3D ULTRA LIONEL TRAINTOWN

All aboard for another challenging day in the wonderfully whirly-bird world of TrainTown. Can you deliver the ingedients to the cookie factory across town? Will you be able to sort all of the cars coming down the tracks in their proper order? How about helpin to erect the Eiffel Tower in the frozen tundra? TrainTown will delight you with more than 70 challenging asignments as you work your way up the ladder from Caboose Washer to Whistle Blower.

• Compete with the whole family for best score "Blue Ribbons"
• Assignments range from ver easy to very difficult
• More than 30 different Lionel model trains with incredible animations
• More than 70 assignments in 7 engaging worlds

~ from the back of the box

We've had Pinball, Pool and Minigolf in Sierra's 3D Ultra series. Now we have... trains? For a franchise that's been more about quick bursts of arcade fun, 3D Ultra Lionel TrainTown is a bit of a departure. Releasing in 1999, the developers at Dynamix were trying to shake up the formula by branching into other styles and genres. Cool Pool came about during this time too, but it's TrainTown in partnership with a brand of model locomotives that's truly the odd duck by being an out-and-out puzzle game.

The idea is to manipulate trains and manoeuvre their cargo to the correct position or use unique carriages to perform certain tasks. There are over 70 levels in total, many of which are located in some crazy places in keeping with the series' wacky ethos. From a frozen tundra in the North Pole to a toy-strewn playroom or a picnic at a park, you won't be short on variety. Even the missions objectives themselves can be enjoyably off-beat.

Including the tutorial, there are 6 stages of difficulty each with their own selection of missions. A typical mission has you collecting and dropping off items but there's also the odd sorting stage or game of hangman. It's an easy concept to understand but some of the stages are fiendishly difficult to master. For example, you may have to continuously uncouple and re-couple carriages so they can fit on certain tracks or manoeuvre around loops and turnstiles to have them placed in the right order.

All of this is controlled with the mouse, which can be a little awkward at times. You click to the left or right of the train to move it in that direction at its slowest speed. Click again to notch it up to a maximum of three. To slow down, simply click on the other side but you'll have to do this multiple times to start going the other way. If you want to stop, aim your cursor over the moving vehicle and click to put on the brakes. Be aware that velocity is a thing so it will take a few moments to stop completely and if you crash, it's back to the beginning. There is a notched gauge towards the bottom of the screen which may prove useful if you don't like the context sensitive clicks, but I didn't use it much. I did find that if a particularly long train is snaked around a curved track, it can be hard to figure out whether your click means forwards or backwards. It's not entirely as complicated as I'm probably making it sound, but all these clicks can be a bit of a pain if you're not paying attention.

In the end, this rather different type of time waster is insanely addictive. Like the best kind of puzzle games, it's easy to understand but will often stump you on many occasions. A worthy entry into the 3D Ultra series and highly recommended.

To download the game, follow the link below. This exclusive installer uses the DOSBox Daum build of DOSBox 0.74 running Windows '95. Tested on Windows 10.

IMPORTANT - Remember to shut down the emulated version of Windows before exiting DOSBox. This could potentially result in errors, lost saves and corrupt data. Press Ctrl-F9 when it is safe to do so.

File Size: 412 Mb.  Install Size: 648 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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3D Ultra Lionel TrainTown © Sierra On-Line
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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