Initial Perception.

OK. So being an old fan of Transport Tycoon, I had seen A-train a number of times, and had not bought it, as I was never really convinced that it was going to be a good game. It always seemed to be a mess of complex options, and half built cities with the player left to simply re-arrange the rail options of the already working city. It also seemed like it was too diverse, with a mix of both city management, and not really enough depth for transport management.

I could not have been more wrong.

**A-Train 9 V4.0 : Japan Rail Simulator**

So I saw this new version, intiially discounted it as I thought it was really expensive. Again my initial impression was "Meh ..... not sold on this at all." So I waited and I bought this on a sale for something like $20 (Wow was I lucky - a complete steal ) Having played it, I believe it is actually worth the high price tag. This is simply THE most impressive transport and logistics management game or rather simulation that I have ever played. The graphics are absolutely beautiful, with a design unique to this game. They are almost cartoon like, but not quite. the detail is amazing, and even when zoomed at high resolution the game really looks very sweet.

The first thing I decided was that I was going to actually put some time in, and learn the game. - For anyone considering buying this game, this is critical. It does have a learning curve, you will need to experiment. There is no instant gratification. That said there are tons of youtube videos. One set I found particularfly good was from "Monte" , Monterico Gaming - https://www.youtube.com/user/montericotips who has a very nice set of tutorial videos on Atrain 9, check him out, and give him a like. The guy has put in a great deal of work, and his videos are well worth watching, and explain in great detail how to get started - Thanks Monte, Much appreicated.

Dont expect a half hearted point and click sim city clone, as the depth and wealth of options in this game is absolutely incredible. The first thing I did , was to understand how to create a new map, on the map generator, with nothing at all on it. This is incredibly easy, and the player has complete control over how they would like their game world to look. Options range from the amount of water, to the height and distribution frequency of the mountains. The player can have an archipeligo with a number of islands connected by bridges, or a large landmass, with a single coastline, or anything in between. The options are limitless.

Once you decide on how you want your world to look you then build your transport network. You have options to add buildings, and subsidiaries, but your main task is to ensure the flow of materials. This is where the logistics of the game come in. You create a factory. The factory will produce raw materials. However the raw materials sit in the "shipping" bay of the factory, and are not useable by any 3rd party who wishes to use them

You own the factories, so you do not make a profit unless the materials are used. Therefore you need to ensure that the materials are moved from the factory, through a distribution centre , to a freight storage area. This can be done either by rail, or by truck , depending on which method of transport is more suitable.

So once you move the materials, they can be purchased to build houses, shops offices etc, in your city. You gain profit by selling the materials, however you need to absorb the logistics cost of moving materials to various distribution centres to ensure the growth of your city. You then have the opportunity to provide a transportation network to your digital citizens who inhabit your city. This is in the form of a Bus network, a rail network and a subway system.

This is where you can make the profit in running a transportation network. I think the big difference here is that in many transportation games, you already have customers, and simply need to provide transport, Here you can provide freight transport of materials to build a city, which will in turn provide the opportunity for a transportation system. The depth is incredible. I have to say I am totally hooked on this game. There is so much to do. If you find yourself running low on funds, you can buy and sell shares on the stock market. This is pretrty easy, and can make the game a little easy, but if you only use it as needed, and work to ensure your transport network becomes profitable, then its just a useful backup.

This game will drag you in. If you are a fan of train fever, and Transport tycoon then this game is definitely worth the money without question. I would pay $50 for this game, and be very satisfied. Just bear in mind, it does need some time to get used to it. Setting options for stations, where trains arrive and depart on different platforms, and move to different tracks is very powerful, and allows you to manage multiple trains on a route and switch tracks at intersection points ( which you can lay when laying tracks) but takes a little time to get your head around. Once you get it, the possibilites click, and you can make something as simple as a country station with 2 tracks, to a thriving metropolis hub with multiple tracks and platforms with trains arriving and departing 24/7

I love this game, before this, train fever was the closest I had seen to transport tycoon, but this is like a simulated virtual train set, where you configure the game world and run it as you see fit. I cant recommend this highly enough. Whether you wish to spend the full price on it or not , is up to you. I can understand why you would question it, as I did. I think the marketing on this game actually underplays what it is capable of. Its very modest in comparison to some games. I was really pleasantly surprised. This will definitely be one of the games that has a permanent place on my hard disk, and one of the games that I will return to time and again. I usually dont spend a lot of time reviewing a game, unless I feel really strongly about it. This one is worth it.


Pros : Incredible depth, Beautiful cartoon like graphics, huge game world, Complete transport and logistics simulation, trains, trucks, and busses, city management elements, complete control over materials logistics and transport.

Cons: Price seems a little high, steep learning curve, needs time to show real potential.


Recommend : Definitely YES

The price of this version is almost the same as the ones on the original Japanese shop, while there are far less variety of train in this version.

If you come here after watching these Japanese game streams about this game, then do not expect this one would contain all contents in these videos. The version here only contains the basic trains, not the fancy ones. Also, the develop team had uploaded an updated final version, which is not include in this one. So I will provide the link below if you wanted.

