Tricky Tracks

It was hard enough trying to be upbeat about virtual train spotting when reviewing Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon recently, but landing yet another steam train-based game is enough to make anyone want to burn their anorak, rip up their notebook, smash their binoculars and go and get a life.

Fortunately, Tricky Tracks quickly reveals itself to be an ingenious puzzle game, and nothing to do with standing around on platforms clutching a Thermos and wearing national health service glasses.

There are vague similarities to Sid Meier’s serious steam train strategising, but this is a far more light-hearted affair aimed directly at lateral thinking puzzle fans, and it hits its mark.

As a budding railroad engineer, your task is to get the antagonistic tycoon Silas P. Montgomery’s train network up and running - and he's not willing to delay the trains while you do it. The tracks around North America are in a jumbled mess, so your job is to re-lay the sections of track so the imminently departing trains can make their destinations as quickly as possible.

The level is divided up into a grid, with sections of track dotted about the place - both right angles and straight pieces. Clicking on a piece of track rotates it 90 degrees, allowing you to re-establish a safe and fast route for the locomotives. Each rotation costs $25, however, and being a rich tycoon Montgomery will only part with the bare minimum of cash.

Some of these routes also include sending the train through the yard to hook up a goods cart, coal truck or whatever else you might require, routing them past a pickup point to load such goods, and then getting them to their destination. You're given a few minutes to get the tracks in order before the train departs, but more often than not you'll find yourself feverishly pounding spikes just yards ahead of the unstoppable locomotive.

With plenty of wonderfully imaginative levels to go at, Tricky Tracks makes for one of the most inventive and addictive puzzle games to hit the mobile platform in a long time. Detailed and functional graphics, along with great in-game instructions and an endearingly jovial attitude, ensures Tricky Tracks will soon become an essential mobile classic.