Trainz Simulator 12

Trainz Simulator 12 is for people who want route building, rolling stock and timetable play rather than a simple toy-train experience. By our assessment, its real strength is the scale of the train-sim hobby it serves: long sessions of laying track, running services and managing locomotives have a lot of room here. The downside is the same one that hangs over most Trainz entries, which is that this kind of sim asks for patience, a bit of setup and tolerance for menus before the trains really start moving. In practice it feels like a toolkit first and a game second, with a lot of time spent in systems that matter to train fans but can look dry to everyone else. It sits alongside other serious rail simulators rather than arcade train games, and the number 12 is simply part of the title. By our assessment, it suits people who already enjoy rail simulators and world-building around them.