City Transport Simulator: Tram Review (PC)

Having toured several European cities where trams are commonplace and operators are mostly competent in their respective fields, I figured I’d make it a career in City Transport Simulator: Tram. It’s that childish sense of self-belief that led me to pilot a long-haul flight from Los Angeles to Ibiza in Flight Simulator; I had seen a cockpit, and therefore I figured I could fly a plane and not cause a nationwide panic attack. For the record, I am not a confident pilot, nor am I a dab hand in navigating a tram in a bustling city. But, thanks to City Transport Simulator: Tram harboring its own unshakable form of incompetence, it doesn’t really matter if I’m inexperienced or not. Yes, I could revise the instruction manual, but it probably wouldn’t make a difference here, for the tram will derail regardless. Welcome to your new least favorite job, folks.

City Transport Simulator: Tram builds on the “success” of Dovetail Games’ former flagship series in a brand-new world where you, the curator of railed vessels, can construct routes, evolve networks, and helm the fleet in a semi-creative manner. The latest chapter in the catalog of travel-centric reconstruction sims, while conceptually similar to its kin, grants you the opportunity to explore vast fictional cityscape regions and pool your resources to create plausible scenarios, extensions, and other viable ways of transporting your passengers from A to B. The only major difference between this and Train Sim World, of course, is that your entire base of operations is based around the tram network. The question is, is the latest chapter a step in the right direction for Dovetail, or a complete derailment of its predecessor’s legacy? Let’s talk about it.

A World Within Trams

Firstly, I have no quarrel with the driving aspects of the game, nor anything that comprises the navigational system, for that matter. It isn’t the act of establishing a functional network or nudging trams towards their destination that’s the issue; it’s everything that stands on the outside of the tram. From sunken pedestrians who aimlessly wander in front of your trams to the shoddy AI trams that frequently collide with your own, City Transport Simulator: Tram is seemingly riddled with technical issues and half-baked components. It’s a shame, too, as several of the primary features—custom liveries, line management, and licensed train models, for example—act surprisingly well on their own accord. And yet, it feels as if a solid ninety percent of the studio’s efforts went into fleshing out the tram’s interior, as opposed to balancing out the board across both fronts.

City Transport Simulator: Tram is a bit of a double-edged sword in ways, as it promises a quality collection of fictional routes to make into your own on-rails haven, but at the expense of forcing you to collide with an AI system that is, quite honestly, a hot mess. The traffic light system, too, is temperamental even during the best of times. For instance, if you run a red stop light, you automatically receive a penalty. And while this is true to the laws of the railroad, the fact that you often receive fines even when passing through a green light just goes to show that there are still one or two potholes left in the system. This not only spoils the immersion, but forces you to second-guess your actions, even when you know you’re in the right.

Establishing the Network

On the plus side of its blatant lack of polish, Tram does feature a generous quantity of game modes and scenarios to explore. With a signature Career Mode in tow, players can establish their empire from humble beginnings and earn XP to acquire better trams, expand their fleet to cover wider distances, and earn additional revenue to improve their infrastructure in a transport-driven economy. There’s also a sandbox mode, which allows users the opportunity to lay the groundwork for their own citywide operation without the added hassle of managing tight-fisted assets or contractual obligations. These two core modes, while not entirely uncommon for a simulation game, both pack a lot into their respective systems, with fantastic liveries to explore, upgrades to unlock, and a visually appealing, albeit somewhat broken fictional city to scoot around in.

I will say this: the tram itself and the components that flesh out its control system are bang on the mark—to the point that you would struggle to distinguish them from the real-world trams that operate in most modern cities. It seems that Dovetail Games carried out a great deal of research before emulating the basic features of a tram, which is great; it doesn’t feel sloppy, undercooked, or based on imaginative ideas. The fact that the game also represents a good variety of traditional and modern fleets with licensed trains, too, adds to the realistic appeal of the game. Again, I can’t fault any of these interior elements, but the fact that everything that functions on the outside of the tram is slightly off the rails suggests that the world and its surroundings were an afterthought for the studio. That’s something I just can’t shake.

Sunrise to Sunset

The fictional world of Tramau, which draws its inspiration from the southern cities of Germany, possesses a good amount of technical detail, with established landmarks and cultural relics that range from historical cathedrals to stunning panoramas. The graphics, while not perfect, are surprisingly well constructed and offer a great deal of depth to an otherwise dull and oftentimes “on-rails” experience. Granted, none of its graphical elements hold a candle to a lot of alternate realities, but the fact that Dovetail went above and beyond to create an original world and flesh it out with its own culture and style makes it that little bit more intriguing.

Verdict

Like a lot of Dovetail Games’ earlier releases, City Transport Simulator: Tram has the potential to be something much, much greater, but it’s ultimately marred by a lack of technical polish and a sense of realism. Don’t get me wrong, it has the bone structure of a solid transportation-centric sim, but the fact that it idles in receipt of countless mechanical issues and graphical errors makes it borderline unplayable in its current state. It’s a shame, really, as Tram could be a fun game, especially with its inclusion of several new features and scenarios, but it’s almost impossible to shake that feeling of something being wrong — and that dampens the overall consensus, sadly.

I’m willing to give Dovetail Games the benefit of the doubt and say that, as it’s in its teething period, there is still a lot of time for the creators to iron out the issues, of which there are many. Clearly, Dovetail can produce a genuinely enjoyable sim experience, what with several of its earlier releases (Train Sim World, being the most notable) being in possession of countless great visible assets. But, as with a lot of half-baked worlds, there is still a great deal of work that needs completing before it can reach the final station, so to speak.

City Transport Simulator: Tram’s core gameplay loop isn’t the problem; it’s the trimmings that go along with it. I’m fairly confident though, that if these shortcomings receive more time in the oven in future updates, then Tram could be a worthy investment.