[Definitive] Good or Bad Game?

[Mr Spoon]

There seems to be a lot of deviding points to this game, so here be the definitive thread to help others decide on it's fate.

For me, Good game.
It's simple, doesn't take too much learning and the controls are easier than in RRT3.

[Lyciss]

I feel there really isnt a whole lot of challenge and my game still has random crashes making playing an annoyance. The AI seems to have many issues and it is either to simple to beat (most often) or it buys you out quicker than you can compensate, there really is no inbetween. There simply is just not enough depth to the game economy to make things more interesting and challenging...

[Mr Spoon]

Really?
I usually have two AI people and there is usually a clear winner between them. One buys out the other and then I buy out them later in the game. Before the 1.01 and 1.10 updates, they used to be fairly boring, but after, they are quite agressive when bidding on industries and even buy shares in my company when they never did before.

Peter

[moshelinho]

its a good game, but lot of things need to be improved.

[clut]

there should be another option up there that reads :

'Okay - It's an alright game, but could be excellent with more control over train routing and a more detailed economy.'

[Enigma256]

it's "okay".

what i really miss is scale, everything is so close together, the maps are really tiny.

also track laying, while simple, just lacks important options, and the train AI makes it worse.


it is better than RRT2 (never played 3), but it still doesn't compare to the first part.

[cybrgamr]

I really like the game, as it is definitely fun to play. I don't like the way it runs.

As noted in the bugs/glitches thread, as you get farther into a scenario, graphics issues begin to affect gameplay. I have noticed that at the times of these issues, memory usage is close to 1Gb, indicating to me some form of memory leak (I'm not sure why it should need that much memory).

It happens to me in all scenarios, always late in the scenario and mostly when trying to triple and quad track a bigger station. I play mostly without competition or with at most 1 opponent on easy.

Again, I really like the game...

[techiedude39]

I really enjoy it. However I only play on table mode. I have yet to play a campaign.

[Tae]

At first it pissed me off a lot, but once I got the hang of routing and upped the difficulty level, I am hooked.

[didolover]

one time when i (finally) connected the orient express in rrt3 and had an amazing run from vienna all the way through to turkey it had been so hard and so gratifying that i set up the camera on the train and had my girlfriend, a nonplayer watch with me - it was beautiful on every level
rrt3 had evolved into a grown ups game, and once they cleaned up the train maintenance thing and added some industries it would be an ultimate type game

but this game is a kiddie version of rrt3 - theres no challenge, the stock market is a joke, the industries are sorta like goodie huts in civ, and its a resource hog and worst of all -- instead of forests and hills and shimmering oceans - it looks like wonka-land

[ffifield]

This is the most disappointing Sid Meier game I've ever purchased.

[Wing Fat]

It may be the worst Sid Meier game, but it's still a Sid Meier game and I find it fun and addicting. I agree you need to get the hang of routing and up the difficutly to get the most from the game. I'm playing it a lot, and while it may not have the staying power of some other games I still feel I got my money's worth and then some.

[Krupo]

Originally Posted by Mr Spoon

There seems to be a lot of deviding points to this game, so here be the definitive thread to help others decide on it's fate.

For me, Good game.
It's simple, doesn't take too much learning and the controls are easier than in RRT3.

See, most people who dislike the game do so for the exact reasons why you like it (simplicity); and "easier controls" is debatable.

I like the game on its own merits, considered independently of the three RRT's.

But I do feel that we really *could've* had an "Ultimate RRT4" title had the developers had the vision to achieve it.

1. Map size!
Scale between "deathmatch cagefight" maps that are SMR's trademark, and the "grand campaign" maps that the RRTs all had in the past (incredibly PCG gave SMR high marks partly because of the cagefight effect, the reviewer bashing the grand campaign maps).

2. More station management. Depot/Station/Terminal? Yawn.
I miss my sanding/water towers, maintenance shops, livestock pens, cold storage

3. I want CRASHES!
None of this CTD stuff - I mean loco-hitting-loco, or loco-falling-off-bridge

4. Bonds
You can't borrow money? WTF? At least set up a "bankruptcy is an option" world for the hardcore players. This, of course, was no doubt a casualty of #1, as you need Big High Finance for Grand Campaigns.

