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Rails across America at E3 2001

The Specs

Unlike Railroad Tycoon II's down-to-the-last-car focus on actual train routes and consists, Rails across America plays primarily on a level of larger decisions. But unlike 1830, it's not entirely abstract. Rails runs in continuous time on a map of North America, ranging from 1830 to 2020. Certain cities want connections to other cities, so you build the connections, plop down some trains, and sit back while the money rolls in. Because the exchange of passengers and cargo is automated in much the same way traffic and taxes are automated in SimCity, you should be able to manage large empires without getting overwhelmed. A lot of the gameplay depends on the complex interactions with competing railroad companies. There's limited form of diplomacy, a card-game style battle scheme for fighting other companies with under-the-table tactics, and even a M.U.L.E. style auction for selling routes. Your ultimate goal is to earn money and prestige while expanding and upgrading your rail network and keeping your competitors in check.

The Speculation

Tom's Comments: Pound for pound, there's no better genre than strategy games about trains: Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon, SimTex's 1830, Phil Steinmeyer's Railroad Tycoon II, and even Eden Studio's little-known Iron Dragons are all superlative games for any genre. Rails across America is in some distinguished company and it looks like it will probably live up to its peers. The gameplay focuses on broader choices rather than minutiae. The graphic design is sharp, attractive, and solid enough to look like you could rap your knuckles on it on the thick wood and brass. The main danger is that Rails might not have the streamlined elegance you need to manage a railroad empire: the interface has a lot of screens choked with numbers in tiny print. I love details, but they can pull a game apart if the developer isn't careful. It's encouraging to hear that the developers have put a lot of time into playing this game rather than just putting it together.

Mark's Comments: A train game? Didn't Railroad Tycoon II satisfy our once-every-five-years lust for a train game? Maybe not. This one looks like a boardgame, and that's ok with me. I wish we had more computer games that played like boardgames. In fact, I wish Infogrames would make a computer version of Rail Baron. In the meantime, Rails Across America may be more than enough.

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May 22, 2001