Review Railroad Corporation: When you’re the boss of a train company

Published by Iceberg Interactive, Railroad Corporation was the first game developed by Corbie Games. The game arrives at the end of May 2019 on Steam Early Access. Now, Railroad Corporation is officially launched.

Railroad Corporation is a game that blends strategy and management to recreate the golden age of the railroad industry, throughout North America in the 19th century. During the Early Access period, the game was constantly changing. Now, the game is stable and offers an enjoyable playing experience.

Compared to Sid Meier’s Railroads (another train track management game), Railroad Corporation still has its own unique features, giving the feeling of a closed ecosystem. However, the game still needs to improve further.

In Search and Demand mode, players build rails to serve the needs of towns as well as for parties to exchange goods with each other. Perhaps the game needs more difficulty segments to be suitable for all gamers, from beginners to the railway genre to management game fans. In addition, the Tutorial section of the game needs to be more elaborate to guide the gameplay mechanics. In addition to the main campaign, where you will spend most of the time playing, you can also play the sandbox (freestyle) mode against the computer. However, they are only unlocked after you complete some missions in the game.

In general, money will be the focus of the game and your goal is to make as much money as possible. Some side quests have several other objectives, and they don’t really require the player to complete. The game has elements for you to know how to calculate to save money. If you spend lavishly, the in-game bank still allows you to owe a certain amount. Calculate the cost of installing rails, clearing the terrain, building bridges, and tunnels to ensure that the budget is always within the allowable threshold.

However, the control system in the game is not carefully polished. On some missions, you don’t anticipate the task requirements. For example, the clothing delivery mission from Atlanta suggests the player should buy materials to make clothes on the journey. However, the hint does not tell you that if you buy it like that, the player has no money left to use for other things in the clothing production process. In the end, you will have negative money, even though you have prepared quite carefully. Trying again and again will definitely be something you encounter a lot in the game.

In the game, you will use profits to develop the town’s economy, develop research rooms to improve trains. Some of the mechanics in the game happen automatically, while others require you to get your hands on it. For example, trains require you to do your own maintenance, but railway signals are set automatically. This shows that the game mainly focuses on the tactical element, for you to upgrade the base, while the computer will be in charge of transporting goods and passengers.

When completing a mission, new skills will be unlocked to expand the player’s abilities. As for the graphics, although not very prominent, it is much better than many old-fashioned business tycoon games recently. However, it was not enough to save the gameplay.

CONCLUDE

Railroad Corporation really needs to refine the gameplay more to ensure the game is attractive to players. So where does Railroad Corporation fall short? The tracking system and interface needs to be improved a lot. Repetitive tasks. The game uses the Unity graphics engine, and there is no configuration option for the player. This is also a limitation if you have to play on less powerful computers.

Hopefully, Railroad Corporation will continue to be updated to make the game new and more interesting.