A-Train9: First impressions

What a start to the weekend! I’ve spent most of this evening toying about with my copy of A9. It’s almost bedtime now so I wanted to share a few initial impressions and screen shots of the full game before I turn in.

Okay, a couple of people wanted to know about the availability of A9 in the West: Currently there is no ‘Western’ version of the game and I haven’t noticed any murmurings about it being distributed over here either. You currently have two choices: Have the game imported (at the present exchange rate A9 will cost you in the region of £75+shipping) OR find a way to illegally download A9. However, please don’t come on here and start talking about warez or torrents because I’ll be forced to delete your messages. It’s a personal choice that one makes….

The game is completely in Japanese, too, which may be a barrier if you have never played the series before (a basic knowledge of Kana will help somewhat as you first explore the menus). For those who have played A-Train in the past most of the menus should be vaguely familiar and, as you might expect, the core gameplay is unchanged.

So, to the game. I’m not running it on a beast of a system by any means but have managed very well and average between 20-30 fps depending on the environment. A9 is very scalable. View distance, weather, water, lighting etc can all be tweaked to some degree – it’s very accommodating. I’d hazard a guess that if you were running A8 in all it’s glory then you’ll probably be ok. I’ve been playing with no anti-aliasing and resoultion 1024 or 1280. Tried most of the settings and settled for med/high view distance, low quality or no water (doesn’t impact my enjoyment very much), no shadows, no bloom. I’m happy.

Right, I tried most of the scenario maps that ship with the game, please don’t ask me what they’re called or what the aim of each on is as I have not yet asked my wife for a translation. However, as you might expect, they appear to range from easy to hard, more ¥ & people to less. Various landscape types like mountainous, plains and island so there is a really good choice right from the off. They have also included a kind of starter map which is a square diagram of track, four stations, around which you are allowed to build any construction without the usual constraints imposed by Materials. The environments look really lovely: there’s a more authentic feel to the landscape, train and construction models without losing the playful edge.

By the way, you’ll want to update the game right away. Artdink are already upto Version 1/Build 128 which, I think, includes an extra map or two as well as some important game tweaks and fixes.

As promised in the previews navigating the maps, which are now HUGE, is really smooth. The view distances are fantastic and it’s simply a matter of pointing on the position you want to jump to and dragging the map towards/away from you no matter how distant.

The camera view also manages to pull back miles up into the sky; if you’ve got the kind of system that can handle this game on the higher settings then I envy you. The limitations of my old favourite, A8, are immediately apparent. Remember the frustratingly murky view distance from A8 where you could just about manage to see half way across your city? Of course you do. Prepare to be very pleasantly impressed as you survey the surroundings from every possible angle, even right down at street level with the buses.

Yes, there are buses and lorries now, too!! What I hadn’t expected was the amount of choice that presents itself when you go to select a vehicle. They are also grouped by the distance they travel or type of work they manage (intercity, local, heavy goods, etc). The road vehicles also form part of your business – just as with the real Japanese rail conglomerates – they are not merely for decoration. You build roads for them and factories or bus stops for their pick ups. It wasn’t immediately clear to me how the road vehicles are handled by the player or what a strategy for their use might be. As with everything else it’ll take further time and experimentation.

I really wanted to mention the buildings. Finally we get Japanese castles! The constructions all have a more authentic  appearance, more colour and life. As I’ve pointed out before, gone is that rather drab, generic and Americanised look the cities of past A-Train games used to have. From village to metropolis, all the locales now look and feel Oriental and have a life they never did before. Just sitting back and watching your city is a real pleasure. The choice of station types has increased and they, too, appear much closer to their Japanese counterparts. What’s more all constructions can be place at any angle you choose simply by tapping the Tab button to rotate them. I used to hate the fact that, in A8, I was forced to build everything in blocks. The same goes for laying of track which feels positively liberating the first time you experience it! Seriously, this one change alone alters the whole experience of building your city the way you want it to be. And it doesn’t end there. How many times in A8 did you construct something then immediately change your mind but find that you were forced to live with your mistake? I did that shit constantly and it always incurred demolishing and rebuilding costs. Now when you build or lay track the item is highlighted in luminous blue. You are free to view it from any angle or distance and it isn’t physically built until you then proceed to confirm your choice (or reject it) with another click of the mouse. That is the way it should always have been.

Above you can see two of the choices from the Power Station menu. Power is a mystery that I’m looking forward to solving. Cities must have power in A9. Without it your services will struggle and nights get very, very, dark. At first I was wary of this strategic addition since it didn’t seem to fit with the whole rail conglomerate vibe I was comfortable with – I mean, since when did a rail company exec invest in a city’s nuclear power (I’m happy to be proven wrong on this point, btw ). But A-Train is evolving. Do you go for nuclear, solar, thermal or water power? How does this impact your city population (I read somewhere that proximity can reduce the attractiveness or revenue of your city which would explain why A9 power plants were always miles away on the coast).

What else….I’m sure there was something but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow because I’m suddenly very tired. It’s felt a bit like Christmas tonight. Only a bit. I’ll now be able to use those lovely images in the new fan site. Perfect. I’ll leave you with this shot of a lorry

As I uncover more of this game’s mechanics and secrets I’ll share them here.

Cheers

3 Comments

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  By Steve, 25/06/2010 @ 08:48

  Awesome! Looks great!

• 

  By dimas, 07/07/2010 @ 13:06

  niceeee, tell us more.

  btw, when we used to A8 menu, will we be able to play A9 without any knowledge of japanese language?

  thanks

• 

  By MarkE231, 08/07/2010 @ 15:32

  Hey dimas

  i addressed you question in this post:

  http://www.a-trainhx.com/blog/?p=471

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