5. Zoom! More zoom in, more zoom out!
'nuff said.

6. You buy out an opponent with lots of cash, and you don't get that cash. WHAT. THE. HELL. Yes, then I might be able to roll over the opposition like a house of cards - that's the point!

Those being 6 of my top wishes/gripes, they did get some things right:
1. Routing, while not perfect, is - once you've gotten the hang of it - an enjoyable addition

2. Pacing is much more intense; the RRT's often suffered from interminable periods while you waited for cash to roll in. They may have erred a bit too much on the 'fast and furious' side of things, but larger maps could've easily compensated for that; larger maps with the current pacing = joy.

3. It's pretty. Resource whre, but it looks nice. Too bad we can't zoom in more!

4. Still addictive as crack. Damn you, Firaxis. Well, actually not *that* addictive, due to pacing/map size issue (it's too easy to quickly end a game!), so you're often done in a couple of hours. Probably a Good Idea for attracting casual gamers, but a let-down for some hard-core people.

There's probably some others but my memory's drawing a blank... and I feel like going back in to crush the Czar...

[marc420]

I think this game is growing on me.

At first glance, I wasn't sure I liked it. I hadn't played RT3, but I've played all the other ancestors of this game (Railroads, Railroad Tycoon, RT2, Transport Tycoon). And my very first impression of this wasn't a very favorable one.

But .....

This game is growing on me. I know I don't know it yet. The AI thumps me and buys me out at almost any level. That alone has caught my interest and poses a challenge to me.

The economy and the stock market are both things that are growing on me. This is where I sense the game may be a lot more subtle and interesting than I initially gave it credit for.

I like some of the changes to the economy. Not only is there the beginnings of a sense of appreciation for the subtlety of how they work, but they also seemed to be designed to eliminate some of the micromanaging of other games of the genre.

For instance, (warning, I'm just starting to figure out the concept of the economy, so this could be very wrong!) ....It doesn't seem to matter where you haul a good. Prices are global, not city-specific. And distance doesn't seem to change what you get for the haul.

At first glance, I saw this and was dissappointed. Its not the complexity that I was used to. But, now I'm starting to like it. It means I don't micromanage my routes nearly as much. I don't have to switch destination cities because I've driven the price down in one. And I don't have to rearrange my routes when new cities come online ... in games where you made more money by hauling over a distance, it would make sense to constantly try to find longer routes. In this game, it doesn't.

So, when I set up a route for a resource, I can forget about it for awhile. I kinda like that. Meanwhile though, I will probably be making less money over time because the global price for the good will go down with me hauling lots of it around. So its not completely static. But the level of micromanagement in this game is down.

And when I think of other games, that's what usually killed them for me. Here's what I've always done with these games. I love the early parts of a game. Building an early network, setting up a few stations, moving some goods and making some money. Great fun.

But then, these games always hit a point where I'm sick of playing them. I've got too many trains going to too many stations which have too much resources piling up in them. After awhile, managing all of that just gets to be a pain. I'm making long sweeps through the game trying to check all of my trains, or trying to check all of my stations. All of this goes out of control if I don't micromanage, but micromanaging all of that gets to be a slow, boring pain in the rear. Eventually I save the game and do something else. I might come back to it, but I start it, play just a few turns and quit not wanting at all to do all of that work. I probably move on and play some other game and do some other stuff. Eventually I might see the icon on the start menu again, fire it up and repeat the above process.

This game seems have a nice subtle design that helps eliminate that problem. The economy system seems designed to cut down on that micromanaging. And the stock market system seems to provide a much more defined end-game. Since I'm just learning the game, I get bought out before the micromanaging gets out of hand. But I think I like that the stock market system forces a relatively early end to a game where I'm trailing an AI in money. It sends me back to starting over, which for me is the most fun part of the game to start with.

Thus the game is starting to provide me with both a real challenge and also seems designed to avoid the overload effect of some other games in the genre.

Its growing on me.