Wednesday, November 16, 2011

App of the Month

This month, we have a game:  Trainyard Express.

Yeah, a game might not be as useful to you as say, how to workout or how to make a movie on your iPhone, but games have their advantages.

When I updated my phone last week, I lost all of the levels I achieved on Angry Birds and Bejeweled.  Frustrating.

As much as I know I need to get those levels knocked off again and back to where I once was, I needed something new, a distraction.

710 had this game on his phone and I thought I'd try the lite version.  Lite = free.  I am all about the cheap.

It has proved to be quite the distraction too.  While yes, there is a sense of "winning", it really is a thinking game and not one of beating a time limit or outscoring someone else.  I suppose you could play that way, but what it really is about is logical abilities and problem-solving skills.

These are lessons is spatial thinking.  And that is not Appalachian for 'special'.

You have to get train A to station A.....and so on.

Yes, it's easy enough for the first few rounds.  Too easy.  So easy you think it's a trick.  It is not.  But then you add layers, you add trains, you add stations, you add blockades.  And you have to do it without making the trains crash, which of course, is the sign of any good railroad guy.  Crashes are bad!

As you'd expect, each level gets harder.



This level wasn't too too hard.  Just getting four trains to the station.  No big whoop.


This was a little more difficile, as you have to get the trains to all combine before they can get to the station or it is considered a crash.  I'm not yet sure what the deal is with the big popcorn, but then I still don't know why birds want to kill pigs, so.....what do I know?

It is something different to do on the phone while I fly.  Angry Birds has some thinking involved with physics and such, but Trainyard Express really makes you think about curves, timing, cross-over tracks and such.  Hey, I come from German stock, it's all about getting the trains to work on time.

Sure it's a time-killer, but since I'm only normally playing this in-flight, it's not like I have tons better to do.

2 comments:

Ur-spo said...

I appreciate your app reviews; I will try this one tomorrow while waiting for my flight.

tornwordo said...

I have something similar called Monorail. You have to set up the track a certain way to make the loop. It's so easy at first, then dastardly.