152 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
152 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
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RAILROAD TYCOON
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If you've ever enjoyed playing with model trains, MicroProse has a game for
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you! Of course, describing RAILROAD TYCOON as a "railroad simulation" doesn't
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really tell the whole story. It's a fascinating but complex game of railroading,
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empire building, and financial management: Here's your chance to find out what
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it'd be like to own your own railroad. (This review is based on the IBM-PC
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version.)
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In RAILROAD TYCOON, you play the part of railroad founder and president. You
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pick your starting point; lay track; build stations, depots, and signal towers;
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sell bonds and stock to finance expansion; and keep one eye firmly fixed on the
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competition. It all adds up to an addicting game that's sure to keep you playing
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into the wee hours of many mornings.
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When you load the program, RAILROAD TYCOON asks you to identify the type of
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monitor, sound, and interface you desire. (Because these selections usually
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remain the same for every game, it's somewhat irritating to have to enter the
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identical information every time you run the program.) Following a very nice
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title screen and credits, you identify the type of game you want to play. You
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then have your choice of several options: new or saved game, region and time
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frame, and difficulty level. The game then asks you to identify a train in the
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manual (this is the copy protection). Failure to chose the right train limits
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you to two trains per game.
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It takes a while to become accustomed to the copy-protection screen. The
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engines look fairly similar, so you spend a lot of time looking at details to
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identify the trains. Once you know what to look for, selecting the right train
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is simple. In any case, this off-disk copy protection is much preferred to the
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key-disk based systems that have appeared on earlier MicroProse products.
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Next, the computer builds your world. While cities, rivers, and other
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geological features are in their "historical" places, the resources of the
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regions are randomized so that each game presents a unique challenge. The
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locations of coal mines, lumber mills, stockyards, and other resources and
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industries are crucial to the ultimate success of your railroad.
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Once into the actual game, you have access to pull-down menus via either the
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mouse or keyboard. These provide access to numerous reports on your railroad's
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operation and financial health, including one fascinating report that depicts
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the growth of the railroads using a time-lapse method. They also control more
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mundane actions, such as saving a game or "retiring" from your railroad.
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Most important are the maps that allow you to look at the world in which your
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railroad operates. There are four different map displays, each indicating
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varying levels of detail -- ranging from an overall display of the entire map,
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to a detailed display of a small portion of the playing area. Each of these
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displays has its own purpose in the game: The larger displays are needed for
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long-term planning (spotting resources and centers of population), while the
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more detailed displays are used for building track and observing railroad
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operations.
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In a normal game, the first thing to do is locate a good starting point for
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your railroad. Large cities are usually best for this purpose, because they
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provide an instant resource for mail, passengers, and other cargo your railroad
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will haul. Of course, you must have someplace to haul this stuff to, so another
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population center should be close by.
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Once you have located such an area, you'll need to build your first station or
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terminal. This will act as a starting point for your track. Then, you'll have to
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build track to connect the two points of your line together, building another
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station or terminal at the other end of the line. Now that the two cities are
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connected, you can build a train and start a run!
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When you have an operational train, you must give it a route to run, and
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instructions on what to pick up and deliver at each point along the line. The
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game provides a very handy screen for this: It lists all the information about
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the train (engine type, route, maintenance costs, speed, destination, and
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location, to name a few), and as such is a crucial feature that players will
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invoke all the time. After you select a route and add the appropriate cars, the
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train leaves the station and heads for its first stop. Each operational train
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has its own icon on the train report, appearing on the left side of the screen.
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You can select each train for individual attention by simply clicking on that
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area.
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A word here about sound and graphics: This is a game that you'll want to show
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your friends. The animation sequence in which the train pulls out of the engine
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house and chugs onto the track is wonderful. The game is full of these little
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animated clips to keep you entertained. The sound effects are also very strong.
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If you have a sound board (AdLib and Roland MT-32 are supported), the game is a
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real treat. Not only will you hear excellent music, but the trains make noise as
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they pull out of station, and bells ring to indicate the arrival and delivery of
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a cargo to its destination. When you consider that the game lets you have more
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than 30 trains operating at one time, a mature game sounds very much like a
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pinball machine!
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RAILROAD TYCOON's user interface is very good, but it has its inconsistencies.
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For instance, you can use the mouse on almost every screen of the game, but on
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several screens, there's no mouse support at all: For instance, the
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copy-protection screen uses only the arrow keys for selection. There are several
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other inconsistent spots like this that detract from the overall ease of use.
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Some other features were missing, particularly an UNDO command that would allow
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you to back up from your last action. It would also be nice to be able to print
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some of the financial information from the game. The train income report would
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be much easier to use, for example: It can be hard to keep track of all those
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trains!
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There are four levels of play: Investor, Financier, Mogul, and Tycoon. Investor
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is the easiest, where you'll find plenty of raw material and finished goods,
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along with quick city growth; Tycoon is the hardest, where you'll need to work
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for nearly every penny of profit.
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You can also toggle between various modes of the game: Dispatcher Operations/No
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Collision mode determines how many trains can be on a block of track at a time.
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With No Collision selected, RAILROAD TYCOON will create sidings wherever two
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trains would collide. In Dispatcher Operations, you'll need to watch out for
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that yourself, and collisions are possible (although not without your
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interference in the train operations).
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Basic/Complex Economy determines which cities want which goods. In Basic
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Economy, all cities want all goods, and it's just a matter of finding the
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materials to ship; in Complex Economy, demand will be created according to the
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type(s) of industry (factories, textile mills, etc.) in the city.
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Lastly, the computer players can either ignore you (Friendly Competition), or
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attack you by buying your stock and initiating rate wars in your cities
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(Cutthroat Competition). In either mode, you can always buy another computer
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player's stock and start rate wars with him.
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RAILROAD TYCOON runs in 512K of RAM, but 640K is required if you want to
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display 256-color VGA graphics. The game requires a color monitor (CGA or
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better) and a mouse is _highly_ recommended. It can be played from floppy disks,
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but the game requires a number of disk accesses, so it will be slow; installing
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the game on your hard drive is preferred.
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The package includes several laminated, full-color reference cards, a technical
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supplement for the machine-specific instructions (such as installation), and a
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manual of over 150 pages.
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The manual contains a vast amount of historical and technical information that
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isn't essential for gameplay, but it enhances your enjoyment of the product. It
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includes an excellent tutorial for the first-time player. The documentation is
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complete and the background information is entertaining, but the sheer bulk of
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the documentation can be a bit overwhelming. Sometimes it's hard to put your
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finger on that one piece of information you need while playing the game.
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RAILROAD TYCOON is a wonderful program, one of the most entertaining I've
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encountered in almost ten years of computer gaming. Naturally, I can't even
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begin to explain all its aspects. This kind of simulation -- in which you bring
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objects to life and watch them operate from a distance -- is particularly
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interesting (POPULOUS and SIMCITY are other fine examples). RAILROAD TYCOON
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combines the allure of fascinating subject matter (railroading) with intense
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competition from computer players. These factors make for an excellent product
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that will entice and entertain a variety of gamers.
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RAILROAD TYCOON is published and distributed by MicroProse.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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