 or The Genesis P32 lack any real gusto to their engines and don't have that deep throb or rumble that we love about big locomotives.
The airhorns are a different matter turn your speakers up far enough and you might as well be holding you ear next to real ones,loud and just plain brilliant. Other sounds such as wheels passing over rail joins is there but you have to use free roam camera to pan right under the wheel bogie to hear it.
The railroad crossing signals sound good and can always be heard in the trains as you go past, but other environment sounds just drown out any train sounds namely rain and thunderstorms.
The most annoying thing about the sound is that you have no control over it, there are no menu screens with sliders to adjust the sound to your preferance such as 90% trains and 10% environment etc.
It should be noted that despite some sound issues that I have experienced none of them impact upon game performance such as frame rates or stability, so AURAN should be able to fix these problems as each volume in the series is being released.
In conclusion despite my one or two negative comments I love the game, It's stable, does'nt need the dreaded CD/DVD in the drive, does'nt suffer from CTD issues, has some nice locomotives and passenger stock and considering I paid just $39 dollars AUS for it, It's worth it for just the surveyor. looking forward to volume 3, CHEERS EVERYONE. :wave:
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