Train Sim World 4 PS5 Review – Let’s be honest, it doesn’t feel like 2 minutes ago since the release and review of Train Sim World 3. Dovetail Games seem to have dropped the release of TSW4 on us rather suddenly as there was no real mention of it on the forums which we had been checking due to Jane Whittaker suddenly appearing all over them (Luckily nowhere to be seen in the games credits).
Train Sim World 4 PS5 Review – All Aboard
Right from the outset of the game there is no major improvements to TSW3 that can be seen. The whole set up is basically the same with a few new routes to launch on us. For a new title release I would have expected more than what we have been given.
Most routes and trains from past iterations are compatible with TSW4 which is a bonus to the game, but as the games have heavily revolved around DLC packs at a cost then those that refuse to pay £100’s toward updating games do suffer from a lack of difference in the game.
That said, I got to try the Dresden route in Germany (returning from TSW2,) as well as the Antelope Valley Line in California, USA, East Coast Mainline in the United Kingdom, and S-Bahn Vorarlberg in Austria.
Each contain a variety of scenarios to take on which start off with learning the basics of controlling the trains you will be using. There is the addition of free roam mode where you can start anywhere you want with a train and set routes until your heart is content; something I haven’t used as admittedly there is a lot of scenarios to keep you busy for a while.
Train Sim World 4 PS5 Review – Life on the Rails
As I said from the outset of this review, Train Sim World 4 plays exactly the same as its predecessors giving me a huge sense of Deja-Vu. I haven’t touched TSW3 since last year and getting the platinum trophy on my PS5, so jumping into TSW4 was easy and I found I was straight away at ease with controlling the trains and getting into the flow of the game. I suppose that if it isn’t broken then don’t fix it.
The most fun I had with the game was taking the iconic Flying Scotsman out on the rails after being lucky enough to climb aboard the loco last month as it had pulled outside York Railway Museum the day myself and my family visited, and I managed to talk someone into letting me quickly climb aboard. This was, of course, before the accident it had whilst out on the rails.
Taking the Flying Scotsman out for a jog on the East Coast Main Line, although Steam engines are still incredibly interesting to look at, they’re not as capable as more modern machines. With assists, there’s not much to manage in terms of minding its coal and water usage once you get it up to speed, however.
Train Sime World 4 PS5 Review – Pulling into the Station
It is still nice to be able to jump out of the cab when pulling into stations to explore them if you have the time and are running ahead of your schedule. It gives you a chance to complete small side quest like filling newspaper stands, water bottles and medical points. Other than that, there’s not much else to be gained from it and I still can’t help but be disappointed with the graphics when it comes to passengers on the platform. The game does need improving there quite a lot.
Luckily, most of your time is spent in the cab watching the world fly by. Here again however there are small issues. When going under bridges you can see cars on the road above, but with my game it was the exact same car and same colour all the time. There was no variety to vehicles used in the background and as for graphics pop ins in the distance, it still hasn’t been addressed from TSW3. Then there was the serious game crashes that I have encountered over and over again.
Sone of the scenarios will take at least an hour to complete, and it seems to be these that I had all the issues with. It was always when I was nearing the end destination that the game would hard crash and kick me out. Issue report after issue report has been sent into Sony but these crashes are still happening. I had to start saving at various points during scenarios rather than at the end of each run but every so often even these saves would still game crash which became really annoying.
Train Sim World 4 PS5 Review – End of the Line
Weather effects are nice in the game, but when it comes to rain i feel like a lot of improvement could be made. The whole game seems like it has borrowed from the last games heavily. It is a very solid Sim experience, but it doesn’t improve hugely and doesn’t feel like a main release just more of a way to cash-in on the fans, which, as mentioned before, is something Dovetail already do by charging quite large figures for DLC.
I would be happy for Dovetail to take their time on releases and focus on one every two years with some bigger improvements, or, if they insist on cashing in on people buying the games, drop the retail price by quite a way as the games release is really a base game with everything coming in DLC form.
