Maglev 2005 - Casino Express Add-On for MS Train Simulator (PC CD)

The box makes this addon look very promising, it depicting a proposed route between Barstow CA and Las Vegas NV. The pictures on the back of the box look great, however, this addon does not stand up to the quality shown.

On loading, you find yourself inside the Maglev loco and it is quite impressive. Being Maglev, there are no rails to run on and so instantly, this removes the Click-a-ty Clack of the track for the sound. It is realistic but you tend to miss it. The graphics designed for the "city" locations are quite impressive, however, it is beyond this that lets down this addon.

Five minutes after starting the Maglev moving, you find yourself travelling across the desert landscape. And that is all there is. After getting your train up to speed, all you can do is sit back and watch. There are no signal lights (that I have found), no complex junctions, no speed limits. There is just one station inbetween the two main stops. There are very few activities. Once your train is moving there is no excitment left. The train just weaves through this desert and that's it. You may be travelling at 300Kph but when there is nothing to look at (and nothing to do!), what's the point?!?

My hat goes off to the creators, the "city" locations are very detailed and interesting. But unless you have an interest in what this proposed route will actually look like when (if) built, there is nothing here to attract a train simmer.


Not bad at all   September 3, 2004
Mr. R. B. Pearson (York UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is a mixed bag really, I quite enjoy it but I can see why others don't
The main thing is that the activities were certainly rushed because I had to finish them in the activity editor before they operated properly due to the timetable not being set up and there is a total lack of signalling, which renders traffic patterns hard to time well. also you have to click off warnings about missing .sms files before it loads up the activity
On the other hand this pack is quirky and interesting with a nicely terraformed route and excellent city areas well detailed trains and cab views although a passenger view would have been a nice touch,
Overall this could have done with a little longer in production to iron out niggles and put together some interesting activities and sort the .sms files and signals out then it would have been an excellent add-on rather than just a good one.


Boring   May 25, 2008
O. M. Aszkenasy (Washington, Tyne & Wear United Kingdom)
Is this add-on the most boring I've ever bought? The answer is Yes it is. This add-on has very little detail, the Maglev trains have no sound inside the cab, there is no passenger view and even the sounds of the train (on the outside views) are out. The scenery also needs to be a lot better, how about mountains and forests instead of boring desert almost all the way along the route? The 250 mile long route has just one stop in between the two stations. There are very few activities. Once you have been driving for about 10 minutes, you will be falling asleep. You may be travelling at over 300MPH, but you have nothing much to look at, and nothing to do, it makes this add-on really rubbish. If you are looking for great add-ons for MSTS you'd be better off going for the following:
East Coast Express
Great Eastern
Swanage Express
Berlin Subway
And lots more. Just buy one of the add-ons in the list because, once you buy this one, you will want to sell it.