Top 100 Video Games: #75

Sid Meier’s Railroads! (2006, PC)

One need only take a cursory look into the developer side of the video game world to find countless examples of the myth of “Lone Genius.” From BioShock’s Ken Levine to Overwatch’s former lead director Jeff Kaplan, the video game industry is filled with egotistical men to whom a video game’s success or failure is ultimately pinned. But it takes another kind of egotistical man entirely to not only take the credit for a game, but to put their name on the box, just above the title. Everyone’s favorite mediocre game designer, American McGee has been doing this for a few decades now, signaling to every discerning gamer what not to spend your money on. But the GOAT in this realm is undoubtedly Sid Meier, the guy who’s slapped his name on more games than most developers will ever create.

Unlike American McGee, Sid Meier’s name is like a seal of approval. When you buy a Sid Meier’s game, you know you’re going to get deep strategy, hours upon hours of addicting gameplay, and near-infinite replayability. Whether it’s Civilization, Pirates, or SimGolf, the guy obviously knows what he’s doing, even if his name is more of a license now than it was 30 years ago. We’ll talk more about Sid Meier later in this series. For now, let’s talk about Sid Meier’s Railroads!

Based on one of Sid Meier’s first games, 1990’s Railroad Tycoon, Railroads! features a fully-3D world, with varied topography and scenarios to explore. As the name suggests, it’s a simulation game in which you play a budding railroad tycoon during North America and Europe’s railroad booms. You’ll start with a home city, say St. Louis, and begin running your rail lines all across the continent. As you do so, you’ll connect to other cities and industrial sites. Industries may include mines, oil wells, farms, and lumber.

At its core, Sid Meier’s Railroads! is an economic simulator of the 19th century. As your railroad empire expands, you’ll have increased demands for products, resources, and people from all across the continent. Your job will be to move those items across the map as efficiently as possible. Along the way, you’ll be able to upgrade to faster trains, bid on exclusive technology rights, purchase industries, upgrade cities, and more. What begins with just laying tracks between a few cities will ultimately become a continental sprawl of rail lines. In the later stages of a game, Railroads! sometimes feels like a puzzle game, as you contend with the endless lines strewn across the map.

I’ve never been what I lovingly refer to as a “train weirdo,” but I’m certainly a “history nerd” and this game absolutely scratches that itch. As a fan of maps and geography, I’m also kind of in love with the idea of these 3D topographical continental maps that I can play around in. It makes me feel like I’m rewriting history, or at least taking part in it. In that way, Sid Meier’s Railroads exists somewhere in that wonderful space between educational and simulation where games like Oregon Trail and SimCity thrive. Basically, it’s a Sid Meier game.