PC User Reviews

It's obvious that as soon as you boot up this game, the developers are big fans of Transport Tycoon. While they mainly succeed in making a fun experience reminiscent of Chris Sawyer's masterpiece, the game is rough around the edges in terms of a steep learning curve, unintuitive controls, and a lack of planes and ships.

And here I was hoping for a modern take on Transport Tycoon Deluxe. The bits this game gets right are the bits it shamelessly stole from TTD and that is where the positives end. The interface is appalling, trying to construct a train line is a nightmarish prospect with all the glitches and error messages it throws at you. I have seen games in the alpha stage in better shape than this. Actually come to think of it, I don't think I have seen an alpha game in a state as bad as this.

Terrain alignment collision simulator 2014 Regret buying this game. The user interface is boring, confusing and misses simple features found in similar games. E.g upgrading tracks and stations. Constructing rails is infuriating and constantly receive errors such as: "not enough space" "terrain alignment collision" "slope is too steep" It should be fun to play simulators / games such as 'Train Fever', but this if far from it.

Even though this game still has some drawbacks, at the end the user gets a very nice transportation simulation! It should be noted, that as of December 2014 the Developers still work on this game and release patches periodically. There is even a free DLC planned for early 2015. Due to the constant work of the devs, while listening to consumer feedback, many of the stated bugs and drawbacks written in the older reviews are fixed by now! Negative points: - for beginners, building tracks may seem complicated - actually, the building tool is quite powerful but it misses an 'undo' or 'planing' function - as every single person on the map is completely simulated, performance gets an issue especially in the late game - without a tutorial, rhe simulation specifications are unknown to new players - they have to inform themselves in one of the thriving communities, maybe a tutorial or at least a help in finding external tutorials would be a good idea Positive points: + nice graphics, realistic vehicles! + modding support, I suggest everyone to have a look at the mods available for this game as they introduce loads of new vehicles, buildings, decorations, ... Even total conversions, industry conversions, and other advanced stuff is available! + periodic updates after release, direct contact to developers possible + long time fun as playing through the different epochs of transportation always offers new challenges, even without a campaign Of course it should be noted. That this game serves a very specific target group. If you have fun building a transportation empire or just love model railways, Train Fever is right for you. Although it is perfectly possible to mod the game in a way that money is not an issue in the game, I do not recommend TF for casual gamers, as they have to invest a bit of time to understand the simulation concepts of the game. When taking the target group into account I can give 9/10 points with clean conscience.

Unfortunately I purchased this game as a railroad tycoon fan but disappointed. Loads alot of files during the game so it's slow. Unrealistic railroad network (you can't build any track on very flat areas though). Awful music. Insufficient terrain building action (can not control during action and no undo possibility). Some reviewers think that the graphics are good. I don't agree. Today's technology should be given more and more. So I never recommend. This game can not be cured, too. I advise to the developers start to think from zero.....

3rd review of this game and it is finally starting to look like an actual full release. It is still silly to use actual trains and they are still glitchy and impossible to figure out, but the road vehicles and trams are fun. Auto-vehicle replacement makes the game playable and fun. Still can't figure out moving freight beyond the factories and supply areas. Does it go to the city? City to city? I build the lines, but they are not used and I will never know why because the game provides no direction. Still a great sandbox game, but just gets a good score due to the frustrations of the rail and cargo aspects.

Collision! Collision! Collision! This is not so much a game as a collection of error messages and vague economic models. At first glance this game seems to provide a much needed graphical boost to the ancient Transport Tycoon series and its open source sequel OpenTTD. Gone are the square blocks and 45 degree corners. It looks pretty. But then you try to upgrade a dirt track railroad crossing and can't because of endless collisions that can't be fixed. Road bridges are near impossible to build. So your transport network grinds to a halt as highways are bottle necked by dirt roads you can't replace. The economic models is unclear to say the least even on the official forum people seem to be guessing at how to increase a city. And for a game called train fever, buses and trams seem to fare far better. A simple problem is that traffic demand never increases to the point you really need trains. Cargo demands especially are so low and close together it makes more sense to create a trucking network then a rail network. Each city has a limited demand for goods. Why send a train capable of moving 100 goods if demand is 30. Supply chains are simplistic, deliver raw good to factory, deliver produced goods. The game in theory has potential but the game devs need to learn that error messages in a game are bad, especially an engineering game. The real world is filled with countless examples of engineers figuring out how to build seemingly impossible bridges, tunnels and roads. You shouldn't get endless error messages just trying to have a road cross a railroad track at right angles. Or trying to build a bridge or a tunnel. Even if these issues are fixed, the game will remain very basic. Switches are simplistic, signaling the most bassic, trains can't use multiple platforms, train stations are all the same model. For a game, the mechanics are to finicky and unclear and for a building game, the building is to awkward. If you want to simulate this game, start up an online game and cancel your internet subscription. You will have more success doing that then trying to build anything beyond the basics in this game.

