Sid Meier's Railroads!

Sid Meier's Railroads! is a business simulation game developed by Sid Meier on the Gamebryo game engine that was released in October 2006 and is the sequel to Railroad Tycoon 3. Although Sid Meier created the original Railroad Tycoon, subsequent versions were developed by PopTop Software. After a visit to Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, Sid Meier was inspired to reinvent his original creation.

Overview
Railroads! is fully three-dimensional and geared more toward head to head real-time strategy than the previous versions. The terrain is also more compressed in this game; there are few areas where players are allowed a long, straight run of track, meaning that terrain, such as hills, mountains, rivers, and inlets, play a much more important role in the game.

The game is heavily focused on economics – players have to build and sustain entire industries using the railroads they develop. Gameplay changes from previous editions of Railroad Tycoon include a system where new technology is first auctioned to the highest bidder. This gives the player a ten-year exclusive use of that technology. Similarly, individual industries are also put up for auction amongst players. Tracklaying is automated and much easier than other editions of Railroad Tycoon. When combined with the more "compressed" terrain, it allows for tactical placement of track to obstruct and frustrate opponents.

The game also allows head-to-head play over a LAN or the Internet, supporting up to four players per game, either human or artificial intelligence.

Scenarios
Like the previous versions, Railroads! offers various historical scenarios, in regions such as the Southwestern United States, the Pacific Northwest, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. In these scenarios (fifteen in all), the game allows the user to take on the role of various famous railway tycoons and robber barons from the past.

Custom Scenarios
With the introduction of patch 1.1 a map editor could be enabled by editing one of the games ini files, allowing for the creation of custom maps by users.

Trains
There are a large number of trains available in the game, spanning the years 1828 to 1970.

Critical reception
Metacritic reports an average score of 77 out of 100 or "Generally Favorable" in published reviews. IGN gave the game an "8.0" or "impressive."