I've been playing Train Valley for several hours now and I'm hooked. Each time I close the game, I can't wait to play it again. I'm a pretty casual gamer and this game provides great entertainment, with just the right level of complexity and challenge.
Because each level has multiple optional challenges, you can revisit and replay levels you've beaten as you become better at the game.
Can't wait to buy the rest of the Train Valley collection.
Overall, this is a fun, addictive game. I played it through, then went back to get all the bonus objectives in each level. It's still fun to play even after you've gone through it several times, and you can figure out a few little tricks to make your track layout more efficient.
However, there are a few things about it that I find obnoxious:
1. It's too short. There's another level (Germany) that you can download, but you have to pay extra for it, which I didn't feel was worth it. This wouldn't be so annoying except that it takes you straight to the nag screen on game startup.
2. Some of the music I find obnoxious. There is no way (so far as I can tell) either to disable the songs I don't like or to replace them with, say, the Beatles. Often I find myself restarting a map multiple times till it randomly selects a song that I don't mind.
3. Occasionally it will spontaneously demolish one square of track and put a windmill in its place. Then, not only do you have to rebuild that one square of track, but you also have to pay $5000 or $10000 to demolish that newly-constructed windmill. What's REALLY annoying is when it does this right in front of an oncoming train, so there's no time to prevent a crash. Fortunately, this rarely happens.
4. By far the most annoying thing is this. It dispatches trains on a regular timed interval, but you can click a button to dispatch an extra train ahead of schedule. This is cool; you can run more trains to increase the challenge and get a higher score. The problem is that it charges you a fee (say, $3000) to dispatch the extra train, but sometimes the train is only worth, say, $2000. Automatic money loss. VERY annoying!
The kids love this game. It is visually appealing and very easy to learn. The challenges are moderate and the sandbox mode is a big plus.
It runs well on a 7 year old (as of 2020) notebook with a dedicated memory chip, it runs very well on a 2018 Linux laptop using the integrated chipset only.
For me an absolute no brainer to buy if you look for a game for kids _and_ yourself.
I like puzzle games in general, but this one is by far the one I love most. In the 132 hours I spent with it I enjoyed every minute. There wasn't a single thing that made me consider whether it's worth the price. I bought it at a discount, but it's easily worth the full price and more.
The other comments already point out the many good things, but when I look at comments, I always watch out for things that others didn't like, because that gives a stronger indication of how I will like to play it or not. So here are the very few things that bothered me (and that is already a strong word to use for this game):
- No undo function. I've used pause quite a lot, because placing a track incorrectly can cost you quite a lot, and sometimes you simply don't have the cash for that! The game would feel smoother if it would allow to undo at least the most recent build order!
- and ... that's it! :-)
Purchase, and enjoy the game - you won't regret it.
The game is relaxing and fun. This little casual game brought me fun for several hours. It's only a shame that the achievements of this game don't work like expected, suddenly I got achievements which I shouldn't get in the first place or some don't unlock :S
But besides that, this game really is a recommendation if you're looking for a fun, shot, casual game that involves trains!
