I got this because my Dad loves trains and I thought it would be neat for him to see a train simulation game - though I had no idea what they're about outside of the generic "you drive trains". He's visiting so I installed it (that took forever) and then I downloaded the update (which also took forever) and I took it for a spin - me playing and he watching...
Things started off pretty well - the game hops into a few tutorials so you get a feel of what's going on (you walk around, control the camera), understand what some of the UI means (when you're driving the train), and also walks through the basics for getting the engine started. There are different engines, each with their own way of operation (I hesitated to type UI - because here I mean the actual levels and switches inside the cab of the engine, which is technically UI but not videogame UI). And off you go!
So, I did all these tutorials and then hopped into the first "campaign" mission (Sand Patch Grade). And here things started to go wrong...
This first mission has you hooking up to some cards in a siding and then you have to bring them back to a specific location. So, I start doing all the stuff to get the engine ready...and it takes me a while because I forget to turn on the generator field or I forget to put it forward, etc. Eventually I remember what I had to do and turn the throttle to "1" (lowest setting) and nothing...the amps go up, the mph stay flat. Weird. I eventually get the train moving at 6 throttle or so (way higher than I ever did on the tutorial - where the train moved super smoothly on 1 or 2)...and I'm moving along and...what? there's another train coming my way.
Huh. That's weird. The game sort of gets stuck, so I restart. I figure I should have gone down a siding...and wouldn't it have been nice to know that?
2nd attempt:
Ok, this time I get the engine moving quicker, starting rolling along (going slow because you lose points if you go above a certain speed - which is low 15mph). I stop before a switch, switch manually, get back in...and I'm moving along and...the other train comes along and it's on the other track. No problem! All this time I'm also wondering where the heck the cars are that I'm supposed to pick up - the "UI marker" seems off to the side and pretty far away too... So I keep on going until, after 10 mins or so...I see the cars and they're on a different siding, like 10 tracks away..to my right. WHAT? How am I supposed to get there? Geezz.. Maybe I have to go past, and then switch and come back?
I realize there's a map in the settings and you can zoom in and see all the tracks and the sidings and switches and stuff.. and I'm thinking this is stupid, how am I supposed to know where to go...so I reset.
3rd attempt:
This time I start the engine up, get moving and I'm looking at the map and I realize the route I'm supposed to follow is sort of marked - the tracks have a greenish hue...and I follow them along and see that it leads to the cars. Neat! I now realize I should not have gone down the wrong siding...but, according to the map, all the switches are set to the correct positions! I should just be able to go straight until I get to the cars! So, I do...first few switches are correct...and then there's one that isn't. I stop, hit reverse, go back, change the switch, now go forward, etc. This is taking time and supposedly this was a 15 min mission! I'm like 20 mins in and this is getting a bit tiring... I trundle along, trying to keep close to the speed limit, eventually get to the cars, hook up and I'm good to go!
I also realize that the map has the option for you to toggle the switches from the map - but despite the UI saying "press X" nothing happens as far as I can tell...
Now, the train actually has two locomotives, back to back, so rather than hit reverse I think it would be cool to swap into the other one and go forward instead! So I do, and it doesn't work, and I don't know why - and it's getting annoying and tiresome.. I go back into the original, try from there, and now that one doesn't work! I leave everything in neutral, change locos again, and now it works!
Sigh. So, I'm heading back to where I should go, the switches are fine, until there is one that isn't. Ugh. Same operation, and this time - as I'm heading down the correct track I get a message saying I violated some thing or another (like passed a red light or something) and it's game over.
Here's where I mentally flipped the table and say "screw this, I'm done".
What do I think happened?
The simulation seems finicky in that sometimes things work and sometimes they don't - but I never know WHY. So, the tutorial left me ill-prepared in that sense. But, most of all I think the the mission settings were messed up - like, why not have all the switches be correct? Why can't the game warn me when I've made a mistake? It all seemed way more effort than I was willing to put in, and thought I could save along the way I still had that feeling that I might just be digging myself into a hole if I saved past the point where I screwed up, for instance.
Also, I was annoyed that the game wanted me to register for some account with the company ( no thanks!) and that it was splashing ads in the loading screens for Train Sim 3! Also, no thanks!
I quick search did turn up other people complaining about similar things (locos not starting, missions not progressing) so I 've decided to cut my losses as it where. This is the sort of game that REALLY benefits from a solid manual, which it did not include (printed) though I've found pdfs for each of the locomotives and, they're not simple (which is fine, it's a sim after all), but the false sense of understanding I got from the tutorial was the problem.
Finished this mostly because I knew it was short so I thought, what the hell, might as well see it through to the end. Was it good/fun? I don't know...which probably leads me to lean more to the "eh, not so fun/interesting". BUT, there was some cool stuff that I did enjoy.
I did play in PSVR!
So, the game is essentially a simple puzzle game - movement is teleportation (which worked really well) and most of the puzzles are physics-based in a sense. Your basic interactions are to teleport somewhere or to pick something up with a sort of tether you have. It ends up looking like a fishing line - and you can only grab stuff that's pretty light. Lots of things you can nab - but then can't move.
In each area you have to figure out how to make progress to the next area - and this often involves using the animals in an area (to do some of the work for you) or objects in the area (often in combination with the animals).