Of course, if you have troubles reading Japanese, then this one is for you. But this one is really pricey, for its content., especially for the audience who are in North America So I hope the price can be reduced, or using the full updated content

Here is the links to the developer's website, which is in Japanese

A Train 9 With full contents
https://eshop.artdink.co.jp/a9/
A Train 9 5.0 Final Edition
https://eshop.artdink.co.jp/a9-v5/

The versions here ( the links) includes more variety of trains (Private Railway Companies, JR trains, more commuter trains, etc.)

I wish I could recommend it - I really do - because I spent hours upon hours building intricate cities and transport networks. However, due to a recent Windows 10 update, this game no longer works on that OS; there is a workaround, but it involves running the game with minimum graphics quality, and this game's visuals were already not its strong suit. Seeing as the community manager no longer works for the developer, and the developers are not responding nor fixing the game, I unfortunately can't recommend it, especially given its high price tag. I've had a good run, but I feel cheated that I can no longer use a game I paid for to its full potential.

EDIT: A workaround has been found and I can play the game with high graphics quality again, but the fact that it was only found months later by a fellow player, with no support nor acknowledgement from the developer, leads me to maintain my negative review. Buyer beware - this is an unsupported product and could very well stop working again at any given time.

EDIT 2: The workaround is no longer working, so the game is now basically impossible to play with high graphics quality on Windows 10. I hate to say this, but stay away from this one. It's dead and gone.

I finally took a dive into the manuals to figure this game out. Now that I have played a bit more I continue to find gems in the game that make it shine. That full price is scary and hope that changes but the game does have a lot to offer from transportation to city building to watching it snow in the winter. Here is my first look into the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr2N1upflHk

IF THERE'S A SALE, BUY IT; OTHERWISE, NO.

Usually Steam (and all other overseas) versions differ from the original by that train sets are heavily confined, while I think about 2/3 of the game's price depends on that very thing.

The Steam release of V4 worths more than its predecessors by including a few Japanese trains, but I'd say $25 to $30 is all it deserves. I paid just $19.99 at a Steam Sale. Good luck!

This is a pretty enjoyable economic simulator / city builder, with several flaws. Actually the gameplay is good and addictive, albeit a bit shallow, and my negative evalutation is mainly due to the price. Considering that is just an updated version of the original A-Train 9 with some improvements, the current price (€.54,99) is too high. I suggest to buy it only if discounted to €.20/25.

PROs:
- building and developing cities is very addictive with a lot of buildings to choose in every category.
- building complex rail networks is fairly easy and fulfilling.
- very powerful editor.
- scheduling trains is easy and enjoyable.

CONs:
- the track tool lacks automated terraforming, so negotiating with steepy grades is achieved with unaesthetic viaducts, and can also be very frustrating because of terrain obstacles.
- there is a lack of some instruments in map editor, like automate trees spreading.
- the buildings built by Ai don't align with roads.
- there are no objectives, missions or campaigs of any sort. The game is only a gigantic sandbox.
- the world feels empty because there are neither AI cars or people.
- there are only japanese trains in game and only few trains are really profitable and useful.
- a catenary tool is available but is a bit flawed (however catenaries are only cosmetics).
- the difficulty seems hard for beginners, but since you grasp the basics, it's rather easy, and you'll swim in money.
- the stock exchange dynamics, when you grasp it, are very unrealistic and more like a money cheat.

I really liked this game and had fun building my city. Adding multiple trains on a track and even heading different directions was very fun. The only thing that stopped me playing was the lack of life. No people...no traffic...no life... Only the trains and trucks you place. Fun game just made me feel really lonely. Why was I bothering making all these train line and bus routes for ghosts? With some life like cities skylines or even transport fever would have made this game a lot cooler. If you like the looks of this game get it on a huge sale or even check out transport fever.

It took some effort to get this to run... it would not start for me once installed. The trick was to set textures to low in the config tool as mentioned on some community hub posts.

That wasn't a great experience to start. Even after I got it running the game is not as exciting/interesting as I'd been hoping. It has some sort of interesting looking example cities, but the track setups are all oversimplified (one track per route it looks like, not really even junctions going into stations. So it does not seem much like a real "simulation", more just a simple tycoon game.

The gameplay, apart from being translated, is left untouched, so the experience is still authentic. Recommended for those who cannot read Japanese and can care less about the missing trains in this release to play this game.

Just keep in mind that many JR trains, amongst more from private Japanese railway companies, are not available in the international release due to potentially inhibiting licensing fees and/or reasons undisclosed by the publisher of the International Release.

On the other hand, for those who can actually read Japanese, know Japan enough to lust for the missing trains, and has enough knowledge to buy the download store version from the ARTDINK online store, BY ALL MEANS GO THERE INSTEAD. More trains are available there and trains from JR Central can be added via the JR Central Addon Pack.

I can't seem to launch this game at all. It starts up, I get the splash screen and then nothing. There is also little information on the web regarding this. Sadly it's too late for Steam to give me my money back as I have tried that too. I have not played but spent the 5.9 hours the timer says I've played, trying to figure out why it won't load. Don't waste your money or time.