Recent reviews by Iantheengineer

As a person who grew up around the Caltrain system in the bay, this place feels like home. I was extremely excited to see that this route was coming to TSW and they did not disappoint. This route has its pros and cons when comparing it to the normal train sim DLC. (and the real thing)

Route:
The route itself is moderately well designed, and having ridden the system and visited the some of the locations on a weekly basis, I can point out quite a few inconsistencies, but for the most part, the route gets the most of the scenery correct. My main problems with the route is that the Gilroy extension isn't included and none of the dozen or so branch lines the UP services along the line which leaves a lack of content for the freight part.

These are the main problems with the route:
The lack of road traffic variety
The lack of NPC passengers that ride the train
the grade crossings are always closed and cars never go across grade crossings
The Santa Clara depot is missing the observation car that sits in front of the depot (even the regular train simulator gets
this right)
There aren't any services that stop at college station
The light rail line besides Kings street station is missing
BART and VTA light rail traffic is never seen (despite having direct connections)
The lack of any freight traffic
San Jose skyline is non existant

locomotives and stock:
When it comes to the locomotives and stock included, I feel like there should have been more added in the initial DLC. At the least the MP36 should have been a part of the route from the get-go. When it comes to the F40/gallery cars, they did a pretty solid job (with the exception of the cab sound glitch). The horn for the f40/cab car is quite possible one of the best horns in the game and somewhat closely matches the P2 horns used on the real deal. However, I feel that the GP38 suffered some neglect and had a few cut corners. The horn for the GP38 sounds awful and there is a lack of scenarios for the GP38. (not to mention the lack of freight stock variety).

Overall here are the pros and cons
Pros:
Fast pace, doesn't drag on
realistic speeds and train handling
the route for the most part is accurate
sound design for the most part is great
you can choose to ride or drive
the tutorial is very helpful
makes me feel at home back in Cali

Cons
A large amount of the system is missing including the southern half to Gilroy and the dozen or so branch lines
Doesn't include the MP36 (separate DLC)
The lack of any sort of outside traffic (freight, ACE, Amtrak California, VTA light Rail, BART)
lack of road traffic variety
sloppy GP38 design
F40 cab sound glitch
a few obvious route details missing

Before I go into detail, this game is only for a certain demographic. There is no modding, editing, or world building. This game is caters mostly to those who have a somewhat through understanding of rail operations and locomotive operation. With that being said, if you aren't familiar with the controls, the game has a pretty good tutorial interface and don't feel intimidated by the game.

I bought this game back when it was just CSX heavy haul, and let me tell you, this game has come a long way. The game mechenics are very smooth and well done (With the exception of a few bugs here and there). The models are very high quality and very accurate (at least with my experience). I personally play on beefed up rigs, and for the most part I have a consistent frame rate, however I do face frame drops in certain high populated places like big towns or yards with lots of trains.

What sold me on this game compared to other train simulators are the ability to freely walk and move about the train. That part is a BIG for me and its something I've been waiting for in a train simulator for ages. The ability to either choose to drive, ride, or spot trains gives me more freedom to do as I please within the world.

On the other hand, there are some tradeoffs that I need to adress. I feel that some of the sound design has been neglected on the American trains, especially the horns. The only american horn that has a decently accurate sounding horn to the real thing is the Peninsula corridor's Caltrain (and even that sounds a little off). I also feel like some of the horns aren't loud enough (at least for CSX). Another trade off of this game is the content to price ratio. This game will QUICKLY burn a hole in your pocket if you don't wait for sales. For the steep price, of a route, you only get a couple locomotive, and a small handful of rolling stock types (for example the peninsula corridor only comes with 2 locomotive types and 3 railcar types). I feel as if the add on locomotives should come as free updates to the route instead of DLCs that cost half the base route

just to put it into simple terms
Pros:
great graphics
sharp locomotive/rolling stock modeling
great interactivity with the equippment
Well done interface
freedom to drive or spot trains
great driving and camera mechanics
very realistic train operations and handling
good tutorial system

Cons:
Steep price
lack of content
lack of good horn sound design
some bugs
addon locomotives cost money
frame rate sometimes is inconsistent

So in conclusion, I personally would recommend this game to somebody who has a good understanding of trains and has already invested a bit into gaming. I personally love playing this game and will continue to play it. I personally think the Pros outweigh the Cons, but that is up to your judgement. I hope you found this useful.

I'm really impressed with this game being a free to play game. This is one of the few (if not, only) free to play games that don't shove micro DLC down your throat nor do they make the game impossible to play without spending money. I really like the variety of game modes and the aircraft that are available in the game. The controls are also very user-friendly and easy to use (and it has joy stick compatibility). I also love the damage models and the realisticness in simulation mode. Overall I really recommend this game to anyone looking for a aircraft and tank combat game or just want to play a free game.

great game but olny 1 problem IT DOES NOT WORK ON A ALIENWARE 17 whats a alienware 17 its a gameing laptop that is supost to replase a desktop so its not like get on the bus and start playing battlefield i have a genforce 780 im just guessing its something like that well lets cut to the chase it lags like CRAZY on low AND THE AUTO SAYS LOW i change it to medum or high it crashes but sitting on the other side of the office is my moms dell desktop that is not so powerful it still lags a little but confortable to play on low its pretty enjoyable if i have a LOT of vehichles around it lags but i my sistem contins


processer intel core i7
cpu 2,30 GHZ
ram 16.0 gb
system type 64 bit operating system
windows 7 ultimate

just some useful info and olso please reply with ansers

its a great game but mine broke and it frezes and crashes 1 year after i bought it and never fixed it so i bought a second version