Train Conductor 2

Publisher: By The Voxel Agents.
Price: £0.59 (buy now)
Version reviewed: iPhone, by nofi.

Train Conductor 2, like Flight Control and other games of the ilk, couldn’t work without the direct, accurate input of a touch screen.  This latest entry into the genre from The Voxel Agents doesn’t really sit side by side with similar line drawing games, though, instead opting to plot its own path and as a result feels fresh and exciting without being too different to warrant anything more than a cursory gameplay tutorial.

The mechanics, then, are simple: from each side of the screen on any of the four numbered lanes (at least in the game’s first Miami-themed level) come trains.  Accompanied by both a warning light to signal their arrival and a number affixed to the front carriage, those trains need shepherding onto the matching lines by the time they leave the other side of the screen.  So, if a train appears on lane 2 with a ’1′ at the front, it needs to go up a level.

You do this by tracing little junctions from one line to another, on which the trains follow happily.  Naturally, once the flow of locomotives ramp up you’ll need incredible dexterity and certain amount of luck to stop all these trains from crashing into each other and leaving the screen on the wrong lines.  With some trains going faster than others and some longer than others, you’ll certainly need your wits about you.

Thankfully, you can tap a train to halt it, and although another train colliding into the back counts as a fail, this pause can give you enough time to schedule a line link or move another train out of the way.  Despite being perceptively tied to a set number of pre-determined courses, the flexibility in decision making means that there’s no such actual restriction once you start playing – and there are a number of tactical ways of thinking.

As you progress through the game, the number of lanes and trains increase, and the maps themselves become ever more complicated – the underground of New York being a prime example with it’s supporting pillars hampering your view.  The game loses a bit of focus at the Las Vegas section, but it’s all about the high scores anyway so, personally at least, I’m happy sticking to the first level.

Great, harmless fun and well worth playing.

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• Graphics: 7
• Sound: 7
• Gameplay: 8
• Overall: 7
  Reader rating:
  
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