Conduct Together! (2018)

Uh so I am a train guy. I like trains. I think they're cool in real life. I think they're cool in movies. I think they are very cool in games. Uncharted 2? Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door? Forget about it.

When I have friends over for a casual get together, I'll put a train video on my TV and have it play as background noise. I specifically like Slow TV's Oslo to Bergen video.

So I'm the ideal audience for this game. I normally wouldn't go for the hyper cheap games on eShop because they signify bad quality, but when I saw a train game for ONE PENNY, I threw caution to the gosh dang wind! Plus it is a penny.*

The visuals are pleasant enough and are comparable to a cell phone game. And based off the one penny price tag, I expected it to look like a mobile game. The music is fine as well. Certainly not bad. Frankly, pleasant is what I wanted. Trains are pleasant. I want my train games to be pleasant too.

The problem is that the central gameplay mechanic of the game is just not terribly fun or interesting. You are stopping and starting trains so they don't crash into each other while also delivering passengers to their color coded stations. You also change which tracks the trains are running on. That's really it. The lack of real interactivity beyond playing virtual "red light/green light" really makes this game drain on you quickly.

I'd almost give this game a 1 star review, but occasionally you will get a puzzle where you get the trains on the right tracks and you've synced the trains with one another. It feels wonderful. You created a little watch that ticks perfectly in time. It's nice. I would give 5 stars to a train game full of puzzles like that. But those levels are few and far between. Instead you are greeted by level after level of start and stop action.

This train game does not meet my train standards. Though for a really great train game, check out Mini Metro.

*If you don't got a penny then a hay penny will do. And if you don't have a hay penny, then God bless you!