The animal designs are all super cool and pretty - they're made out of paper but not in the origami sense nor in the "the material is paper", hard to describe - they're all pretty abstract - sort of like skeletons with adornments really, made of strips of paper, tubes, and such. BUT, not craft-paper (like in Tearaway), but real paper. There should be screenshots online...
Some of the beasts are neat - and your use of them is interesting as well - for example there's a weird worm that eats sand on one end, and poops it out the other - so you can use it do remove a sand barrier that's in your way or fill up an area with sand. There's a freezing cube, a melting cube, a sticky plant you can use to tether to objects to each other (animals in my case), and so on.
What was most fun for me was messing around with the "terraforming" interactions - dumping sand in areas, getting water to flow to others, etc. It felt quite playful and reminded me of just messing around on the beach as a kid. I had to do it to make progress - but it was enjoyable even as it wasn't "efficient", but that's just the way it is with sand and moving water, no?
The funniest animal was a turtle like creature that would get excited when next to a cube object and literally poop sand all over the place (so you have to direct it to certain areas in order to build up dunes there to direct water elsewhere). Oh, all of this in a first-person VR view.
There are some "cut-scenes" that felt a bit long, and some animation sequences as well (had to wait for a parade of paper animals to walk into a dark tunnel for what felt like a long time).
I guess I kept playing because the physics simulation parts of the game, and by that I mean the water/sand/freezing/melting terraforming aspects where fun and playful.
I played a bit more, mostly to see what the hint system was, and I THINK it's pressing the select (or start?) button. This results in a "sparkle" on the screen on areas you can interact with. Problem is that they sparkle even when (I think) that area is no longer relevant (e.g. you already picked up the item, solved the puzzle) and they don't point you in the direction you need for future progress. I wish there was another sparkle for "exits" from the screen - that would help a lot.
I still spent some more time wandering around and did manage to solve the puzzle I was stuck on. Mostly it was that I had to go back to my room to talk to a character that appeared there, given them an item I had, and got a key in return. Kind of lame.
That being said, I made significant more progress - talked to some characters, and got a sense of what is going on. The story seems kind of dumb - I went from cut-scene in an airplane accident to "oh no, I've been kidnapped into a harem from which you can never leave" (you must escape) which seems...odd? Also, the character seems very non-plussed about the whole thing. There's no "I demand to call my embassy! You can't hold me here" and just - "oh, that's interesting, how can I leave? oh I can't? shame" (and then you solve puzzles that will hopefully lead to you being able to escape).
Right now I think I'm trying to do stuff that will result in my meeting with "the prince" - who refuses to go anywhere because of some disease where light affets him. To do so I need to somehow get the black gown his favorite wife wears, correctly set the temperature of her bath (I assume once she's in the bath, I can nab the gown), and re-create her perfume (done!) such that, presumably, the prince won't be confused?
The perfume puzzle was odd - because I solved it without knowing what I was trying to do - I just wandered around areas, picked up stuff, and then created the perfume sort of not understanding why. And then, I THINK I solved the bath temperature puzzle because none of the hot water machinery is interactive anymore - but the character who should take the bath hasn't reacted to this when I talk to her.
I'm not too excited about continuing at this point, but who knows.
I thought I would play this for a few hours and then move on. Somehow, I've almost implicitly decided to see it through to the end. The main problem I'm having is that the game is overloaded with cool "mini" games that are super fun to play and not mini at all in terms of length and depth.
My two favorite so far as a complete pinball table with 4 bosses you have to defeat (each on their own table). OMG, I love pinball and miss playing pinball videogames - and this scratched that itch so well! The table is rather simple, but not SUPER simple, there's interesting targets to aim for, extra objectives, etc. (the main one unlocking the chance to get whacked over to the boss table). The next one is a 2D shmup...with power ups and more! Lots of levels (6?) - I beat it in perhaps my 2nd attempt. Again, super fun and way more features than it needed to!
The main (only?) way of unlocking the mini-games is by finding medals in the game's main levels - each level has a different amount - and the mini-games are unlocked by reaching certain thresholds of medals. I doubt I'll get them all, there's like 200 or something, but so far so good.
As for the main game? It's also fun and interesting and VERY Nintendo-like in it's design. Everything that appears is fresh, used a few times, and never seen again BUT also intuitive and usually a neat/fun/clever twist or variation on something you've seen before. So, it's neat to see how much the designer's play with different elements in a game. THere are rings you hang on - but they're repurposed on enemies (that then deflate like baloons when the rings are pulled out). Or you hand on the rings to tilt something one way, or the other, for different effects. And so on.
The game is stylus driven which would give me some pause - but it's forgiving enough and low in the challenge enough that it all works pretty well. And the premise is fun as well - you have tiny Kirbys (up to ten of them) that you guide around with the stylus, you can flick them at enemies or blocks, and also scoop them up to slowly carry them around. But, the game is mostly a 2D platformer with few platforms and more environmental interactions...
You start with one mini-Kirby and by eating enough fruit you get another, and so on. Some levels have a minimum threshold of mini-Kirbys you need to even start and there are often places inside a level that have a theshold you need in order to (usually) get a coin - or access to an area that has a coin.
I'm super impressed, and I'm kind of sad I've missed out on all the DS Kirby games...maybe it's time to hit ebay, there's quite a few of them!
