Transarctica

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The story is based on a post-apocalyptic science fiction saga called "La Compagnie des Glaces" (The Ice Company), written by Georges-Jean Arnaud. You are in command of a huge train engine that you navigate through a world frozen due to a new ice age. The engine can pull hundreds of railway wagons, that can carry items you deal with, including mammoths and slaves, military wagons that house soldiers, or a gigantic gun in rails. You can act as a merchant, visiting various cities to obtain the precious coal needed to fuel your iron behemoth or buy new wagons that will improve your trading and your defense power since sometimes you will be attacked by enemy trains. You will encounter a herd of wild mammoths (free trading goods if you have the slaves or soldiers to catch them, and the livestock wagons to transport them) or nomads who will sell you some rare goods at low prices. During your adventure, you will also seek information about the reasons caused this new ice age. The game is divided into two modes; exploration and combat. In Exploration mode, you roam Eurasia using your various facilities and tools, gathering coal for currency and fuel, visiting towns to trade and enhance the train and searching for clues. In Combat mode, the Viking Union is out for blood and meeting with another train triggers a simple battle mode in real-time.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Amiga OCS version has up to 27 colors on-screen, with some neat drawings. The arctic landscapes look awesome, giving a "cool" atmosphere to the game. To be honest, we would expect a much better effort on the Amiga version as the hardware could handle way more simultaneous colors (the game looks like a direct port from the ST). The sound is good, featuring a nice intro theme, several sampled sound effects and some brief in-game tunes. Transarctica is another well designed game from Silmarils.