In the beginning there was a business management game and it was the first of its kind and it was good. There were trains, planes and automobiles, for they were of the transport kind. It came from the hands of Chris Sawyer and for this there was much rejoicing and singing and dancing in the streets. It was simple, straightforward and yet complex too, for it was a game with much to offer and the gameplay was good. And lo, Chris proclaimed it should be called Transport Tycoon and so it was called Transport Tycoon and it was good. But all was not to be good for long, as many were envious of its success and shiny box. And so, came forth the many to imitate and deceive with titles also of Tycoon and they were bad. Others also came claiming to offer similar blessings to the many hopefuls and still they were bad.

The thing is that, poetic license aside, Transport Tycoon still remains today, some 10 years after its first release, one of the best business management or Tycoon games ever made. Others have come close to the mark but nothing has equalled its quality. Aside from one other series that is, Railroad Tycoon, started by another big name in game development, Sid Meier. Taking all of that into account you would have to be so sure of a product's appeal to hope to see any form of real success in the same market and train based business management is an incredibly small market. So why, oh why, have JoWood tried with Railroad Pioneer from BigBen Interactive?

I wish I could really answer that question but after several hours of deliberation, as I played through several levels before writing this review, I am still drawing a blank. Admittedly a different approach has been tried with the story of the construction of America's first east to west railroad. It makes out that the men that pioneered this feat of construction were heroes when in fact they were all largely cheap labour that had been conned into coming to America and were sold into slavery. Many of these people, brought over from places such as China and Africa, died long before the railroads were ever near completion, so it's a bit of a dubious period of history to base a game around - but then again much could be said against any particular period of history [What a savage race we are… Ed].

The game is a simple point and click management but the interface to the game is anything but. It is only really very basically explained during the first mission and less than half of everything available during even that mission is covered, and not that clearly I hasten to add. After that first mission, which takes next to no time to complete, you are left to your own devices, to blunder blindly around feeling your way through the game's interface until such time as you begin to understand the workings of things. In fact, almost all of the very important game aspects such as the political and competition management functions are left for you to discover for your self, making this a slow progressing title at times when a little tutorial would have kept the game moving along at a nice pace.

Aside from the rail building and rolling stock management you also get a very basic exploration and combat system to further your progress through the game. A party of men, which can be bought from most major towns and cities, handles all the exploration. You send them on their merry way into the black, unexplored regions of the map to see what is out there. The professions of the party members will determine what situations that group will be useful for and whether they will survive in the wilderness. The combat is next to unnoticeable and pretty much happens in the background automatically, with little or no intervention required from you.

The graphical style of this title is nothing that astounding but fits the painted picture or old photograph imagery that adorns the game's loading screens and intro movie. It still painfully seems like a 2D engine based game despite it having that all important third dimension. The game map can be zoomed but there is really little or no point in getting in too close and it is not required at any point during the game. To sum the visual impact up, I would have to say that it's something along the lines of clean, to the point but never anything fancy or that hasn't been seen before, some years ago.

Sound is notable mainly because of its absence. The soundtrack is nicely understated but begins to grate after a short period of time, as the western ambient cowboy film styles have a very short shelf life unless used in absolutely the right way. For the rest of the title's offerings you can expect short blasts of sound as a train goes by, or to signify some form of city life, maybe some wildlife and occasional environmental effects. Much like the graphics it's clean and to the point but with little variation or scope.

The gameplay, thanks to the clumsy interface and lack of real tutorial driven progress at the early stages, causes you to feel at odds with the game for longer than necessary and therefore mars any enjoyment that comes from playing. Though there is an option for multiplayer gameplay I would stress that this is really only a single player game and that multiplayer was bolted on, as almost an afterthought. The chances of you finding three people actually into rolling stock management games of this nature to fill up a multiplayer game are so remote that you probably won't ever select this option.

At the heart of this pretty below average game lies potential that could have made a largely enjoyable business management title. Unfortunately, with the likes of Railroad Tycoon 3 on the shelves it is unlikely that Railroad Pioneer will ever get a look in and it will reside, along with so many other titles of a similar nature, in the budget section of your local games retailer. To be honest it's a fate well deserved.

Reviewed by AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).