GRAPHICS: However, up close those BNSF engines (among the others included) and rail cars look pretty nice. The anti-aliasing (or lack thereof) isn’t much better as a moving train can appear in certain light downright distracting with shimmering edges of the distance boxcars, especially in the noon day sun. The overall graphical quality of the scenery found in the sim world look like something out of a game from the 90’s or early 2000’s. Of course whether you choose to run multiple AI trains, run alone or with others is entirely up to you! partial screenshot of in-game switchboard What I like least in Run 8 Run 8 also includes an in-game switchboard, complete with signals and switches giving you the player the opportunity to manage multiple trains or just one if you so choose. If you ever wanted a railroading sandbox than Run 8 is the simulation that gives you the player much freedom in how you run a railroad and a train in Run 8. This gives the player(s) the option to have AI trains run along side (within the same game world) as you “play” in this grand rail sandbox. AI trains part of the rail sandboxĬomputer controlled trains better known as AI trains can also be enabled in Run 8. (Note: I would highly recommend learning the basics of the sim and train operations before venturing onto a server.) Of course, yard operations, AI train and player train movement can be performed in single-player mode. Run 8, in addition to its realistic sounds, routes and signal operation also features the option to work in a multiplayer setting (on a server) and perform prototypical yard operations with other people who are also running a copy of the simulator.
The simulator won’t hold your hand in the process but isn’t learning how to do it all part of the fun? Multiplayer and Single-player
And if you ever wanted to simulate the air-brake operation of a 100 plus car consist, Run 8 lets you do it. With its true to life scale routes (hundreds of miles in the base version of the sim alone), magnificent sounds and horns and its giant sandbox, Run 8 train simulator has a unique way of giving the player the true feeling they are and could be a real train engineer or yard master. While Train Sim World boasts pretty photorealistic graphics and controlled scenarios, Run 8 shines in a different yet entirely important way. Now it’s true that my experience within Run 8 has been for only a few hours but as far as I can tell, Run 8 is in a category all it’s own in terms of realistic railroad operations.
I have not played that game but have watched extensive videos and streams of it being played. As of this post, there is a major train simulator on the market that you may be familiar with called Train Sim World by Dovetail games. ( For complete details of the routes and trainsets available see Run 8 studios) What’s so great about Run 8įirstly, this review will be from the standpoint of someone brand new to rail simulators including Run 8 but not necessarily new to computer gaming. Run 8 is a realistic prototypical computer simulation of train operations found in the United States (featuring railroads primarily in the Southwest, Florida and the Northeast) The major railroads found in Run 8 are BNSF, UP, SP, NS and CSX.