Tracks – The Train Set Game is a cute little game; one that gives players the chance to build a network of rails without worrying about finding a table in their house big enough. You can read our initial review of the base game here.
But now Tracks has received its first premium DLC pack, and this brings with it a new area and plenty of new building options, all based around space and beyond. The Sci-Fi pack has arrived on the Xbox Store, and we had a chance to play with it. Is it worth the current £3.29 asking price – cheaper than a model train starter set?
Firstly, let’s look at the bigger picture. Tracks is available on Xbox Game Pass – so subscribers don’t need to worry about purchasing the base game – and Game Pass subscribers also get a 10% discount on the DLC, so the Sci-Fi pack would then come down to £2.96. Now we’re really talking cheap as chips.
But even for those that don’t currently subscribe to Game Pass, Tracks now has a new bundle on the Xbox Store. For £17.99 you get the base game and the Sci-Fi pack included – and the free Suburban Pack thrown in for good measure – which is a saving of just over £2 when bought separately.
Numbers crunched, let’s see what is actually included. There is a new environment: you can build your train set on the surface of the Moon. Thankfully, this area of the Moon is relatively flat; it doesn’t come with all the craters that we’ve been accustomed to seeing. It does however have low gravity enabled, which is new. If you wished to, you could raise your train up high and watch it float slowly back down to the surface, but more on that later.
Then there are new decorations to choose from – 45 in total. These include new passengers such as astronauts, robots and even aliens, but also a lot of space debris; rocks, asteroids, crashed UFOs and geodes. You can also choose to place satellites and rockets above the surface, giving your space port a really busy feel to it. There are even land rovers that can be placed. Whilst on the Moon you might as well do some exploring.
Even the train itself has had a makeover as on the Moon it features a design that looks more like a rocket ship than the standard wooden train.
But these new customisation options aren’t just limited to the Moon area. You could choose to put a space station outside of the Apartment environments, or have aliens visit you in the Bedroom environment – if you were that way inclined.
There hasn’t been any additional music added through this Sci-Fi Pack, but strangely the soft piano playing in the background now really compliments the Moon environment.
As has been the case since Tracks first launched, you can really go to town on the level of detail you add to your rail network, but now you can add even more across all locations. You’ll want to try adding a few aliens in to your regular passengers or throw some regular passengers in with the locals up on the Moon. Tracks has always encouraged imaginative designs, so having more options to do so is only a good thing.
Of course, there are others that have played Tracks for another reason, and now I would like to spend a minute talking to those. Achievements: the Sci-Fi pack has got them!
On top of the base game’s easy 1000G, the Sci-Fi pack brings with it five new achievements worth 100G each for a total of another 500G. And you’ll be pleased to hear that they are as easy to grab as before.
This latest batch is a really fun and creative list. Using the low gravity feature, you need to get your train to achieve ten seconds of airtime on the Moon (see: earlier). Then, by using the new decorations you need to recreate the 1969 Moon landings and also place 50 unique decorations on the Moon – but these can be any type and not just from the new DLC. Then you need to place an alien in the basket of a flying bicycle – an achievement cleverly titled ‘A reference’ and, finally, you will need to indulge in some actual train work by picking up alien passengers from a crashed UFO and dropping them off at the station.
This list encourages you to explore the new Moon environment but also allows you to mix and match with what is already at your disposal. It’s a really clever set of achievements that will instantly sell the pack to many.
So, is the new Sci-Fi DLC worth it? Absolutely! For those looking to expand their toy box but also for those simply looking for some cheap Gamerscore, it offers various types of players exactly what they need, and all for less than the price of a coffee.
Huge thanks go out to Excalibur Games for providing us access to the Tracks – The Train Set Game Sci-Fi Pack on Xbox One.