it can be better game than it is now for indie game, it is good but very unfriendly interface and tutorial is hard to overcome to both hard core simmers and casual gamers. imo, sim games should not get gamers struggle with controls and inaccessible interfaces. graphic is very good thinking its from indie dev. but again with poor IE, players can be lost right after they are thrown out to first mission pros: - beautiful graphic - simulation part is strong cons: - need time to know what is going on at first - slow gameplay

An underrated gem **** - one of the very few sims to have a real sandbox engine with little in the bells and whistles department and a lot in the game engine department. This game just works really well and gives a solid simulation of real world mechanics giving a gamer one hell of a challenge (especially late in the game) along the way. This game can be hard to play well - and yest there are some minor bugs and annoyances in the initial release - the good news is that in spite of those issues - if you like this sort of game - TF is well worth your time and money. The game engine does a great job of simulating the running of trains but more importantly it does a great job of simulating the underling economics - to be really successful you have to combine your design, engineering and line connecting skills with the critical look of an investor or a bank loan manager. That's also where the real challenge comes from - making the lines not just run well but also be profitable. If you like answering question like where should a rail line go, how many trains should run on it and of which type - you should have lots of fun. Some reviewers here have really given this game far too little credit - probably because of some the annoyances - it's true tjat the line upgrading process is cumbersome for example - but if you do it right it becomes part of the challenge and the fun - how do I build lines with depots so that easy replacement can be achieved? Ultimately you need to break through the initial challenge and learning curve - especially if you have become accustomed to big money UI/UX driven games of the last few years - this game is more about the core engine driving the economy than about user interface (the latest simcity for example - while not as bad as some make it - falls under this category - too much bling not enough solid mechanics, I suspect the new Civ does too). Bottom line: If you like train and/or economy sims and enjoy a decent challenge - this is a true gem - a throwback to the old days of PC gaming when figuring out any game was a real learning experience and actually involved a good chunk of the fun.

They have managed to capture the spirit of classic Transport Tycoon. Sadly, the UI is unfinished and the game balance is a little bit off (trains are too expensive and there is nearly not enough demand for all the industrial goods). The developers have been busy releasing patches and if they keep on improving this game, it could very well become a classic.

It is not a typical TTD clone, so many hardcore TTD fans would be disappointed. In many ways, the game goes further than TTD, especially in realism. It is hard to lay a new track, but that's it! In real life you too have to predict and plan when you want to build a new railroad track. Here it is similar, when you underestimate it, it wil be very costly, or it will end with LOAD button :-) But after few hours you will become skilled in track building and every new track will make you proud of it when the first train/bus/tram appears on it. The graphics is detailed, the cities seems like living and sometimes you stop building/managing and you can only stare at everything moving, working, living. Only the terrain outside cities could be more detailed, more trees, different scenery etc, but i believe that will come later from the creators or community. There is great modding community, so you can have a new high detailed train/bus/tram/building model every few hours if you want, the adding of the content is very easy using the community made Mode manager. I you like complexity, challenge and trains, the game is for you!

