Game: A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism
Genre: Simulation, Puzzle, Strategy
System: Nintendo Switch
Developers | Publishers: ARTDINK | Nintendo
Age Rating: US E | EU 3+
Price: US $59.99 | UK £53.99 | EU € 59,99
Release Date: March 12th, 2021
Review code used, with many thanks to Nintendo!
Artdink has been developing the A-Train train simulation franchise since the 1980s, and if you’re a sim fan, you might have played A-Train 3D: City Simulator on Nintendo 3DS in 2015. While immensely popular in Japan, the series has rarely risen above cult status in the West. Will that change with the release of the game on the Nintendo Switch? Let’s have a look!
All Aboard the A-Train
A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism has launched on Nintendo Switch, introducing, as the name would suggest, tourism to its urban planning gameplay, and there is a goal of transforming towns into bustling tourism capitals. Of course, A-Train isn’t just your average city-building sim, it is based around mass transit, particularly trains and the railway and so much more besides.
As CEO of a railroad company, you are required to connect people, towns, and suburbs. Not just with trains, other forms of transport such as buses and freight transportation are involved too. The main goal, as the game’s name suggests, is to build a bustling tourism transport business while you watch ever-expanding cities spring up around your transport network.
Comprehensive Tutorial
Like most simulation, strategy games there is quite a lot of information to take in when you first start the game. A full cast of manga-style characters are awaiting your arrival as CEO, you’re walked through a very comprehensive tutorial by your secretary Ayaka Matsushima, a tutorial that spans the first two scenarios in the game. A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism can feel complex at first but the tutorial really has all you need to get to grips with the management aspects of the gameplay.
By the time you have finished the tutorial, you should have a good grasp of what is expected of you. If you forget anything you can check out the game’s help compendium and everything is detailed there. Other developers should take note of the tutorial in A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism as it really does a fantastic job of explaining what you are meant to do.
More than Train Management
A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism offers so much more than an average simulation management game. From working with local government officials and achieving their objectives for the regions to improving transportation routes and recreational facilities to a particular area. And meanwhile turn around the dwindling fortunes of the Bullet Train route.
Eight Scenarios
You’ll buy land to build your networks, keeping an eye on property prices. You’ll even have to deal with the stock market and shareholders. As you build an ever more complex and efficient railway system and develop the land around your stations, the cities in the area will gradually grow larger too.
In all, there are eight scenarios spanning from 1955 to 2006, with the option to download more. Map creation is also included, and it allows you to create your own customized scenarios by changing the size of the map, the level of the land, and the natural resources present in the region. As well as the different parameters related to victory conditions.
Three Difficulty Levels
Don’t be fooled by the cute manga presentation as behind that is a management system in which mistakes are expensive, especially at the highest difficulty levels, there are three difficulty levels in each scenario. I’ve gone bankrupt twice in my numerous playthroughs, but I’ve had a lot of fun even while losing my money and I’ve learnt a lot about transport networks. After all, something the Japanese are renowned for is their efficient transportation system!
Be a Successful CEO
A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism isn’t a game to play in short bursts, this is a game that you can sink hours of play into and probably take a lot longer to master. Once you do understand the game and you succeed at being a successful CEO it sure does give you a great sense of achievement. But to really appreciate it you have to dedicate a considerable amount of hours to the game. It is priced at quite a high price point, however, after playing the game I do feel this is a fair price as there is plenty of replayability in the game!
Visuals and Controls
Visually A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism is fine, it won’t blow your socks off in the looks department but it is passable. The gameplay more then makes up for the flat looking maps in the game. They are bright and colourful with all the appropriate sound effects from the trains and the surrounding environments. And best of all, you can take a front view seat in a train as it moves along the track, all aboard now! I don’t know what it is about being able to ride in trains but it always amuses me when its included in the gameplay. Anyway, moving on!
A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism is controlled by the joy-cons or the touchscreen. I mainly played the game using the joy-con controls and they felt quite intuitive to me. The touchscreen controls work equally well.
Conclusion
A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism is a complex management simulation game. If you spend the time getting to know all the ins and outs of the gameplay and what is required to succeed, it’s an enjoyable and entertaining strategy game.
The high price point might put some people off, though true fans of this genre will find a pretty solid management sim underneath somewhat flat visuals!
Final Verdict: I Like It A Lot 
I’m so glad you got to review this one Paula! As soon as I saw this on the eShop, and then the thumbnail for the review, I was so glad to see your name as the reviewer. I would be interested to know how this game compares to the A-train simulation titles of old.
Thanks Jonah, I enjoyed the game, it’s a lot of fun. I was thinking the same myself when I was writing this, haven’t played any of the other games in the series myself.