As a child of the 90s, I’m somewhat familiar with Thomas the Tank Engine. However, not to the extent that many others are. While I caught bits and pieces of it on TV, I couldn’t have told you the name of the world in which it’s set, or any of the other characters’ names. Perhaps it’s due to my age, not growing up in the United Kingdom or simply not being all that interested in a show about talking trains. I was never into Transformers either, but loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, The Simpsons and, especially, The X-Files. My toddler and early childhood shows were, on the other hand, Fred Penner, Mr. Dressup and The Raccoons, as well as Under the Umbrella Tree.
When the game, Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor, was announced, I was both surprised and intrigued. I requested a review code, wrote a news post and went on with my day. That was admittedly a mistake on my end, because this game ended up not being up my alley at all.
Developed by Britain’s Dovetail Games, which is a subsidiary of a RailSimulator website, Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor is not the fun, accessible and understanding kids game that I expected it to be. Built using technology, mechanics and assets from the Train Simulator franchise, it’s a train simulator with a child friendly coat of paint. Sure, things are likely dumbed down, but it’s still surprisingly detailed, systems based and inaccessible, not to mention shockingly frustrating.
Set in the world of Sodor, this experience lets you play through different stories relating to Thomas and friends. You’ll first go through a tutorial, which I admittedly failed a couple of times, before tackling these stories, which involve things like dealing with a bully, going fishing and dealing with consequences, and also having to work around nature. These tales feature the colourful talking trains and cars of the show, but the gameplay isn’t as fun, charming or friendly.
Those who really get into this game will find that there’s more to it than just the above. There are shunting challenges, wherein you try to shunt Troublesome Trucks into order in the fewest moves possible; timetables that let you play as a chosen character and run their services at a desired time of day and an exploration mode that allows you to drive or walk around as you please. Hardcore fans of the source material, or train fanatics in general, will appreciate these and get mileage out of them. Unfortunately, though, one popular character (James) is locked behind an add-on that costs $23 Canadian before taxes. From what I’ve heard, the Train Simulator series has many dollars’ worth of DLC, as well.
I went into Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor knowing that I would be driving trains. I assumed that it would be a very dumbed down, child friendly and incredibly forgiving experience given the subject matter. That didn’t end up being the case, though, as this is a pretty proper train sim. It’s a great thing for those who love such detailed and regulated experiences, but I don’t know many children who’d enjoy it. I know that I didn’t.
Since I’m very transparent and honest, I will note that I didn’t finish this title. That was the plan, and I dedicated a block of time to it. However, I played for a while and became more and more frustrated, not to mention bored, and had to stop playing. I know that playing more will not change my opinion. This simply isn’t what I thought it would be, and it’s not my type of experience. It’s too demanding, frustrating and annoying to play.
My biggest problem with this thing wouldn’t exist if there were proper checkpoints, but not once was I provided one. I’d accidentally slow down too late, misread an objective or go a little bit too far one way and be greeted with two options: return to the main menu or restart the tale. That meant restarting the mission from the beginning, complete with lengthy cutscenes that could not be skipped. It eventually got to be too much.
The core gameplay loop found within invokes, of course, driving trains. You’ll open the door, hop inside the locomotive, or engine, if you will, and will then press Y to take over the controls. Then, you’ll use the shoulder buttons to change into forward, or go into reverse, and use the triggers to drive the train. This is done while looking out of the porthole, or using one of several different camera angles that are accessible by holding the right thumb stick and pressing directions on the d-pad. If you press right enough, you’ll stumble upon a free camera, which makes things a tad easier.
The challenges that I faced involved driving from one place to another, backing up, turning a wheel to reposition the train, coupling up with other cars and picking up passengers. These were pretty run of the mill things, but the game’s need for regimented perfection made them frustrating. There’s no margin for error, so if you stop just a little too late or accidentally couple with too much speed, you’re screwed and will have to restart from 10 or maybe even 20 minutes before. There are no checkpoints and it is noticeable.
There was one section early on, where I had to go a ways forward, Wait, then go into reverse and back all the way up to a spinning platform. I was then to couple with a bunch of cars in front of me, but assumed that I needed to spend the platform so that I could couple them from behind. As such, I got out of the train and spun it around (which was cumbersome to do because the wheel kept stopping just before I wanted it to), then got back in and tried to drive. It wouldn’t let me no matter what I did, even when I reset things, so I was forced to restart the whole segment and watch the cutscene again.
The game doesn’t do a great job of explaining its objective markers, or for lack of a better term, the icons that litter of the screen. I garnered that one was to do a speed, and others related to telling me whether to stop or go from a certain point. I tried to follow those, but the moment that I gave up resulted from being told to stop and wait and nothing changing. After waiting, I started to speed up just a little bit and move forward, and was then told that I had passed an obstruction too quickly and had to restart from the beginning. I’m not an angry person, so I won’t say that I was about to punch something, but instead of getting to the point where I wanted to I ended up quitting and playing something that I enjoyed more.
There are NPCs, and they act as passengers or people who tell you what to do. You’ll stop at platforms, let people on and will do so by opening and closing the doors on either side. It’s possible to act like a real train and a real conductor or engineer, but I don’t know if many kids will enjoy that — at least not within the structured missions. These NPCs come in various forms, but they’re all pretty basic and kind of dated looking. Then again, they don’t matter too much.
Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor is supposed to be a kids game, but it doesn’t feel like one outside of its colourful characters, trains with faces on them and the dialogue. It’s too complicated and demanding of perfection to be fun, and I don’t see why it was designed this way given its target audience. That is, unless it was made for people who grew up with the series and love train simulators. Sheldon Cooper would probably love it if he were actually real.
Don’t get me wrong: I respect the simulator world, and I respect those who love trains, be they real, toy or for display. I enjoy riding in them to concerts and sporting events, and am mildly curious about the whole thing. However, I am not someone who enjoys playing such simulators, and was not expecting such an in-depth one disguised as a kids game, even if it’s surely dumbed down some.
Even if it’s dumbed down, it’s far too frustrating. The controls aren’t precise enough, either, so I found myself fighting with them a bit, in order to speed up and slow down properly. The same was true of using switches and wheels to change the trains’ orientation or track settings. This involved moving the joystick from one side to the other, or turning a wheel, but it never felt truly comfortable.
For the most part, this title looks pretty good and does its IP justice. The characters look like they should, as does the world, which is a lot like a typical representation of Britain. There are multiple towns and villages to go through, bogs and fields to go by, bridges to travel under, and dark tunnels to go through, during which your vision is all but blacked out. There are some hitches though, and the NPCs don’t look great.
Ringo Starr does not narrate this game, as you’d expect. However, it is fully voiced by people with British accents. I’m not familiar enough with the show or franchise to say who they are, but they do a fine enough job. I got really sick of hearing the same things over and over, and over, again though.
Oddly enough, there seemed to be no music outside of the menu. The train sound effects were pretty good and realistic, though. Perhaps there wasn’t much music because this is a sim, or because they wanted people to (at least try to) relax.
At the end of the day, this wasn’t a game for me. Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor will appeal to a very specific type of gamer, or a super fan of the show who’s been itching to play as their favourite trains with faces. I’m not one of those people. I fail to understand why a kids game, or kids IP, was made into something so simulated, structured, demanding, unforgiving, and exact, but it is what it is. What it is is something that I did not enjoy playing. I wanted to, and went in with an open mind, but the lack of accessibility, some imprecise controls, a couple of bugs and a complete lack of checkpoints soured my experience.
This review is based on the Xbox Series X version of the game, which we were provided with.