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1993-01-06
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Path: menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: jwalker@ac.dal.ca (James Walker)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: A-Train
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games
Date: 7 Jan 1993 00:44:05 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 305
Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <1ifuclINNd3f@menudo.uh.edu>
Reply-To: jwalker@ac.dal.ca (James Walker)
NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
Keywords: software, game, simulation, strategy, railroad, commercial
PRODUCT NAME
A-Train version 1.0.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
A-Train is a financial empire building game based on railway
building, train scheduling, land speculation, real estate management, city
planning, and stock trading. To put that into perspective (I can see
everyone saying "Uh... OK"), it can best be described as a cross between
Sim City and Railroad Tycoon. If that doesn't make any sense to you, take the
first sentence of this paragraph again real slowly. :-)
This game was originally published as "Take The A-Train III" in Japan
for the FM Towns computers; but since none of the other versions of A-Train
ever made it across the Pacific, it got renamed. Or so the manual tells me.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
The game is written by Artdink, Japan, and published by Maxis
Corporation for release in the United States and Canada.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Maxis
Address: Two Theater Square, Suite 230
Orinda, CA 94563-3041
USA
Telephone: (510) 254-9700
I suppose Maxis is doing the European version too, since on mine the box
says NTSC version.
LIST PRICE
I paid $63.00 (Canadian) including the all-conquering GST tax. I
hope this is a representative price! I guess that's about $49.95 (US) retail
in the United States.
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
A minimum of 512K of chip RAM and 512K of fast RAM is
required. If you want to use interlaced screens, the box
says that "1MB of RAM is required plus 512K of fast RAM." I
think this means 1MB of either chip RAM or fast/chip RAM and
512K of fast RAM, since I think you could fit it into 512K
of chip and 1MB of fast. Don't quote me on that, though. 2
floppy drives or a hard drive are recommended. To that I add
that a 68030 makes the whole thing more pleasant to play.
It's extremely usable on a 68000, though.
SOFTWARE
It even works under Kickstart 1.2 (does anyone still use
that?). It runs fine under Kickstart 2.04. There is an HD
install program (the Commodore "Installer" program) provided.
COPY PROTECTION
None. Nothing at all. And it's HD installable as I said above (the
program is provided with an Installer script and Installer itself).
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 3000/25Mhz, 2MB chip RAM, 8MB fast RAM.
Maxtor 213MB SCSI HD.
Commodore 1950 multisync monitor.
Kickstart 2.04, Workbench 2.04.
REVIEW
NOTE: A-Train can be run in either Hi Res (640x400) or standard
(320x200), with the menus in 620x200 (I believe) in both cases. I have an
A3000 with a multisync, and I always play it in Hi Res. It gives 4 times as
much display area, and it's still fast enough on an A3000. The display is
good in 320x200 - the graphics are the same, only you can't see as much at
once.
The first thing you notice about A-Train is the beautiful graphics
(in Hi-res, anyway ;-)). Everything is shown in an isometric perspective,
with beautiful little details such as trees and lots of different sorts of
houses and farms. There is a night/day cycle (which can be switched off if
you want) which starts to darken the landscape as the evening approaches.
After everything turns rusty red at sundown, the building and train lights
turn on. The grey of early dawn turns into the bright sunshine of the
daytime around 7am. Snow falls in winter, and you occasionally get other
little details like Santa Claus flying past on his sleigh and reindeer at
midnight on the 24th of December. There are UFOs (very occasionally), and
the amusement parks sometimes have fireworks burst above them on Friday
nights in summer. Skyscrapers under construction have hammerhead cranes (red
and white) on top of them, and the streets have streetlights. The commercial
buildings have neon signs, and so on. The attention to detail is incredible.
There is a lot more to A-Train than just good looks, however.
There are six scenarios in A-Train, addressing different problems with
differing amounts of money. The most open is called "New Town," which
presents you with a small community with a rail line and station already
running through it. Passenger and freight trains (over which you have no
control) arrive and depart 24 hours a day. You get the profits from these
trains, however. The challenge is to build a feeder line to this town,
essentially causing other new towns to spring up. The rest of the map is
covered with scattered farms, with no real concentrations of settlements.
At the other end of the scale is the scenario entitled "Downtown
Reorganization," where you must make a stagnating urban commuter line in a
large city into a more dynamic operation. The other four scenarios fall
between these two extremes.
I suppose I should start by explaining some of the ideas in A-Train.
The first is that you are dealing with urban commuter lines, not main lines.
One glance at the rolling stock for sale will show you that these are all
subway-style trains. Second, if a line runs off the map, it is assumed to
connect to a major city slightly off-map. Trains running off the map come
back bearing materials (on which more later) and passengers.
Materials look like little off-white boxes which freight trains
carry in and dump next to your station, if you have land that you own within
a certain distance, on which the materials can be stored. An empty freight
train stopping in a station will remove materials if there are any nearby
and carry them to its next stop. Materials are used to build buildings.
Depending on what you're making, you need more or less materials available
locally. Houses built by the program also require materials. If there are no
materials available, growth stops (which can really ruin your day). Trains
are the only way to carry materials and passengers around and get them where
they're needed.
This brings us to the trains themselves. There are five different
freight trains, with differing speeds (high/low) and different capacities (2
or 4 boxes of materials. There are about 18 different passenger trains,
either 2 or 3 car, and high or low speed. These trains may or may not be
able to pass through stations without stopping, which can be important. The
trains also cost different amounts to buy and to run.
Every train must be scheduled. A small map is presented showing the
tracks available, where you decide what orientation you want the track
switches (points or turnouts) to have when the train goes through them. You
can then have a test run of this. Also, the departure times of trains must
be decided. By default, the train runs a shuttle service, stopping 1 hour at
each station on the route. However, for passenger trains it is more logical
for them to leave the suburbs at 8:00 in the morning and return from the rail
interchange in the city at 6:00 in the evening, to carry all the commuters.
Each station can have 2 tracks, and it's possible to time the trains so that
you can run 2 trains on a single track with a passing loop.
When you've laid track and made stations and so on, you can turn
your attention to building apartment blocks to encourage commuters. Later,
you can build lease buildings (5 to 40 stories), commercial buildings,
hotels, factories (which make materials), amusement parks, golf courses, ski
resorts, etc., to encourage greater profits. Other developers also build
these things, and occasionally these come on the market if you wish to buy
them. These provide employment, accommodation, and create more activity for
your railway.
There is a stock market with 24 different stocks for you to dabble
in, and a bank to make loans (up to 10% of your net worth). Both of these
are only open 9 t