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Sid Meier's Railroads!

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5.1 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 31 critic reviews
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Based on 77 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Firaxis

Genre(s): Business Strategy, Simulation

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: October 16, 2006

Summary

The Golden Age of railroading is back with Sid Meier's Railroads! Combining the best of real-world and model railroads, Sid Meier's Railroads! puts you in charge of building your own railroad empire, running everything from steam-powered locomotives to more modern diesel and electric trains, managing cargo and your bottom line, all while engaging in corporate warfare against rival tycoons, slick entrepreneurs and robber barons. [2K Games]

Also On The Web: Official Game Site

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Times Online

Beautifully crafted, Sid Meier’s Railroads! is a masterful experience — as you would expect from the master himself.

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Games Master UK

A puzzler, railway sandbox and smart management game. [Christmas 2006, p.100]

Pelit (Finland)

Sid Meier's Railroads looks good and is addictive, but the small scenarios and the simple economics make it only a good game, not an instant classic. [Dec 2006]

PC Gamer

Whether you're an old-timer who wants to revisit the past or a noob looking for an accessible economic sim with a great theme, Railroads! should be on your shopping list. [Jan. 2007, p.62]

Gaming Target

The gameplay's execution, balance, and hidden depths are simply too rare to be overlooked by fans of economic-based strategy games, railroad enthusiast, and Sid Meier fans.

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PC Gamer UK

The interface is mostly excellent, but it doesn't properly tell you why a train can't reach a station. That can drive any player to distraction. [Dec 2006, p.88]

Jolt Online Gaming UK

Railroads! is way more fun than the subject matter suggests it ought to be, which is a credit to its design team.

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ActionTrip

All train devotees mustn't pass on this one. In all honesty, I believe that a choo-choo addict dwells somewhere within all of us, so everyone should give the game a try or rent it at the very least. You won't be disappointed with the content and gameplay it has to offer.

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GameSpot

But as complex and rewarding as building a railroad empire can be, it rarely feels daunting or tedious, which is perhaps the best thing that can be said for a game of this type.

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Game Informer

The only real problem with the game is that it sticks pretty close to its prescribed formula. You build trains, make money, and drive competitors out of business. You won’t uncover layer upon layer of depth, you’ll just get more efficient.

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IGN

The real fun comes in planning the best routes and laying track in the most efficient manner that also just might happen to mess your competitor up a bit.

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Games Radar (in-house)

Add in online multiplayer support for up to four wannabe tycoons, and you've got the best railroading sim since the original Railroad Tycoon. Some gamers may find Sid Meier's Railroads! a little on the simplistic side, but it makes for a nice, light snack.

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PC Zone UK

An accessible business strategy game with choo choos - but behind the faintly sickening opening video, there's a silo full of deep fun to be had here. [Christmas 2006, p.85]

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games(TM)

A relaxing, engrossing experience that is bound to attract those who have the mindset and patience. A subtle work of art. [Jan 2007, p.113]

Digital Entertainment News

Running the game smoothly without a good system is going to be hard, but at least you’ll be treated to some imaginative gameplay.

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PC Format

Fun and accessible, but should've been named "Railroads Lite." [Christmas 2006, p.103]

GameZone

There just isn’t enough challenge to make this the type of game that invites obsession.

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PALGN

Enriched with lovely graphics, an inviting gameplay structure and that special Meier something, Railroads! could’ve been a real gem for train simulation fans. However, with a few flaws such as simple and repetitive goals, and a game that is an absolute system hog, Sid Meier’s Railroads! isn’t as great as we expected.

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IC-Games

Anyone who has a fond memory of the original classic from Microprose will instantly fall in love with the game. Sid Meier’s decision to go back to basics after the over complicated Railroad Tycoon 3 has paid off.

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Game Over Online

Sid Meier’s Railroads! isn’t a game I’d recommend for strategy fans. Most of the things that made the Railroad Tycoon franchise fun and challenging were either removed or dumbed down here, and the result is a game that might appeal to casual gamers who like trains... or it might not.

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AceGamez

As an introductory to the world of simulated games it does an exceptional job, and even for hardened veterans of the genre there's still fun to be had, yet without the depth of its predecessors or the hook to keep you playing for any length of time, it falls short in providing the long term enjoyment that sim games usually pride themselves with.

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VideoGamer

A game that comes frustratingly close to excellence without ever justifying such a tag. Though the gameplay has depth and simplicity, it often feels more like a multiplayer game with single-player tacked on, than a genuine single-player title in its own right.

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Eurogamer

Enjoyable, but perhaps another instance of the 'reviewer's trance'. That's the mildly hypnotic effect that seems to take over when games aren't dull enough to be boring but aren't exciting enough to cause any kind of, erm, arousal.

