C&VG


The Train
By Accolade
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #78

The Train

This is an adventure game for one player, set in World War Two and based loosely on an old film of the same name. As a member of the French Resistance you must capture a train loaded with precious works of art from the Germans, and drive it through the night along the railway network into Allied hands (actually from Metz to Verdun, which is about as close to Normandy as Leeds is to London).

You must stop at all bridges and destroy the gunboats guarding them before they destroy you. You can simply run through a station, but if you stop to take it you can contact the local resistance, who might change the points or capture another station ahead for you. Occasionally, you get attacked by German aircraft. You are scored on the amount of undamaged art you bring out.

The heart of this game is a graphics screen of the engine cab, with joystick selection of controls. This works well, and learning to control the train's speed and performance is very enjoyable.

The rest of the game is less impressive. Capturing bridges or stations is far too easy, needing only "hosepipe" firing from your trusty machine gun. Also, the game seems to have been put out too early, since some of the routines just don't work. Information or assistance from the Resistance, for example, can be faulty. This is not just part of the game, since the computer blames you for failing to pay attention to the correct information which you haven't been given! Since the switching system also doesn't work, and you have to follow the same track each time, the game gets monotonous fairly quickly.

Without the complexity of a real adventure or the subtlety of a proper wargame, The Train is an average sort of game. It helps if you like old trains.