Traintiles is an enjoyable Windows Phone puzzle game where you have straighten out a series of train tracks to allow the locomotive safely travel from one side of the gaming screen to the other. If you cannot sort out the twists and turns, the locomotive will crash and burn.
The Windows Phone game has forty-five puzzles to solve, some with multiple trains and train styles to steer in the right direction. Graphics are nicely sketched out and game play can be somewhat challenging. Available for low-memory Windows Phones, Traintiles comes across as a fun time waster of a game.
Before we jump into the game, I do have one housekeeping note to share. We were tipped on another gaming title that is identical to Traintiles. The game concept has appeal and while Traintiles has been available for some time, we opted to go ahead and review the original game instead of the knock-off.
Now back to the game.
Traintiles has a simple main menu with options to jump into game play, view the About screen and mute button. Game play is spread out across three worlds with forty-five puzzles to solve.
The puzzles have a collection of railroad tracks that span the screen connecting two tunnels. There are several sections of the track that are disconnected and it is your job to rotate these track puzzle pieces (just tap on them to rotate) so they complete the path, connecting both tunnels. While this sounds simple, the train will be traveling down the tracks adding a sense of urgency to your puzzle solving skills.
The first puzzle is rather simple to solve and as new gaming mechanics comes into play, a brief tutorial will appear before the start of the puzzle. You will also have to contend with multiple tracks and trains. The trains will be colored and you will need to guide them to the tunnel with the corresponding colored arrow next to it. The ride side of the gaming screen will display your train tallies to let you know how many of each train color you have left to deal with.
Some paths are more direct while others may make you send your train around in a loop in order to create the right connection. Your sense of timing will also be tested when multiple trains are involved and the same track puzzle piece comes into play for both train's paths.
Overall Impressions
While Traintiles is somewhat dated, we are glad we received the tip and discovered the original version of the Windows Phone game. It is not an overly complicated game but the puzzles can be somewhat challenging. Graphics are not terrible and the pace of the trains will keep you on your toes to solve things before the trains de-rail and crash.
The trial version gives you access to the first five puzzles with the full version of Traintiles costing $.99. The only downside to the game is that there are only 45 levels. It should also be noted that searching the Windows Phone Store by keyword "Traintiles" will find the copy of this game. However, if you follow the link below or scan the QR Code you will be taken to the original listing.
Download Traintiles for Windows Phone (Trial / $.99)
