The tram network in our country is pretty much reserved for the North West and Midlands areas and serves as a super convenient way of getting around urban areas in a prompt and frequent fashion. There have been plenty of train simulator titles over the years but none I can think of that have dedicated the cause to trams. Tramsim: Console Edition is now available and is developed by ViewApp and published by the team behind the Train Sim titles, Dovetail Games. From what I can gather the game started off as two separate packages on Windows PC titled Tramsim Munich and also Vienna. These have now merged into one joint package here for the console version and I have mixed feelings about it.

Gameplay

Luckily there are some tutorial options to guide you through how to get started with your tram career. You can go for the easy option of just a minimal press of buttons and levers or go for a more advanced procedure of mastering everything in the front seat. There are options to go through taking a tram off the depot into service and other scenarios. I spent most of my review putting myself through the paces of going into a fully-fledged passenger operation, buzzing through the streets of Munich and Vienna. Whilst I found Train Simulator overwhelming with its steep learning curve, you’ll be pleased to hear that here it isn’t so bad. Within minutes I found the rhythm of sticking to speed limits, indicating around corners, slowing to avoid hitting idle cars and more. It is much easier to pick up and play than many simulator games out there.

What I found frustrating was catching up to other trams on the same route, often you’d be right behind them and they would hold you up. With maximum speed limits at around 50mph, I ended up almost nodding off. It reminds me of driving my car and following a learner driver or someone going slower than the speed limit. There will be coloured markers when approaching stations to indicate where you need to stop safely to allow passengers to board. If you feel brave then you can turn these off in time, I did after a period of time to provide myself with at least a bit of challenge. There are also options to have disabled ramps to cater to those customers which provides a small layer of realism to the game.

Graphics & Audio

Now I haven’t been lucky enough to jet off to Vienna, but after looking at some quick comparisons on Google Maps, they have done well with the accuracy of architecture and layout. Munich didn’t seem as attractive as a package and it appeared to me that they spent a bit more time with TLC on the Vienna portion of the game. The trams themselves are absolutely nailed on to what I’d imagine they would look like in real life, real train/tram neds would easily be able to tell it is like for like against the real thing. The attention to detail is pretty solid to be fair and I have to tip my hats off to them for focusing on the visuals as well as the driving experience.

Unfortunately like almost every transport-infused simulator game I’ve ever played, not much time and effort has been applied to character models. Often you’ll see identical twins and even triplets boarding at most stations. It’s a shame as you actually see passengers going through the boarding process and walking through the tram and taking a seat. This isn’t something you see in every simulator game I can assure you. The option is there to flick through different viewpoints if you want to admire the steel snake from the outside. There were some slight bugs of customers sinking into the pavement or disappearing altogether but they were laughable and I do love that about simulator games. From an audio perspective, the sound effects all seemed to be true to life and how I’d expect to hear things whilst hopping onto a tram.

In Conclusion

Tramsim: Console Edition does a great job in the accuracy of operating trams in Munich and Vienna. Unfortunately, it shows how dull driving trams for a living would be by taking the same circuits over and over again with much less immersion and buttons to press in comparison to a train driver. For me, it sadly became super repetitive almost immediately and lacked much variance. For enthusiasts in the transport system and those who live and breathe trains and trams then it is a must-buy for them for sure. It does help that there are plenty of settings to fiddle around with for driving different routes and alternative scenarios to play out for a bit of variance. For the most part though it’s stop, open doors, close doors and leave only to rinse and repeat.