Every once in a while, a game gets made with big expectations because it’s based on the real deal, this time Casten Hölscher had the honors with his game Zusi 3 – Aerosoft Edition. A train simulator which is based on real events, and firstly has the purpose to train machinist. And since it’s originally used for that, Carsten Hölscher had to deliver a game with high expectations. But did they succeed? Is it worth the 60 euros or is this the train ride towards hell? Everything is possible, so choo choo, get on board, hold your ticket ready and take this ride with me through the wonderful world of Zusi 3 – Aerosoft Edition.
- The real deal: Zusi 3 – Aerosoft Edition is a game that’s based on real train schedules and real events that may occur during a train ride. Which of course isn’t really a weird thing since the games original purpose was to give machinists in training the real experience and make sure they were prepared for the real world. Since you can load in all the train schedules that there are in Germany you will have enough things to discover and learn and eventually be the best there is, if there is such a thing in the world of trains. But to conclude this point it’s a really good thing that you literally have to do everything like opening and closing the doors for example.
- Germany: The aspect that raised my eyebrows the highest about Zusi 3 – Aerosoft Edition is that you can only choose lines in Germany, of course, nothing against Germany but it’s a bit weird. You will still need to load in the different lines, why not make it bigger and add multiple countries from around the world. I mean, almost every country has a train and it would be much more fun to play on routes you know because you travel on them in real life. But on the other side, the developers made room for maybe upcoming DLC’s or something like that, or people can recreate there favorite routes in the Steam Workshop.
- Tutorial/controls: I played the game for quite some hours but I wasn’t able to find some kind of tutorial. However, the game mentioned one in the start but maybe I’m just blind but I certainly didn’t find one. And the game is a real pain in the ass if you have absolutely no idea what you need to do, and how you need to do that. I was very happy when I finally got my first train driving but for the first hour, I had no idea what I did. Another bad thing is the vague controls, you can go through the settings and view them but without knowing what they are for, that is pretty much useless.
- Language: Another weird thing about the game is the language so at the start you can choose between German or English, where the biggest part of the world will probably choose for English. But then the problems start, a lot of the things you will need too read or do are still in German… For me, this isn’t really a problem cause I had it in school for 10 years or so, but If you never had it, it makes the game unplayable at some points.
- Loading: Since a lot of time is already wasted in this game, let’s add some more. The loading/waiting time in this game is way, way, way, way too much. It’s absolute shit. Yes, I can understand that it takes some time to load in a certain route, but no, it’s too long and too much. They really need to fix this somehow. It’s such a mood killer. I don’t even know what to say, just no!
- Graphics: Where the game might be realistic by giving the real experience. An aspect that is not realistic: the graphics. It feels like the game takes a bit step back in time and looks really crappy. And maybe the biggest focus shouldn’t be on this but hey it’s 2019 we have certain expectations about graphics. And this is a real breakpoint, but with this game, it’s just another point in a list of bad things, sadly.
Score: 30%
I can be really short in the conclusion. Zusi 3 – Aerosoft Edition might be the real training simulator for machinists and it works perfectly for them. But for the public and for 60 euros. No Zusi 3 Aerosoft Edition is definitely not Steam ready. There are too many flaws that really kill the game, like the graphics or the loading times. No, this game, I don’t see it and I think I never will. It’s far from a lovely game and in my opinion, it’s way overpriced!
Developer: Carsten Hölscher Publisher: Aerosoft GmbH
Played on: PC
Perfect for: Machinists in training
Steam game store link: Click here
