Online Flash Games, Week 5: Railway Valley

Sorry about this late edition. I was at a baseball game yesterday with skybox seats so posting slipped my mind. But I know how to make up for it. Over the last few weeks I have been reviewing games that I like to play. But as you can imagine, every game cannot be good. And so this week I have a game i tried awhile ago and never played again; Railway Valley.

You are in charge of a railway company. The object is to build rail lines from certain buildings to others and deliver them to get money. Over time new buildings appear and you have to extend the line to get to those building. Sounds very simple, right? But then comes the first snag.

The instructions are useless. Instead of telling you how to build track and make junctions, the instructions just tell you what they are. They don't tell you gameplay mechanics, just describes the game. Perhaps they're definition of instructions is different from mine, but instructions to me means explaining how to play the game, not a biography of the game. And when you hit new game, then it explains the buttons and what they do. But still not how to play.

The game itself is too complicated and the game gives you very little time to set up tracks. It might be easier if it would tell you how to play, but I don't think so. Its a good idea and I know that simlulations similar to this have worked., take RailRoad Tycoon for example (a PC game, not an online game). This game simply is far too difficult for me and the majority of those who have played it on addictinggames.com. The website has a poll under the game of who like and and who hate it. A good game would have above 60% like. This game has a terrible 38%.

I think that however made this had a good idea for a game and could have made a great game. But this is a complicated and frustrating mess. Maybe someone enjoys a really complicated game. But I don't like a game this complicated. The descrition of the game says "train wrecks are everywhere". Well I disagree. There's only one train wreck here, and it isn't on track; its online.