"i bravi artisti copiano, i grandi rubano" ...ma questo gruppetto scarno di sviluppatori nemmeno quello è riuscito a fare. La difficoltà estrema coincia già dall'interfaccia, un gruppo di finestre di testo sparate a caso nell'interfaccia e quasi sempre posizionate una sull'altra, già dal tutorial (se di tutorial vogliamo parlare...). Tutorial che per l'appunto, dovendoti spiegare le basi del gioco, quando ti consiglia di collegare le due città con una ferrovia non considera che se per sbaglio non riesci a piazzare bene un tratto di binari (e capita, visto che il posizionamento lo si fa tenendo premuto il pulsante sinistro del mouse, lo scorrimento lo si fa tenendo premuto il pulsante destro e, se per caso non hai azzecato l'impostazione visiva prima di iniziare l'azione, arrivare alla rotellina per settare lo zoom potrebbe accidentalmente farti rilasciare uno dei tasti) cancellandolo hai già esaurito il credito necessario per acquistare il treno. la creazione dei binari, quando si riesce a mantenere una sorta di equilibrio di tasti premuti del mouse, è automatizzata al punto tale (ponti, gallerie, rimozione terrapieni e curvatura decisa dal sistema) che se sbagli di qualche millimetro il posizionamento ti mangia metà dei fondi per eseguire le opere di adattamento del terreno, oltre all impossibilità totale di poter creare intersezioni a livello stradale (costringendoti a creare infrastrutture costosissime per superare una piccola strada di campagna). Anche la parte che riguarda i trasporti pubblici segue una sua strana logica dove, se un mezzo deve andare da A a B, magicamente seguirà un percorso a P invece che avanti e indietro, aumentando i tempi ed i costi di gestione. Questo tipo di gioco non sa dove posizionarsi se tra il genere simulativo, tycoon o quant'altro, riunendo alcuni punti di forza che resero celebri altri giochi tripla A passati (Locommotion, Railorad's) ma allo stesso tempo riuscendo anche a denigrarli completamente creando uno sconforto generale di chi sta al di là del monitor e vorrebbe vedere un feeling positivo, un accostamento divertente o comunque che appassioni (le sfide tycoon sono ormai impronta storica e standard per questo tipo di giochi). Insomma, a conti fatti se di programma vogliamo parlare non ci sono molti punti a sfavore. ben fatto, pochi bug, quasi nessun artefatto grafico, una buona componente texture e spazio per aggiunta mod, ma siccome parliamo di un videogioco con cui (ovviamente) si vuole interagire, se proprio si vuole sorvolare sulla difficoltà di approccio dell'interfaccia ci si ritroverà comunque davanti all'impenetrabile muraglia di un gioco che nemmeno lui sa cosa vuole essere, e cosa vuole trasmetterti, e queste sono cose che purtroppo con una Mod non si risolvono.

It sounds far better than reality. The idea of the dynamically growing cities is interesting, but doesn't leave you needing to capitalise on the market as it grows around you. No tutorial, which is acceptable if the mechanics were not so shrouded in mystery. It is based on journey times, so there is little point in cross-city bus routes, trains are too expensive in the beginning so you are left with a couple of routes early in the game. Once you have progressed and can start in a later start date the towns are of the same size roughly as when you started in the previous time thereby not allowing you to turn a profit as the cost of infrastructure is increased but the demand remains as low as horse and cart. UI is disgusting, I have never experienced anything so micro managed and vomit inducing. The system of management of vehicles and trains is terrible, that by the time you have a large network you are left to sit and micromanage all your trains as they need to be returned to a depot to be decommissioned, which sounds fine in practice, but in reality it is just terrible. It has the scope to be quite interesting. If Cities in Motion and these guys got together it may create an interesting game. But on it's own it is nowhere near worth the price tag.

I am a long time fan of TTD, and I still play oTTD to this day. This game is at best a poor knock off, and in it's present state unfinished. Management of trains and tracks are a joke, and it is really impossible to make proper train networks. If I want to make something a bit advanced, I have to find ways to cheat the game to make things work realisticly. I'd say the game is a nice try of revamping the TTD feel, but as it stands, it lacks far too many features. I really wanted to enjoy it, but I just can't. Soundtrack is terrible, the game runs poorly on my very powerful gaming rig, and the UI leaves a lot to be desired.

Unfinished Transport Tycoon. Slow time, the fastest speed 'bus' line goes his circuit one year. Only time updates and indicate whether it will be better

sorry but this game plays and feels like an alpha also the interface is to small besides the main hud i hope the devs patch this thing but i fear this willt ake months

At first I had trouble with the game, because the developers only included a very poorly designed tutorial and they forgot the user manual. But I watched some Let's plays, read some guides made by the community and now I am very satisfied. Once one understands how everything is working it offers a deep and engaging experience. Good: - modern graphics engine - detailed models - it's really fun - speed of trains is adjusted based on angle of curve, incline/decline and some other factors - tracks must follow the same rules as real world train tracks (eg. no steep hills, no sharp turns, 90 degree road crossings) - cities grow dynamically (depends on quality of your transportation network) - train signals are easy to manage, they work like path signals in openTTD. - maps are procedurally generated Neutral - steep learning curve - user interface is ok, but nothing special. Bad: - poor tutorial - no user manual - needs better performance optimization - at the moment it is not possible to choose on which platform a train will arrive. (as far as I know it will be patched)

The graphics are good, but the fun ends there. The menus and controls are terrible, the soundtrack is weak. There is no fun in the game. The trains are obsolete and you should replace them, but this should send them back to the station, which sometimes does not work well. The logic for the carriage of cargo does not make much sense. In short: I'm regretting having bought the game.

