Introduction

   Most of us were fascinated by trains when we were kids. In fact, to be honest, I don’t know a kid that hasn’t been interested by trains one day or  another. Sure when growing up this interest fades out for some, but for others it remains a real passion. I still remember I was always mesmerized to watch the fastest train of earth dubbed ‘TGV’ passing by at 314km/h on France’s railways: in fact I asked my parents to bring me to watch the ‘real’ thing every week or so because it was so exciting. At home I had (and I still have in fact) a LEGO train circuit with several trains running on it. Today I don’t have the time nor  space to build trains anymore so I was very interested to learn Microsoft has launched the first real Train Simulator for PCs. Developed by Kuju entertainment this game has been announced since a while by Microsoft and is at last available. Not only will this game let you play with trains but you can also drive them to calm down your frustrations. Sure this game targets a niche market but it’ll be of great interest if you’re a train enthusiast! So let’s see how this game is.

Setup

   Before you can leave the station driving your favorite train, you have to install the game. Microsoft Train Simulator comes on two discs.. Installing the whole game is far from being a breeze since more than 1.8GB of data will be copied! So first make sure your hard disk has enough space to fitthe game, and don’t stay in front of the computer during the very long install process: go out and read the newspaper! One good point however is that, since there’s no protection mechanism, the game doesn’t require the CD to be in the drive to work.

Game Features

    Microsoft Train Simulator propels you to the controls of six of the most beautiful trains on six various real-life railways: from Austria, Japan, to the United States of America these ultra realistic landscapes are leaking reality. Every details (including soil elevation data), are transcribed on the hundreds of milesof lines available within the game. If you choose an urban train circuit you’ll see factories, buildings, stations, cars, trucks and much, much, more. Whether you choose to perform an actual journey with the Amtrak Acela Express train or an old school journey with the Flying Scotsman train, you’ll be amazed by the level of details the game offers as well as the beauty of the 3D graphics.

The Thrill of Trains...