Download Locomotion

Locomotion is a simple railroad operating game. Actually it’s nothing spectacular. The first time I encountered something similar was while playing Donald Duck’s Playground (one of the side-games to be exact) and I played this (again as a side-game) when I got the Lost Mind of Dr. Brain game.

Still this does not have to mean the game is all bad. It can actually be quite entertaining.

You need to operate the railroad switches and navigate the train engines from one point to another without colliding. They’ll stop at the blocked off switch or at a signal light and they’ll bounce and reverse direction if getting to the wrong station.

The time and number of possible collisions are limited from level to level and once either one is up, you loose the game.

The sounds are basic and the graphics are functional, colorful, but nothing special. All in all a below average simple entertainment with not much originality. But the game has two features which redeem it a little. First is the language option. It’s a German game, so it’s possible to play in either German or English language (not a big difference though). The other is the editor, where you can set your own tracks and play your own puzzles, or exchange them with friends to challenge them.

Now for the final score. Seeing how some magazines with professional reviewers gave this game as low a mark as 19% and on the other hand others (also professional reviewers) gave it as high a mark as 84%. Personally I like the idea that this game includes trains (simply love them), but do feel the overall gameplay is a letdown for 1992, especially since I’ve seen this in side-games before. Still the option of editing maps and making your own levels is a very convincing argument to give this game a higher mark, for being an enjoyable and somewhat addictive brain teaser.