I went to University in a city that had a pretty awesome tram service so it is something I do have a slight interest in. TramSim which was recently released piqued my interest due to those fantastic-looking graphics and I always wondered how a tram actually worked. While there is not much to the game, what is here is very well done.
How to Download TramSim
You can download the game from Steam. If you are interested in vehicle simulators, check out more games published by Aerosoft such as Fernbus Simulator, Tourist Bus Simulator, or OMSI 2.
The Game Review
The setting for the game is Vienna in Austria and it looks fantastic. There are many famous landmarks from Vienna here and the developer’s claims of photorealistic graphics are right on the mark. It is a truly amazing looking game with so much going on that it is hard not to keep messing with the camera to take it all in.
I have never actually been to Vienna, but I do like how diverse the journey you go on is. There are underground sections, rolling hills, the city, and so on. It is very interesting to see all the sights as you try to drive the tram. The people who get on and off the tram look very realistic too.
As of right now, there is only one route for you to drive your tram on and one type of tram to drive. For a game that is a full-priced title, I do feel the content is lacking. The track you are on is a 50-minute ride from start to end and you are working on a timetable trying to get people where they need to be on time.
The controls of the tram start off easy and you progress and learn more as you play. Even though TramSim has sim in the name, I never felt overwhelmed with the controls. I am sure it is kind of like driving a real tram, but I played it with my Xbox controller and had no trouble at all figuring things out.
As well as working the timetable there is a free mode where you can just drive the tram to your heart’s content. There is also a kind of challenge mode where you need to do things like stop at a very specific place. These kinds of things do pad the game out a bit, but it is not an exaggeration to say that you have seen pretty much all the game has to offer after just a days’ worth of gameplay.
I am sure that new stuff is going to be coming to the game, but so far in the research I have done I have not been able to confirm that any new stuff will be free! I really think that they need to add another city and different trams considering they are asking the same price as some AAA titles.
I will say that I did have fun playing TramSim. The idea of this game is really cool and Vienna sure does look beautiful. My gripe with the game is that for a full-price game they really needed more content. If it was in early access, I could give them a pass, but this is actually fully released now!
