Rating: 
Summary: Riding the rails has never been this much fun!
Review: As someone who loves riding the rails, someone who worships Gordon Lightfoot's "The Canadian Railroad Triology," Microsoft Train Simulator was meant for me. I have been learning it for a little over a week, and here is my verdict:Pros:
+ Fairly detailled graphics, good textures, excellent sound recordings of train sounds and ambient sounds.
+ Three different types of trains to learn: steam, diesel and electric
+ Nine different locomotives to explore and learn
+ Hundreds of miles of track to explore
+ Excellent weather effects: snow and rain look real
+ Activities for each type of train: passenger runs, a murder mystery on the Orient Express, or just explore the routes
+ An activity editor that allows you to create new activities, geographic routes anywhere in the world, and import new locomotive/car skins and consists
+ Passenger view: sit back and enjoy the ride (much more fun while listening to "The Canadian Railroad Trilogy")! Cons:
- Controls can be awkward, poor mouse sensitivity when trying to work controls with mouse instead of keyboard
- Some complicated procedures, especially with the steam locomotives.
- Onscreen help obscures the cab view
- No manual in box, only online help manual
- Activity and Route Editor are not covered under Microsoft's technical support
- All of the free consists and routes I've downloaded ... have either not worked, caused Train Sim to crash, or cause error windows to keep popping up even after I've uninstalled the malfunctioning components
-Attempting to customize routes is extremely difficult. I've already used the strategy guide that came with Train Sim, online help at the official website, and advice from fansites. I'm still hopelessly lost with the Route Editor, Activity Editor and Route Geometry Extractor I still have A LOT to learn, both in driving trains, learning the horn and track signals, and how to create my own routes (I'm working on the Toronto-Gaspé corridor and a Canadian Rockies segment)
Rating: 
Summary: Cheap Software
Review: As a huge fan of Microsoft software, I regret to say this is the lowest quality ever sold by them. Microsoft even skimped on the software packaging. Just a cheap CD envelope and brochure type key card. The software has a somewhat unfinished feel to it. The scenery and models are extremely simple and plain. I attempted 2 installations with this software, and my computer has not been the same since. I strongly urge anyone to wait for a few versions to come before paying for Train Simulator. If this were any item other than software, it would go right back to the store to be returned. For Microsoft, Shame on you! I am now a skeptical Microsoft buyer. -Long Live Quality!
Rating:
Summary: Buyer Beware
Review: Avoid this product if you have an ATI Rage Pro video card in your machine. You do not find out until after installation of the game and checking the ReadMe file that it is not supported. Microsoft's suggestion is to download the latest driver from ATI with no guarantee that it will work. Unless you are adept at installing video drivers I would suggest leaving this game in the store. Too bad one star is the minimum rating because this product deserves a zero.
Rating:
Summary: MICROSOFT TRAIN SIMULATOR
Review: Only software I own that is prone to crashing my computer. I wish that I had never purchased it.
Rating: 
Summary: Relaxing simulator with terrific graphics!
Review: Most simulators invite you to be constantly involved with the action in the game. In fact, these games can often self-distruct if you don't interact with them enough (planes might crash, cities become abandoned, characters die). This simulator is different. This is one for the laid-back among us. Here's a game where you can choose to do an activity where you have to pay attention and accomplish a goal (some of which can be quite challenging). If you want, however, you can just sit back and travel down the hundreds of miles of rail lines on three different continents. You're not forced to go certain paths. I had a great time last night cruising away from Philadelphia, switching tracks whenever I felt like it (at 150 mph!). On the down side, the number of activities provided in the 1.7GB of installed data is relatively limited. I enjoyed the passenger-commuting activites, but it's a bit disappointing to pull up to the station and there's no one there. While the game does feature moving vehicles that are driving along the roads or across bridges, and many other trains that you may pass in your travels, there are no people getting on or off your train. All in all, I've found hours to have passed while I'm enjoying the beautiful scenery through the windows of my virtual train.
Rating:
Summary: Great Trainsim!!!
Review: I bought this simulator about a month after it came out which was in july I play it everyday. I think this is a must have for anyone who wants to experience operating a train. imagine your self sitting in a cab of Burlington Northern Sante Fe's most powerful diesel locomtives while pulling a 6000 ton train up Marias Pass, or cruising along at 125mph in the Amtrak Acela picking up and dropping off passengers in the Northesat Corridor, or for steam lovers there is the Flying Scottsman steam train, as well as other routes. there are downloadable upgrades on the web, such as new routes, other types of loco motives, railroad cars, activities, and lots of other things
Rating: 
Summary: Good for train-lovers, but has some problems
Review: I've never been much of a sim player (I'm one of the dozen people in the U.S. who doesn't like MS Flight Simulator), but my son loves trains, and I do too, so I decided to give this one a try. First the good points:
*There's a decent selection of train engines & combinations here, but a vast array of *free* ones are available through online sim fan web sites.
*The "drive a train" option is nice: load the program, choose your train & route, and just cruise -- sound the horn & enjoy the view!
*The selection of views of the train (from the inside, from the outside, overhead, trackside, etc.) are nice, and render quickly (but a warning about that, below). Now the bad:
*A full install takes 1.7GB (yes, that's almost 2 Gigabytes!) on your hard drive. That's a lot of space for a game.
*If you don't have a newer video card with lots of VRAM, your system will probably either routinely crash, or you will have to select "poor" video quality -- which, of course, takes away from the fun of the game.
*If you don't have lots of RAM (I would recommend 256MB or more), you will probably experience slow play. I first installed Train Sim on an older computer (128MB RAM) for my son, and it was horrid; we uninstalled there & installed it on my machine (384MB RAM), and game speed and stability were dramatically improved.
*For some reason (as another reviewer noted), the program regularly crashes when we try to select snowy weather conditions. Obviously a bug that should've been caught before the final release. So, if you love trains, have a "beefy" system, and are willing to put up with some bugs, I'd say go for it. Otherwise, stick to the Lionel set out in the garage!
Rating: 
Summary: save your hard earned money
Review: interesting only because its different. has an empty "half finished " feel to it.
Rating:
Summary: A Train Fan's Must Have
Review: MS Train Simulator pretty much is what it is. If you're a fan of all things trains, this is a great game to buy and will offer you hours upon hours of entertainment. Microsoft did a great job detailing the scenery and objects in the game, and supposedly the simulation is incredibly simelar to actually driving the trains it simulates. My only problems with the game are lack of options/in game customization. For instance, the main function of the game (and one of the potentially funnest parts of the game), other than completing 'missions' is called simply 'Drive a train.' It gives you control over switches, so you can pretty much go anywhere. However, you can only start from a very limited number of stations (an option to start at any milepost would have been great), and there are no other trains out on the track with you. I wish Microsoft had taken just a little bit more time to add in some additional features that could have made this game even more fun and addictive.
Rating:
Summary: Only good to train lovers
Review: If you love trains like me you'll love this game. But I most
admitt you'll need a very very good pc to make the best of it.
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