You may think that since the game is just about railroads, so you'll probably anticipate that it may be boring, but a further look beneath the surface, you'll discover its appeal. Rails Across America is not just a game about building railroads and buying trains; rather it is more about all-out corporate war. When I mean war, I don't mean blowing things up and massacring anything that moves. The 'train wars' in Rails are intense competition in struggling to stamp out all competition and monopolize the rail industry. You could "ally" with another corporation and work together to stamp out another company or you could declare all-out "war" on your competitors and use whatever sleazy tactic possible to put them out of business.

Along with attempting to cover the entire continent with your railroads, you can also initiate a barrage of cruel corporate tactics that would nowadays land you in jail like stock raids and inciting worker strikes. Since your AI opponents are programmed to be money-grubbing rich monopolizing corporate demons, you always have to watch their every move. While you try to stamp them out, they'll be doing the same to you. They could be far more aggressive than opponents in Civilization games and they could do much worse than a rampaging horde of orcs.

Rails Across America is both very simple and very complex at the same time. It has a very simple interface and is very intuitive. Even if you've covered the entire map, it's still very easy to maintain your railroad empire.

Expect to see Rails Across America sometime around August 2001.

· · · Kane