While TramSim, the original, renamed TramSim Vienna, has evolved over time to become a playable game, now Aerosoft lays TramSim Munich for us, sold for € 34,99. This is a full-fledged game and not a DLC. Too bad, TramSim Vienna was a good starting point. With Munich, the impression of going back is obvious: bug, poorly optimized and unfinished map, random translations when they are present,… In short, a good cocktail which shows that the publisher is starting to take the players for pigeons .
A final version that looks like a beta
The game arrived at the editorial office 2 weeks before release on November 4. The version stamped 0.9 did not bode well. Bug of all kinds, drastic and random drops in framerate on a muscular configuration, missing translation chains (at least for the French version), incomplete tutorials, absent "tram challenge" mode, I preferred to wait for the arrival in Day One of the final version before writing anything. After downloading a 3 GB patch (out of 14 GB of installation), nothing has changed for the user. The map is still just as empty, some parts of the scenery being simply unfinished (buildings represented by simple textured cubes for example), and optimization seems to be an unknown word from the developer ViewApp.
A finish that smells of onion
You just have to place the camera under the ground (yes it is possible, the ground is not even in collision, why bother ...) to see the buildings and the trees sunk in half to give an illusion of having elements of different heights. Except that, in the ground or not, these elements of decoration are calculated and pump the system resources, from where the untimely lags and loadings when one advances a little too fast.
The NPCs are identical to TramSim Vienna, void of expression, repetitive, and wearing the mask 10 cm from the face when Covid mode is activated. New to TramSim Munich, disabled users will ask you to exit the tram access ramp. A maneuver that you will have to learn on your own on the German console of your vehicle. Good luck, it took us almost an hour to figure it out.
Should we talk about keyboard commands? Come on, we're not that close anymore. The commands you must have learned on TramSim Vienna have since been modified slightly, forcing you to reconfigure part of the keyboard. Keyboard that will have to be changed to Qwerty if you want to take advantage of the basic roughly consistent mapping. But, is it normal on a final version, to have, BASIC, key conflicts already present?
In short, while I plague daily by seeing the massive arrival on Steam of games in Early Access, a means that has become the norm for developing a game and covering oneself from criticism, TramSim Munich should clearly have displayed this status or postponed its release date. at 2 or 3 months, in order to deliver a game that will satisfy the players and avoid the many negative reviews that are popping up on Steam.