<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Too Much Free Time]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://tmft.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Tracy Poff]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://tmft.wordpress.com/author/tracypoff/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[First Impressions: A Ressha de&nbsp;Ikou]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>A search on Wikipedia tells me that Maxis released this game in the US as A-Train, and it is a simulator in which you build a railway system.</p>
<p><a href="https://tmft.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/44057-aresshadeikouj_01.png"><img style="display:block;text-align:center;cursor:hand;margin:0 auto 10px;" src="https://tmft.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/44057-aresshadeikouj_01.png?w=300" border="0" /></a><br /><span><br />Well, I like the old SimCity games, so I like Maxis, so I should like this, right? Let&#8217;s see:</p>
<p><a href="https://tmft.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/448d2-aresshadeikouj_02.png"><img style="display:block;text-align:center;cursor:hand;margin:0 auto 10px;" src="https://tmft.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/448d2-aresshadeikouj_02.png?w=300" border="0" /></a><br />Well, it doesn&#8217;t look bad so much as it doesn&#8217;t seem to have any interface. Playing with the buttons didn&#8217;t seem to do anything, but not to worry; there is a help screen:</p>
<p><a href="https://tmft.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/26c12-aresshadeikouj_05.png"><img style="display:block;text-align:center;cursor:hand;margin:0 auto 10px;" src="https://tmft.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/26c12-aresshadeikouj_05.png?w=300" border="0" /></a><br />Unfortunately, the help screen isn&#8217;t very helpful. Still, I persevered, pressing buttons at random on the theory that a million monkeys playing a million copies of A-Train will eventually figure out the controls. The biggest change I made was causing it turn turn to night:</p>
<p><a href="https://tmft.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/9b354-aresshadeikouj_03.png"><img style="display:block;text-align:center;cursor:hand;margin:0 auto 10px;" src="https://tmft.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/9b354-aresshadeikouj_03.png?w=300" border="0" /></a><br />Actually, I&#8217;m pretty sure that that was either timed, or just based on how many buttons I&#8217;d pressed, rather than any particular action of mine. I couldn&#8217;t work out what to do with this before my patience ran out, so I quit. Japanese people play pachinko games too, but that doesn&#8217;t make them good games; it&#8217;s no surprise that this game was a dismal failure in the US, despite its huge success in Japan. Avoid it.<br /></span></p>
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