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1UP

In the end, it's hard not to fall a little bit in love with Railroads!, because it's just a lovable kind of game. Now if only they'd release some scaled-up maps to match the game's ambitions.

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GameSpy

Hard-core economic simulation players looking for the next spreadsheet to conquer are likely to be disappointed by the game's easy style and shallow economy. Multiplayer fans or just those looking for the model train set they always dreamed of as a kid will definitely get a kick out of Sid Meier's Railroads!

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Strategy Informer

An enjoyable game. But frankly even if it wasn’t for the bugs, the simplicity, the lack of a campaign, and the other minor short-fallings, I’d still be disappointed because when someone like Sid Meier copies a classic genre, I at least expect him to add something new and innovative to the game-play.

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GameShark

In the end, Railroads is more like a really neat toy train game with lovely graphics than the deep strategy/business offering many were hoping for, and the comparisons to past games wouldn’t even be as much of an issue if the game’s box didn’t reference the fact that Meier started the entire Tycoon genre.

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Computer Games Magazine

All of the changes make Railroads! less of a strategy game than a toy with extra challenges. [Jan. 2007, p.50]

G4 TV

A fun game that train buffs and even non train fans will find very fun to play. However, it just doesn’t have quite the same greatness of many of Sid’s other games, especially when it comes to stability.

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Edge Magazine

Working out how the game works and how to best profit from your stocks takes an hour’s play, and from then on, it’s no longer about thinking creatively, just economising ruthlessly. Satisfying perhaps, but hardly demanding. [Christmas 2006, p.88]

GameDaily

Know this: if you're not a fan of simulation games, you won't care any more for this n00b-friendly train empire manager than you would any other sim-type game.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 5.1 (out of 10) based on 77 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jarod V. gave it a10:
I absolutely love this game. If you are experiencing bugs, download the patch! A couple of my friends and I play this every week online. This is one of those 'easy to learn, lifetime to master' type games. I highly recommend it!

Wes C. gave it a7:
Great game, horable vista support. That wouldnt be a big deal if the game had just came out. But people have had problems from release on. And they never fixed them.

Daniel S. gave it a3:
I can only assume Sid Meier's and his marketing partners were aiming for the WalMart crowd with this dumb-downed, comic book iteration of the RRT franchise. This game is a disappointment on a par with Master of Orion 3.

Mike M. gave it a1:
I LOVE Railroad Tycoon 1 - 3! I started to love this one too, but then I noticed after I was doing well and had a lot of track on the map, bugs would start emerging: Track would disappear; Water would suddenly be in the middle of the map where land was before...then...crash! After it crashed, Windows would do some really funny stuff too until I rebooted. What a huge pain the butt to have to reboot everytime I felt like playing Railroads...and most of the time I could not even make it through a game without it crashing.It really sucked when I played multiplayer becuase rarely did any of us make it through a game without someone crashing. On the other hand, my brother's copy runs just great. I am guessing that they only tested this game on a very small set of hardware and decided that everyone who doesn't use that set of hardware is just SOL. From what I see here, that means more people than not get the shaft. So here's a big thumbs down to the development team and most of all the management team that proably pushed the developers in directions they did not want to go, all in the name of maximizing profit. Gotta keep those shareholders happy you know. Morons. I guess told them that game sales will start declining when people get fed up with their substandard software.

Gregor S. gave it a1:
It has unfortunately become a good business model to release software full of bugs, and then run away from the responsibility when the complaints start flowing in. Well, Firaxis is now on my blacklist; no more from that direction. I can only warn against this product: It's so full of bugs that it's essentially unplayable. Also embarrassing to watch the official reviews that look like the reviewers must have been on drugs.

Isaac B. gave it an8:
A fun and light strategy game which might be seen as a good introduction to transportation games. I was concerned when I began playing because I felt the economy wouldn't be deep enough. As it turns out, once you've got a few stations and trains running, I felt the game has struck a great balance. A lot of fun. (I'm sure my experience is colored by the fact that I haven't suffered wioth the instability others have complained about.) Weak spots: track laying UI is a bit clumsy and you can't manually set switches to better control the routing.

Peter D. gave it a1:
This game ran great on Windows XP Professional. Got a new PC with Duo Core, 2 gigs, 256 mb video, etc.... and it crashes within 10 - 15 minutes. No help from Steam, who I purchased from, they said try Fireaxis. Tried Fireaxis and they said it was the distributors issue, yeah right, the people that distributed can't figure out how to fix it, isn't that the developers job? Anyhow, very dissapointed, my 7 yr old really liked the game. The patch didn't fix anything that I could tell, same problems still exist. Oh well, no more Steam purhases or Fireaxis for me until they resolve the issue.

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Sid Meier's Railroads!

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