Train Conductor 2: USA Review: Addicting Gameplay in All Shapes and Sizes

App Name:	Train Conductor 2: USA
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad (Universal)
Publisher(s):	The Voxel Agents
Version Reviewed:	2
Genre(s):	railroads
Release Date:	July 29, 2010 (updated)
Price:	$0.99
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As if we needed another game that demands to be played without end, developer The Voxel Agents has given us Train Conductor 2: USA at an incredible base price of 99 cents. The amount of time you’ll spend with this game relative to that price makes it a no-brainer. As with other games like Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja, the reason this game is so much fun is completely mysterious until you get your hands on it. Then, after a few seconds, you’re hooked. It’s the mark of a great game, and TC2: USA has definitely got it.

You begin by learning the ropes. Becoming a master train conductor will require quick reaction time, decision making, and accuracy with your finger tips. But at first, your instructor (a red-haired girl who must have gotten started on the railroads at a very young age) gets you started with some easy tasks that demonstrate how the game works. The objective of each stage (with some slight exceptions we’ll get to soon) is to safely move train cars from left to right, and vice versa. You get one point each time a car disappears off the edge of the screen, and the game ends when cars collide or in some way contact one of the obstacles you’ll encounter throughout the greatly varied levels. As you advance, you’ll get to manipulate Metromovers on monorails, steam trains, subway trains, and then things get supernatural when you begin working with ghost and demon trains. Any one of these stages would be worth 99 cents on their own, and the fact that they come as a package deal makes TC2: USA rise above the competition as one of the best deals in the App Store.

The controls will have you tapping, dragging and swiping across the entire screen. While some stages have a separation in the middle (like the gorge that must be crossed in the canyon level), others engage different gameplay mechanics and will have you touching all over the screen. In some levels, like Miami, trains simply need to change lanes so that they exit on the rail with a corresponding number. The tapping and dragging mechanics that form the basis of the gameplay work with incredible smoothness, and delivering the trains is equally satisfying and challenging.

The only occasional frustration I’ve found occurs when I advance deep into a level and things really start to speed up. At moments like that, the accuracy of the controls can be questionable, and I’ve found myself intending to select one item, but accidentally grabbing something else with the result being failure.

But the positives vastly outweigh any detractions from Train Conductor 2. It’s more than we’ve come to expect from any 99 cent game. And the developers have already shown that there will be steady, valuable updates to the existing version. New locations and graphical improvements are promised in the future, and we should all be thanking The Voxel Agents for demonstrating how much fun can be hand on an iPhone for just a handful of change.

Our Score: 4.5/5

Train Conductor 2 is available for $0.99 at the time of this review.

About the Author

Devin Wieland

 

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