A-Train (Sony PlayStation 1, 1996)

While A Train is undoubtedly a quality game, is there enough of a specialist audience for it?

You control a small city's railway network, which directly reflects the rest of the city around it. You get to handle general finances and monitor fluctuating train fares, as well as determine how much you should spend on growth. Often you must build bridges, dig tunnels, and track over hills. In a nutshell, it's your basic PC-style sim game, except that it's trains.

Selecting icons and guiding pointers is handled via the joypad, and is probably not the most efficient way to handle a PC-style interface. However, the game is largely enjoyable and, should your passion be trains, or even management sims, you won't be disappointed.

A-Train is one of those rare games that is fun to play but hard to come across. And it almost seems as if it didn't have a production run to meet demands. So if you find it you might want to give it a try.

A-Train is a transportation simulator developed by the same people that brought us the SimCity and Sims franchises. Players take on the role of transporting passengers by way of train or bus. If all goes well, rural areas will develop into large cities in no time. Players must also transport construction materials to areas that don't have it. Trains are the only transportation option that can pick up and deliver those. If supplies start to run low, ship yards and factories can be built to help replenish materials.

The game has another aspect that is not found in other simulations aforementioned. Players can play in the stock markets to become rich quick or go broke fast. Other things that the player can do is build businesses and recreation spots ranging from food to amusement parks. This game can take a while to understand but is fun to play. A very nice PC translation to the PlayStation.

All aboard! A-TRAIN for the PlayStation puts you in the engineer’s seat as you manage an entire railroad system. You decide where to build, how high to set the fares, how to handle the finances, and where the spending goes. The easy point-and-click interface gets you into the game without any confusion and puts the focus on your budding railroad empire. In true management style, not only what you do corporately affects you, but the entire city as well. The depth of this game is what you make it. Use the land to your advantage as you build tunnels and bridges to expand your rail organization; conduct your business as you see fit, helping or harming the city. Whether you’re a generous manager or a ruthless tightwad, it’s all up to you! Don’t let the A-TRAIN leave the station without you!