by Christina Brzustoski

Created on: September 28, 2008   Last Updated: September 29, 2008

Overall Score: 3/5

One part Minesweeper, another part Railroad Tycoon, Loco Mogul isn't a game you can play right out of the (downloads) box. It does require a brief glance at the instruction manual before delving into it. The uninitiated player may run out of all their money in the first five minutes of play by "surveying" all the land, not realizing this is part of the strategy.

You begin with a piece of land showing one town and some money. By surveying the adjacent squares, you search for resources and other towns, which you will later connect via the railroad. This is the Minesweeper part of the game and it entertains for about as long as your average Minesweeper/Solitaire game. A square will tell you if there are other resources nearby, which you carefully survey since surveying costs five times as much as any other activity. You may also be faced with obstacles like trees to cut down, hills to flatten, and later, mountains to blow up with TNT, and rivers to ford with your cut wood. Just as the surveying gets boring, it's time to try to connect the sites with your railroad.

This part of the game is a bit more challenging and fun than the initial surveying, but it can also be the most frustrating. Since you are unable to survey all the land because of the expense, it can happen where you find yourself without the necessary amount of resources to ford the river, or with three mountains to explode but only two TNT. Without these resources (or a lot of cash), completing the level becomes impossible and takes some of the fun out of the game play.

Once the railroad is connected and has its stations placed (you can check the map to make sure there are no angry Yosemite Sam-esque icons there this is the game's way of telling you someone wants a train stop), you are ready to run your train. This part of the game is fun once you get the hang of it. Your train can only carry two boxcars at a time. Going from station to station, your job is to pick them up and deliver them to the applicable spot. However, the graphics on this could be a little better. Each station is listed as A.B,C, etc. with each boxcar given a similar A, B, C designation that tells you where to deliver it. This interface isn't altogether efficient and it seems it could have been done in a more fluid way. Often you will find yourself simply clicking at each station as your train makes its loop around the stations, possibly delivering, possibly picking up cargo but never really sure which one you are doing. But this is the primary way to build up cash for the next level, so it's unfortunate that it is not a bit smoother.

The last aspect of the game is the music, which will be loved or hated by Loco Mogul's players. This writer/ game player had "Old Susanna" stuck in her head for hours after playing the 90-minute demo. But fans of old American folk songs might enjoy that, and this game, more than those who would prefer a more neutral soundtrack. After 90 minutes, this reviewer had had enough of it.

Learn more about this author, Christina Brzustoski.
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