February 25, 2002 - Trainz is a relatively new idea in the PC gaming community. Microsoft's recently released Train Simulator offers much to train lovers with superb realism, but Trainz has many added features and ideas that set it apart from Train Simulator, and in most cases, place it ahead. Auran and Strategy First have outdone themselves this time, and that is an understatement to say the least.

After installing and configuring Trainz, players have a variety of options. Trainz is a "modular" based title, meaning it can be easily expanded in the future. The retail version ships with three modules, "My Collection", "Driver", and "Surveyor." My collection is the most simple of the three, and allows players to save their train creations to be retrieved at a later date. Driver is a much more exciting and useful module, allowing players to prepare a consist and grab an engineering cap. Stepping into the engineer's seat in a locomotive has never been easier, and players can select from one of three preset environments in which to navigate, Australia, Britain, or the United States. The "Surveyor" module is the most useful of the three, allowing players to create their own environments from scratch, adding buildings and creating realistic landscapes.

Unlike Microsoft Train Simulator, Trainz is not a "full-scale" simulation. If you have ever built a model train set, then you will understand the underlying concepts behind Trainz. Including a huge variety of locomotives and other "cars", players have lots of freedom when it comes to selecting a consist. With such a large variety of consist selection available, players should easily recognize at least one of the locos, no matter which country in which you reside.

Trainz features an absolutely stunning graphics engine powered by "Auran Jet" technology. These graphics are extremely detailed and look very realistic, especially for a model-train simulator. The graphic configuration can be setup using a variety of sliders to adjust the polygon count and detail levels, making the game run good even on lower end systems. However, for anyone who wants the details cranked, the system requirements are steep. Every detail, no matter how minor, has been included, that of which makes the graphical wonders of this title so great. Smoke rises from the engines when they are forced to begin movement, and vehicles slowly travel off into the distance along the roads. The environments are beautiful, and remarkably realistic, another successful achievement by Auran.

Trainz offers player a wide variety of customization options. Included on the Trainz CD-ROM is a copy of Discreet's 3D Modeling software, GMAX. This software can be used to create new objects or locomotives for use in the game. One problem with this however, is that the version of GMAX included in the CD is virtually useless, as it will not function without proper registration. Now, you’re asking, why don't you just register it? Registration can only be done for the newest version of GMAX, available for download from the company website, so you cannot register the version on the CD. After downloading the newest version and going through the registration process, I was somewhat surprised to find out that the custom content creation pack for Trainz has yet to be released by Auran. When this feature becomes available, it will add a whole new dimension and turn on the game, but until then, it’s just a feature in development.

Surveyor, not to be confused with GMAX, is the in-game environment development module included with Trainz. This module is where players will spend most of their time, developing new landscapes and worlds in which to ride the rails. Anyone familiar with 3D Studio MAX or any other three dimensional modeling software should have few problems understanding the Trainz surveyor, but Auran has made it simple enough to use that basically anyone can build an environment without much trouble. This surveyor module is very entertaining, and for anyone who has ever wanted to develop a city, this is as close as you will ever get. A large variety of objects and buildings are included, divided into three different continents. Rails, bridges, vectored objects, terrain editors, and many other means of manipulation are included making this a very simple, yet effective tool. Unfortunately, surveyor is not perfect, with problems in the terrain height levels and the rails that would cover this terrain. Clipping issues are often present when working with terrain height, as tracks and roads do not always contour to the correct levels, making your track appear partially underground. This issue can become extremely annoying, and unfortunately, is something that can be very unpleasant in correcting. Generally, the surveyor module is a great tool, but a few minor issues can cause problems when entering the world of development.