Trainz bills itself as a model railroad simulator.  This is a bit of a misnomer though, as some of the biggest challenges facing model railroaders - space, cost, and limited track segment shapes - are non-issues in Trainz.  Instead, Trainz is more of a world-building design kit into which trains are placed and run.  Gamers who enjoy bringing a world of their own to life, and then getting the chance to drive through that world in beautifully modeled trains, will probably enjoy Trainz regardless of whether or not they ever owned a model railroad or know the difference between HO and N scale.

Trainz consists of three major components: the train collection, train driver, and surveyor.  The train collection module allows the player to view all of the available locomotives and stock, as well as to get detailed background and statistical information on the engines.  The game ships with a large collection of locomotives and stock, including passenger and freight cars.  All of these can be examined in 3D, with camera controls that allow the player to view each engine or car from any angle.

The driver component allows players to run one or more trains on a selected layout.  First, at least one consist must be created, made up of an engine and any desired stock.  Next, a map is selected and a starting position specified for each consist.  Finally, the player must select from a group of realism options such as method of control, likelihood of derailment, and weather conditions.  Once these options are set, the player is placed in control of his/her train.

Trains can be controlled in one of two different manners, via a DCC control or direct cabin controls.  The DCC control simulates the knob used to control train speed on a model railroad layout.  Turning the knob to the right increases the train's speed, while turning it to the left decreases the speed.  The second method of control makes the game more of a real-world train simulator.  Players will need to carefully control the train's speed, monitor the braking systems, and operate the throttle and brakes in order to keep the train running safely and smoothly.  If there are multiple trains on the track, players can switch control to any of the trains, selecting either to leave the unmanned trains on autopilot or to attempt to run all of the trains at once, jumping from the controls of one to the other.  Players also can control any switches on the track, directing trains to new sections or sidings of track.

Regardless of the control method selected, players can view their trains from several different camera angles.  Those who want an engineer's eye view of things will enjoy the cabin view, while those who want to admire their train and the surrounding countryside will appreciate the game's chase and tracking views.  The latter of these is the view from cameras placed along the track that capture the train as it passes.  Players can choose where to place cameras along the track to set up their favorite dramatic shots of their trains speeding past. 

The final module is the surveyor, which is the world construction kit of Trainz.  Players can either modify existing layouts, or start clean with a blank slate.  The layouts are edited via tools selected from a collection of palettes which sit along the right side of the screen.  These tools allow players to set the landscape's topology and add water features, cover the land with textures, add objects, set the weather and time of day, and, of course, lay track.  The game comes with a large variety of textures and objects to add to the players' layouts.  The objects include trees, buildings, vehicles, stations, and more.  Players can also download additional objects from Auran's website and import them for use in the game.

The surveyor's interface is very well-designed and highly intuitive.  Players can pretty much jump right in and begin creating layouts the first time they run the surveyor.  The surveyor is simple enough to let players create basic layouts that look quite nice, while giving players the power to create interesting and complicated layouts with bridges, tunnels, switches, and more.  Laying track is especially easy; just click from point to point and the game adds the necessary tracks and curves to align one section of track to the next. 

Page 2 »