Review by Jon Donnis
For those of you who follow my reviews, you will know I love a simple little puzzle game, so when I was asked to review Railbound, I found myself optimistic in that I would enjoy this.
Railbound has been out on PC for a while, but is now getting its Xbox release, and that includes a "big free track bending update".
So, what is the game about, well it has trains in it, it has dogs in it and it is a puzzle game, so you can probably guess. Ok perhaps not. The concept is simple, you need to lay track, so that train carriages can connect to the train, and the train can then depart. It sounds so simple, and yes it starts off so simple, but as always with these types of puzzle games, they soon become very tricky and will have you pulling your hair out, right before you solve it and then do a little dance in your living room, followed usually by annoyance at how you didn't figure it out sooner.
The game gets harder when you realise you need to connect the train carriages to the train in a certain order, throw in tunnels, barriers that need to be opened, and a limited amount of tracks that can be laid, and suddenly you will need every single brain cell if you want to pass the level.
There are over 150 levels, lots of bonus levels, different landscapes to play on. The Xbox release, brings with it an extra 30 never before seen tracks and a lovely relaxing soundtrack, with all of this you have one very nice little puzzle game.
The Good
Frustrating but in a good way. The graphics are nice and clear, very colourful, and the music is really cool. There are loads of levels, the game plays well on the Xbox using a gamepad. If you do get stuck, there are plenty of walkthroughs online, but try to avoid them, you will figure it out eventually, you just need time and patience.
The Bad
The levels often have only a single way to solve them, which means everything has to be precision perfect, I found this a tad annoying, especially when stuck on a level.
Overall
Railbound really is a fun little puzzle game, ok maybe not the most original in the world, but that doesn't matter, it looks great, is fun to play, and offers a decent challenge to puzzle fans.
I score Railbound a strong 8/10
Out Now on Xbox at