Locomotion Download (1992 Puzzle Game)

Locomotion is an arcade-puzzle game in which you are presented with a top-down view of a railway network with a number of stations and junctions. Trains are released from stations at random intervals, each with a destination station. Your job is to get a set number of them to this destination within a time limit.

You control a cursor which can click on each of the junctions, toggling their positions. When trains reach a junction which is not set in a direction they can move through, they will stop until you move it. When they reach the wrong station they simply reverse and continue. If two trains make contact, they are lost, and a penalty is accrued.

Locomotion is a simple railroad operating game. Actually it's nothing spectacular. The first time I encountered something similar was while playing Donald Duck's Playground (one of the side-games to be exact) and I played this (again as a side-game) when I got the Lost Mind of Dr. Brain game.

Still this does not have to mean the game is all bad. It can actually be quite entertaining.

You need to operate the railroad switches and navigate the train engines from one point to another without colliding. They'll stop at the blocked off switch or at a signal light and they'll bounce and reverse direction if getting to the wrong station.

The time and number of possible collisions are limited from level to level and once either one is up, you loose the game.

The sounds are basic and the graphics are functional, colorful, but nothing special. All in all a below average simple entertainment with not much originality. But the game has two features which redeem it a little. First is the language option. It's a German game, so it's possible to play in either German or English language (not a big difference though). The other is the editor, where you can set your own tracks and play your own puzzles, or exchange them with friends to challenge them.

Now for the final score. Seeing how some magazines with professional reviewers gave this game as low a mark as 19% and on the other hand others (also professional reviewers) gave it as high a mark as 84%. Personally I like the idea that this game includes trains (simply love them), but do feel the overall gameplay is a letdown for 1992, especially since I've seen this in side-games before. Still the option of editing maps and making your own levels is a very convincing argument to give this game a higher mark, for being an enjoyable and somewhat addictive brain teaser.

Yet another game I remember from my Amiga. A simple concept - you have to lead the little trains to their destination by setting the switches. But this soon gets hectic once there are more than one train - and the tracks get more complicated later on as well - don't let the trains crash! It's a great innovative Puzzle-Game this one - sure to have fun with it!

You will want to use a slowdown app if you're playing this on a newer system. This might not apply to Pentium I or II users yet - I think I even remember this one to run fine on my P-III - but on an Athlon 1400 it's definitely too fast.

Locomotion is a decent action/puzzle game with nice VGA graphics and adlib music. The game principle is not new and widely known but well executed. Navigate trains to their destination stations by switching the lines. Things get harder each level, when the railroad layouts get more complicated and more and more trains are coming out faster and faster. If two trains crash, they are lost. The game contains an editor for creating own levels, so replay value is high. Overall, a good variant of LucasFilms' earlier Pipe Dreams, and well worth a look by puzzle fans.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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