3D Ultra Lionel Traintown
| 3D Ultra Lionel Traintown | |
|---|---|
 Title screen for the 2.0 version of Traintown | |
| Developer(s) | Dynamix |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra Attractions |
| Series | 3D Ultra |
| Platform(s) | PC |
| Release date(s) | 1999 (original), 2000 (deluxe version) |
| Genre(s) | family, railroading, puzzle |
3D Ultra Lionel Traintown is a 3rd person railroading game by Sierra Entertainment. It consists of train layouts, some of which the player can edit. Some of the locomotives include: Union Pacific EMD SW1500 switcher, an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway F3A diesel locomotive (usually used to pull passenger trains), a generic 0-8-0 steam locomotive, and a 1950s passenger railcar.
Gameplay
There are six job bins, starting with tutorials, followed by Caboose Washer (easy), Hobo Bouncer (average), Grease Monkey (hard), Fire Stoker (very hard), and Whistle Blower (intense).
Each job bin contains 12 jobs. The last one is a special unlockable job that can only be done if all 11 prior jobs are completed. The exception is the Tutorials bin, where all jobs are available at any time. The unlockable jobs are themed somewhat festively, and usually have an animated cutscene at the end of some sort (e.g., a circus, the Colosseum).
Most jobs involve the basic concept of picking up and delivering loads via different freight and passenger cars. However, some are completely different. The "School Daze" series involve moving numbered freight cars to make valid addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division equations at six difficulty levels (kindergarten through 5th grade). The "Sister's" jobs involve sorting freight cars coming down the track into the right siding at six different levels. Three different jobs are like a game of concentration, in which the player tries to match the loads in the cars as quickly and in the fewest guesses as possible. The job "Dung Wars" is like a game of pick-up sticks, "The Gallows" like hangman, and the challenging "Tower of Power" like the Tower of Hanoi game. In "Sort of Tricky", the job is to unscramble seven anagrams before time runs out, although bonus time is given for each completed word.
In the Tutorials bin, there are five guided jobs which teach different steps in the road to becoming a successful engineer. The next four jobs are free-play train parks with unlimited time and loads. The last three in the Tutorials bin are build parks, where it is possible to lay out track however the player wants, with a few limits, and then play on it like a free-play level.
There are seven different areas for layouts to be set up in: Oak Valley, a generic wooded plain; Cactus Valley, a sprawling desert; North Pole, a wintery world filled with Christmas decorations; Living Room; Backyard; Planet X, a rarely used layout on a moon-like surface; and one on a piece of yellow notebook paper, used for the School Daze missions.
Re-Release
3D Ultra Lionel Traintown Deluxe is the successor of 3D Ultra Lionel Traintown.
Critical reception
3D Ultra Lionel Traintown Deluxe won the 2000 Family Game of the Year award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
Trivia
Upon inspection via Windows Media Player of certain copies of the original 1999 version of the game produced after 2006, the songs of soundtrack are named as after songs from The Killer's album Sam's Town. The soundtrack thumbnail as shown in WMP is the actual album cover of Sam's Town. This is a shout-out.