This is a great transportation game, the best one I've played. It's still being developed and it has so much potential. If you're a fan of games like the Railroad Tycoon series and Locomotion (I’d call this game a 3D sequel to Locomotion) this game is a no brainer - buy it. If you're not, then perhaps this isn't your cup of tea. The game has flaws, but then again it has trains. If you're the not the type who thinks 3D trains more than overcome some annoyances and missing features, then I'd say skip this, or wait and see. So, the good: this is a game about building a transportation network for fun and profit. It heavily features trains, but there are road vehicles and trams too. You lay out your stations, tracks, roads (sort of) and routes. Then you purchase train locomotives & rolling stock or road vehicles and assign them to those routes. If you’ve designed well, people and cargo will use your transportation and you get money. It’s a real joy crafting a well designed network of tracks, switches and signals and then watching your steam locos chug along efficiently. It’s like playing with model trains, but there’s enough game here to make it more compelling than just a train simulator (I've played a few and found them boring after a few hours). The bad: laying down tracks and roads is complicated. When you try to build something the way you want it, the game often cites “collision”. It’s kind of picky as to what it lets you build. To me, it’s entirely forgivable and I look at it as a challenge, but not everyone may agree. And there’s no manual. Finding out information at this early stage of the game isn't as easy as you’d like. Again, with experience playing Locomotion, I found the game immediately familiar and I’m sure soon there will be much more concise info on the game from the community. Content at launch was a bit sparse – there were no North American trains. Sad face. But overall, I’d still recommend buying it if you’re into these sorts of games.

Awesome game and nicely done. Makes fun so far, although I made some mistakes in my first games. Restarted and planned ahead. Will probably spend many hours with train fever. Hoping also for mods and updates though. No MP does not bother me personally, but might bother some other potential buyers.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

What's this? A game that can actually claim to be a worthy successor to the Transport Tycoon subgenre of tycoon games? Why yes! While the game is definitely a bit rough around the edges (as of release date) and the transport mechanics are a bit of an initial uphill struggle, it's definitely worth the sweat and tears. Once you grasp the basics a very robust sandbox "Transport building" game awaits you at the peak. Living and breathing cities that change as the years go by not only in size but also in style and complexity - Lots of challenges along the way to supply the ever increasing demand for goods and commuters force you rethink old strategies and adapt to the turn of the century. From simple horse carriages and early steam engines to modern Electric trams and trains, you'll be spending far too many hours playing this - if you give it a chance and live with the few annoyances it current has.

A satisfying blend of SidMeier's Railroads and Cities in Motion. The detail in this game is immense and the desire to keep playing is superb. A well priced game £17.99 on Steam and a modest download.

I think it's a good game. You can build passenger and cargo lines (with trains, bus, streetcars, trucks...) and connect the towns and industries to each other, which is fun. Cities grow when they are connected to other cities via your transportation network or get goods delivered. The simulation is very solid. Every inhabitant has a persistent home, work, a recreational area and a preferred shop where he or she likes to go. The optical presentation is nice which makes it very satisfying to watch the networks come to life. The cities are very lovely done, except sometimes the surrounding lands feels a little bit monotonous. There aren't any premade maps, instead they are procedural generated. There are some rough edges at the moment (like the UI), but the biggest oversight is that the developers somehow missed to provide a user guide and the tutorial is lacking. It doesn't explain all important things. Some people are simply lost and rely on user generated guides or youtube videos at the moment, which understandably is frustrating for some.

The game is nicely done. The devs care about details. Of course for a small company there are things missing, but modding is very easy and the community already solved one of the flaws of the game (4 industry chains), you have now 12. - Graphics are great. - Gameplay is good. Laying tracks could be better, but as its complex I don't know how it could improve since it allows a lot of combinations. - UI is good to me. Some people complain of being small. There is already a mod with bigger icons. You can mod yourself, as change the UI icons is as simple as replace an image in the folder of the game. Font, music, everything, simple replace it. The game give a nice environment and atmosphere of the old Locomotion, TTD and RT2. Its worth it for those who like this kind of game.