Microsoft Train Simulator with Free Official Strategy Guide (PC)

As other reviewers have said, you do need a high spec PC to do the game justice; otherwise you have to trade off quality of graphics for performance. I have a 800MHz Intel HP PC, and have already uprated the RAM from 64 to 320Mb - well worth doing, it made a vast improvement to the frame rate. I am now thinking of acquiring a better video card for even better results.

Now the bad news.......am I the only one to have noticed the inevitable "bugs"? These are especially evident on the Marias Pass Route with its long freight trains. Uncoupling cars is very difficult because the Train Operations window does not always show the entire train. Also, External View 2, which is supposed to show you the end of the train, seems to work properly only occasionally during shunting activity, which again makes things very difficult. Another bug I found was that the brakes on the cars do not always release after coupling-up. This makes them almost impossible to move!

I had to give up the Whitefish Yard Switching activity because of these problems.

Other niggles are that the siding names are extremely cluttered and almost unreadable in a large yard like Whitefish, and the car numbers will not always display properly.

Come on Microsoft, when are you going to release the fixes for these?

Having had my grumbles, though, I must say I am still enjoying the other routes without too many problems.

However if like me you were expecting more for the price tag and want to get into building your own routes and trains then you may be disappointed. The documentation that comes with the game is nothing short of inadequate and the strategies guide simply the user manual you didn't get with the game. Don't expect any help from Microsoft either as they never grow tied of telling you that the tools aren't supported. Creating a route starts with the over complicated geography extractor, which appears to give the promise of getting the broad topography of the area you are modelling but produces a large flat landscape.

Once into the route creator you building blocks are limited with about 80% of the objects in the pre-programmed routes unavailable. This can be rectified by re writing some of the games files, it is noted that the tools are for advanced users but I think this is pushing it. Once you have access to insignificant items such as stations, you hit the next problem which is that these come as one large structure, making it difficult to extended or add platforms. Add to this the fact that, try as I may I can only build tunnels full of soil and the process soon becomes more trouble than its worth.

The general feel the game leaves you with is 'are well Train sim 2 will sort it all out' but this seems to be a growing philosophy at Microsoft. My advice is to keep an eye out for the up and coming release Trainz from a company called Auran.