My Railway Review

If you download My Railway, you’d better like trains. From the moment you start the game, you’re going to see lots and lots of trains. You’ll see big trains, little trains, steam, diesel, freight and passenger trains, even trains that blow through snow (Note: there’s very little snow). If you don’t like trains, you may not get much enjoyment out of this title. If you’re a fan of locomotives, you may find some interest in this game.

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My Railway starts on track to success, but loses momentum quickly

If you download My Railway, you’d better like trains. From the moment you start the game, you’re going to see lots and lots of trains. You’ll see big trains, little trains, steam, diesel, freight and passenger trains, even trains that blow through snow (Note: there’s very little snow). If you don’t like trains, you may not get much enjoyment out of this title. If you’re a fan of locomotives, you may find some interest in this game.

I’ll say it right now, as far as social games are concerned, My Railway is a disappointment. The game provides you with the ability to add friends, as well as send friend requests to a various players, but there’s little reason. From my time with the game, the only benefits I saw to having friends were earning a little extra money and unlocking features.

My Railway

Despite the lack of real social interaction, there’s some fun to be had with My Railway – but as I said earlier, it really depends on how much you enjoy trains. The point of the game is that you’re building train tracks between different cities, factories, farms, and so on. Once you successfully link a resource to a city and buy a train for that route, you can begin to produce a resource and ship it. In turn, you can sell the resources in town and use that money to buy more and better rails, trains, and scenery items or upgrade parts of the city.

Of course, like most games of its type, My Railway gives you the option to complete quests that give you extra money and experience. Unfortunately, there is little variety in these quests. The first couple of dozen are essentially the tutorial. After you complete those, the objectives quickly go from fun to repetitive. It seems odd to me that the city of Humburg wants over 100 shipments of clay every couple of hours. I’m not sure what they’re doing with it, but that uses time I could be spending making fine china or glassware.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of depth in this game. In fact, I feel comfortable saying that the depth can sometimes be a little much for a game of its sort. The issue with My Railway is that there’s all this depth, but little to do with it. For a game that has such a broad map and customization options, it doesn’t do much to give the player full creative use for them. The cities, tracks, and resources are in fixed areas and the map is gradually unlocked after you gain levels and/or pay an unlocking fee. On top of this, certain goods and services only become available after reaching a certain level and having so many friends.

My Railway

If you want help unlocking things, the game does make it a bit easier on you. Gaining levels takes some time, but just about everything you do nets experience points. Making friends isn’t necessarily a difficult process, but can be frustrating if you don’t have anyone to share your friend code with. If that’s not an option, the game will show you four random players you can send friend requests, and this process can be repeated daily.

Making friends is necessary if you want to advance far into the game for free. If you don’t mind paying for some assistance, My Railway gives you a couple of options. You can buy silver coins at the rate of about 6000 per real dollar. Silver coins are the main in-game currency, and can be earned effortlessly after the first few levels. If you choose to spend money on coins, the gold coins are a delicacy of sorts. The rate for gold coins is about fifty cents each. The game provides you with some gold coins when you start, but it’s easy to take their value for granted. The two main uses of gold coins are to gain access to special higher-level items, as well as make use of special services like the airship and shopkeeper. None of these features are necessary to enjoy the game, however.

My Railway isn’t a bad game. If you go into it expecting a high-quality social game, you’re likely to be disappointed. There’s minimal social interaction, and the gameplay lacks the same amount of freedom that similar titles possess, but there’s still some fun to be found. The game is charming for a little while, but its longevity all depends on how much you like playing with trains.

The good

  • Lots and lots of trains. Shipping and selling goods is oddly addictive.

The bad

  • Poor social interaction. Gameplay feels very linear.
50 out of 100
Derek Tillotson spends his free time wandering around San Francisco, forever searching for the best burrito in town. He hasn't found it yet, but the hunt may very well be the greatest treasure of all. When not eating burritos, Derek writes stuff and posts updates to his blog at derektillotson.com.