Sid is Back?

[Gobalopper]

Is he back to show Pop Top where they went wrong? :)

<a href="http://ir.take2games.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=86428&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=832617">Sid Meier's Railroads!</a>

[Gobalopper]

Some screenshots are at GameSpot.

[Hawk]

Personally I'm a little disappointed in what I've seen so far. It seems they're dumbing the game down in lieu of graphics.

Bad judgment call IMHO.  ::)

[Gwizz]

I would wish for some direct input from die hard Tycoon fans besides what is on the wish lists.  If we had some information on what Sid has set as the goals for the game, might help avoid the problems that RT3 has built into the game engine. 

If I could choose one addition to the new game I would add the ability to customise everything.

AND  Playability is more important than graphics for long term player interest IMHO.

[Gobalopper]

Fresh from his indoctrination ceremony, Sid Meier jogged to the stage to introduce his most recent opus. Meier related that the first topic he breached upon the Take-Two buyout of Firaxis was whether 2K Games was up for a revision of Meier's seminal Railroad Tycoon, the game that initiated the whole tycoon genre that, today, has enveloped the casual and budget realm. "Absolutely," 2K Games replied

[Dusty Bottoms]

Yah the PopTop guys will get schooled now. :-\

I heard that only the artists were at Firaxis now.  The rest of the guys were let go.  Not really a merger but at least it fits T2's MO a bit more acurately.

[maddog]

Are others having the same feelings about SMR that I am?  I was excited about RT2 and RT3.  Truely enjoyed 2 but felt ripped off after playing RT3 because they lied about the system requirements (32m video card on the specs on the game box but the truth was you needed 128m so it wouldn't be in B&W).  I just can't get excited about SMR.  :-\ 

I guess I will wait for the demo this time.

--Ray.

[Dusty Bottoms]

I don't think Phil wanted RT3 to come out the way it did.  Perhaps that's at least one reason he left Take 2?  I wouldn't judge an entire genre just on one game particularly since the "next" game will be done by someone else, and at least Sid does have some background.  He probably has far more muscle with Take 2 than Phil did to boot!  T2 has had control over PopTop since it was purchased from Phil, so again I don't think that RT3 was really what was intended.

[Dusty Bottoms]

Meier's seminal Railroad Tycoon, the game that initiated the whole tycoon genre that

Don't believe everything the corporate machine pumps out.  The Tycoon craze started in '99 after RT 2, not RT.  RT2 was made 9 years after Sid's game so it didn't spark any craze.  HELL, they aren't even calling TYCOON, so the comments from them are disingenuous.  The key is CAN Sid make an RT game now that will sell because of something more than just HIS NAME?

[Silverback]

I'll keep my mind open about Railroads! until I see it. I've played all the Railroad Tycoon games and the one I enjoyed most was RT2 which I played to death. Deluxe was OK but the AI cheated and I wasn't much enamoured by the priority cargo operations either, or bridge washouts, or the more railroad operational aspects. Transport Tycoon was a better game (poor AI though) IMHO. I didn't like RT3s cargo system and the AI railroads seemed either unstoppable or unstartable. Im not sure which aspects of the game will be in Railroads but the description said it would be a model railroad game if I read it would "capture whats unique about model railroading" correctly. I hope not. I want a strategy game not a simulator. We have Trainz and Railroad Simulator (and others) for railroad modelling and operating. 

I suspect that if Phil had remained in control of Poptop RT3 would have been delivered later and better balanced and would perhaps have had the CTC enhancements and editors included from the start and been further developed. Take 2 were probably leaning on PopTop.

Just how much input does Sid have to "his" games (other than his name) recently? 

[supershanks]

Sid is Back?

He might as well have stayed away. Just got the game last night. In no way is it comparable with rt3.

1)It totally lacks game depth.

2) Gfx are cartoony would be ok 4 thomas the tank engine. The follow & track a train options are gone, perhaps something 2 do with being a real sado following a cartoon train ??

3) No Editor.

Have been noting some fall in quality of sid's titles of late, sad to say think this is pretty low.

Any1 got a 1680x1050 widescreen patch 4 rt3 ?? 

[TheDS]

Heard from reviews that SMR sucked. Got kinda burned with the new Pirates - he kept in everything the originally did poorly (which wasn't a lot) and added a lot more crap. Dancing is boring and stupid and infuriating, trying to sneak into town seems darn near impossible and tedious, it's impossible to march into some towns, or attack them, and the change in difficulty goes from can't lose to can't win in a single step. The only thing I really liked about it was the land combat. There's a lot of good concepts to the game, but there were so many bugs and other things that made the game look half-finished, that I decided that even Sid's name would from now on require the reading of several reviews before the drooling could begin, and that policy saved me from wasting my time with SMR.

RT4 needs to build on RT2; it's done a lot more right than wrong.

(Good pirate games seem to be few and far between; only one I know if is the original Pirates, and I haven't played that in 10 years or so. Anyone know of one worth playing?)