Amstrad Computer User


The Train

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Machine: Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Amstrad Computer User #50

The Train

It is midnight on a day in August 1944. The Nazis are planning to smuggle French art treasures out of the country. No, zee Fallen Madonna wiz zee Beeg Boobies isn't being hidden in a smoked sausage - instead priceless Picassos and muddy Monets are on board a train. You are a leader in the Resistance, and must rescue them.

How droll.

Anyway, your first mission is to capture the train, which is sitting in a station. This is accomplished by shooting Nazi snipers who obligingly turn the lights on before they fire out of the station windows.

The Train: Escape To Normandy

Once aboard the train you stoke up the furnaces, release the brake and open the throttle. The train will start moving oft You have to drive it from Metz, near the German border. to Riyiere on the west coast of France, where you will be met by the Allied forces.

Of course, it's not an uninterrupted ride. You will be bombed and strafed by Nazi fighter planes, bridges must be captured and points must be switched.

Your Resistance friends will provide you with the information you need to do this by broadcasting messages over the telegraph at stations under their control. These stations also provide repairs, coal and water.

There are four graphical screens plus a status screen, The most important display is that of the engine room, which allows you to control the engine by blowing off steam, shovelling more coal, and slamming on the brakes whenever a bridge approaches. If you are moving too fast when you do this, the gearbox will be stripped.

The Train is a tough game, with a lot to do in very little time. Fortunately the controls are pointer-based and very easy to learn. The boarding sequence quickly becomes tedious; it would be nice if it could be skipped.