Train Sim World 2

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 1 Critic Review

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Push Square
    Aug 23, 2020
    70
    Train Sim World 2 is unquestionably an acquired taste, but even if you’re not a railway enthusiast, there’s a relaxing release here that we recommend. Once you get to grips with how to operate the various locomotives, there’s a tangible satisfaction to kicking back for 60 minutes with the hum of the engine in the background, as you travel cross-country through urban and rural routes. We’ve already lost dozens of hours to this title, and with the base package merely representing the beginning of its journey, we suspect we’ll be spending a lot more time behind the controls of some of the world's most famous trains.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
tbd

No user score yet- Awaiting 2 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. HappySpaceInvad
    Jan 26, 2021
    5
    A very difficult game to review. On the one hand, it seems to be a very very detailed sim (although not being a train driver, how would IA very difficult game to review. On the one hand, it seems to be a very very detailed sim (although not being a train driver, how would I know?). There are lovely touches like rain on the windscreen of the ICE3M and the environments you drive through are reasonably realistic looking (although the inside of a tube tunnel can't have taxed the developers much).

    The audio is spot on - very authentic. I have no complaints there.

    But unfortunately there are a few things that detract from the obvious care and attention that went into this game.

    First, the graphics, while very beautiful, have very visible level of detail pop-in, and shadows that draw in about 10 yards in front of the train. This is on PS4 Pro (with an SSD drive) and switching from 4K to HD has no effect except to change the resolution. There's no HDR colour support either. And yet, when driving the ICE3M through heavy rain, the rain effects looked (and sounded) amazing, and that the rain stopped momentarily whenever you went under bridges was a nice touch.

    Secondly, the tutorials are terribly obtuse. They walk you through the sequence required to get a train moving, but also leave a lot out so you can have followed all the steps but your train simply won't move. In many cases where this happened to me, it seems to be because I'd applied the power too quickly. At this point, the tutorial abandons you until you work out what's wrong or quit and start again from scratch.

    The tutorial VoiceOver will ask you to "take a quick glance at the platform to ensure all is safe", but won't explain how to do that without leaving your seat (how do drivers do this in real life?). In one tutorial where I was supposed to change to the cab at the other end of the train, the prompt says "Press the triangle button to sit in any available seat"... when the only seat I should sit in is the driver's seat!

    It's this lack of polish that frequently makes the game far too frustrating.

    The joypad controls are also rather awkward. In the German trains the power control is on the left but mapped to R1 and R2... and the brake is on the right and mapped to L1 and L2. This takes some getting used to. You can opt to point at the thing you want to move and press or hold 'X', but good luck with that. Sometimes you'll hold on a lever and get the symbol indicating where to move it, yet the thumbsticks do nothing. Release and grab on a second time and suddenly it works. On the Underground train, the Dead Man's handle seems to release far too easily while you're changing power/brake, and the initial unlock switch can't even be seen when sitting in the drivers seat (as it's right behind), so turning the key once it's in is a matter of moving the pointer around blindly until you see the right label. Ok, so it might be like that in the real thing, but at some point you do have to make a concession to this being a video game.

    Overall then, I'm having fun with this because I got it at a severe discount. If you're an absolute train fanatic, maybe you won't mind the below-par graphics. Otherwise, steer clear and see if they make a better version for PS5.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »