Incredible Express HD

Most train rides are separated by class - with the richer folk able to keep the riff-raff out of their carriages by stumping up extra cash for their tickets.

No such barriers to entry exist with Incredible Express.

It starts off by welcoming all into its strategic-puzzler locomotive with a friendly difficulty level and generous time limits.

But don’t be fooled - by the end of the game, this locomotive will have picked up enough speed that it’ll have even veteran gamers clinging on for dear life.

As Marie, your task is to deliver goods across a series of towns, helping to ensure production lines get the right produce, and fulfilling orders.

At first this is simple a case of tapping on points in order to direct your single train to the right station(s) - with the ability to give it a boost by tapping on the train itself.

The route the locomotive is taking is shown up as green on the tracks, while any misaligned points light up purple - allowing you to quickly gauge what needs to be done even when things get most hectic.

And things will get hectic.

The first half of the game introduces the concept of track-building (again, all performed through tapping) and re-routing your single train in a steady and slow manner, but come the latter half it’ll test your multi-tasking skills to their limit.

This is partly down to the relentless pace - your locomotive never stops - not even when it hits a misaligned point. Instead, it merely turns around, which ends up being used as a tactic for hitting the tight three-star time limits.

Adding to the action are Farm Frenzy-style animals that drop onto the track and require furious tapping, lest they block your route.

Far from being an annoyance, they end up adding to the action, and are vital producers of the rarer goods.

Add to that multiple trains, a limit on the number of carriages each train can hold, and resources that require air-dropping with money earnt from trading, and it quickly becomes apparent that Incredible Express isn’t quite the easygoing title the presentation initially leads you to believe.

It does look great, though - the 3D graphics and clever maps that zoom out with each successful level in a set make it feel like a little world on your screen, while the menus and cut-scenes have that ‘family cartoon’ look about them that should appeal to players of all ages in.

Despite the increasing difficulty, Incredible Express is also very easy to pick up and play thanks to the control system, although the simple tap interface can be its own worst enemy when it comes to the more complicated track layouts thanks to the occasional mis-interpreted touch.

Even though the controls will occasionally trip you up, once you’ve passed the first few stations you may find it hard to alight from the Incredible Express.