Not Repeat Not a railroad game: Not a continuation of the Railroad Tycoon series in any meaningful sense
Once again, Mr. Meier has lent his name (only) to an over-puffed bloatware spinoff that dumbs down the original it is based upon.
If you want to teach your 8-year-old elementary problem-solving on a cutesy cartoon map, Railroads! may be just what you are looking for. Installation is flawless, and the game may even run smoothly, if you install it on a Quad-core Xeon with 3Gb of RAM and $2500 worth of Crossfire graphics adapters.
If, however, you are seeking the successor to Railroad Tycoon 3-- true 3D, better stitching, more realism in the landscape, deeper economic challenge levels, and above all, sweeter trains to build and drive, forget it. Turning on this game will break your heart.
Your eight-car train arrives in Los Angelos with its caboose still parked in San Diego. Enough said?
Saddest of all, for those who love the genre, will be the stabbing realization that the Railroads! debacle effectively ends the hope that another real railroad game will appear any time soon.