Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Trains for iPhone: For lovers of Flight Control, except with trains
I have a particular affinity for trains. My father and grandfather both worked on the railroad, presumably all the live-long day. When a train rolls by, I'll make a comment about the engine or trucks or what-have-you, and my girlfriend will madly clap her hands together and yell yay twains! in a dumb voice. I love her so much.
Anyway. ZAGG, the same people who make the unscratchable Invisible Shield films for various devices, released Trains, a game not unlike Flight Control, where you must route freight trains, drop off cargo, and avoid collisions.
Flight Control itself recently had an update, and now includes new tropical and aircraft carrier levels. Having lost hours of time to the original level, I was thrilled to have more places to land. (My high score is 103, by the way: Post yours in comments.)
Trains, on the other hand, takes the same approach, only with -- well -- trains. You must tap the switches to create a route for each train through the cargo depot of the appropriate color, and safely off the screen. You can let trains pass through without dropping their cargo, but you won't earn any points.
Of the two, I think I prefer Flight Control, only because there's more flexibility in determining where exactly the airplane goes by drawing a path with your finger. Switching train intersections accomplishes the same goal, but is somehow less satisfying than drawing a flight path freehand.
Trains, though, is good fun. It's on sale for 99 cents until June 15. After that it will be $1.99. Flight Control is also on sale for 99 cents "for a limited time." Both Trains and Flight Control are available from the App Store, and are well worth the money.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
PSM said 9:46AM on 6-11-2009
Sounds cool. I think I will buy it. I like trains, too, and Flight Control is my favorite game.
My high score has been 66 since the day I got it. Since then, I have gotten up to 66 many times, but never seem to get past it. One time I swear was not my fault -- I was doing really well but I drew a line and the game didn't recognize it, and by the time I drew it again, I had a pileup on my hands!
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Brandon said 9:52AM on 6-11-2009
Your girlfriend...is awesome.
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THJ said 9:39PM on 6-11-2009
Brandon: That Veronica Vaughn is one piece of ass, I know from experience dude. If you know what I mean.
Robert Palmer: No, you don't.
Brandon: Well, not me personally but a guy I know. Him and her *got it on*. Wooo-eee!
Robert Palmer: No, they didn't.
Brandon: No, no, no they didn't. But you could imagine what it'd be like if they did, right...?
(Not sure why that made me think of this, but if just one person watches Billy Madison after having read this, Adam Sandler will let me out of the basement)
Wardy said 10:00AM on 6-11-2009
I had a high score on the original level of around 95 before my girlfriend got 108... and I still can't beat it. It's the most frustrating thing ever, and she loves it.
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dclamster said 10:02AM on 6-11-2009
My high score is 112. I love that game.
That being said, I will likely be picking up Trains sometime soon. I love simple, yet challenging, games.
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J said 10:06AM on 6-11-2009
92 on the original, 102 in hawaii. I don't know if being an actual air traffic controller it helping or hurting me.
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Heath said 10:16AM on 6-11-2009
This game looks cool, and I'll probably pick it up if its not too much.
Flight control high score: 142
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vormkrijger said 10:35AM on 6-11-2009
BEST game ever (flight control)
my score is 152
LOOK HERE :o:o:o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8cNYHrzU5c&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fhumhum%2Ebe%2Ftech%2F58050%2Ehtml%3Fstart%3D250&feature=player_embedded
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Matthew said 10:29AM on 6-11-2009
103?? Get crackin! My high score in Flight Control is 275. I've only broken 200 twice. Most of the time I die around 130 or so. I must have really been hopped up on caffiene that one time.
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Shan said 11:36AM on 6-11-2009
wow my top score on Flight Control is 103 too. I thought that was pretty bad when you see YouTube videos of people landing 1000+ planes! Reading the comments - good to see everyone else is of a similar level!
Speaking of trains - the game I have been playing from the App Store is "Gold Rush" - I find it really good and very entertaining. Its concept is pretty similar to Trains. You get random pieces of track and have to root the train from the one end to the other. There are random bits of gold along the way which you must route the train through and pick up inorder to advance to the next level. You also have a dynamite stick to blow blocks of track up since you sometimes need to backtrack in order to get to some difficult to reach places.
TIP: I initially create a quick direct route between the two stations. This way while the train goes back and forth i then using the random pieces generated to take my time creating a more elaborate path around all the gold. Once I am done - I reroute the train into my newly built path.
There is also an online world scoreboard and the top prize every month wins an actual train set shipped worldwide. Now what would your girlfriend think of that eh Rob? lol
more info:
http://www.appshopper.com/games/gold-rush
App store link:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=298622842&mt=8
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Dan said 12:56PM on 6-11-2009
Interesting. I might have to take up your offer and check out Trains.
High score on Flight Control: 575
Haven't tried out the new airfields yet.
Stephen C said 2:47PM on 6-11-2009
my highscore for flight control is 93. Its soo hard!
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thatdidnthurt said 1:27PM on 6-11-2009
My high score on the main level is 81 and I pulled off a 70 on Aloha. Carrier level is tough!
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Ben said 1:40PM on 6-11-2009
High Scores: 127 on original field, 113 on tropical, and 16 on aircraft carrier (that one is hard)
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Chris Wright said 2:21PM on 6-11-2009
On the classic level I've got 176, on the tropical one: 145, and on the aircraft carrier (which is freakin hard) I've got 74.
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DJ said 2:42PM on 6-11-2009
High score on the classic level: 1036.
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Peter said 4:45PM on 6-11-2009
High score: 78. You rock.
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bc said 1:10AM on 6-12-2009
Trains sounds interesting, I may have to check it out. thanks for the review.
Flight Control is my favorite game - sooo addictive and best value by far out of a 99cent purchase.
my high score:
125 (Classic) - after weeks I still can't pass this!
154 (Beach) - IMO the easiest level, lots of clear flight paths to use
109 (Carrier) - very tough level, no room for error! originally I thought this level was impossible, but then I got lucky (once)
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Ben E said 1:52PM on 6-15-2009
My high score on trains is 263. Although I have only been able to get to 200 since then.
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jeffj said 7:37AM on 6-23-2009
Haven't tried trains but now I will. Thanks for the tip.
Flight control scores:
299 classic
215 beach
56 carrier - got frustrated and haven't been back to it yet
I keep thinking that beach is the easiest. Yet I continue to manage higher scores on classic. I think it's because classic has more room to circle planes once there's "too much" going on at one time to find direct landing routes.
FC tip: always land the fast jets immediately. If necessary reroute the slower ones to make room. It's hard to circle the fast jets but it's relatively easier to circle the slower ones.
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