Densha de Go! Tokubetsu-hen: Fukkatsu Shouwa no Yamatesen

Hands up how many of you can think of a relaxing video game? Right so that's...not a lot. Well here's one. Densha de Go! Tokubetsu-hen: Fukkatsu Shouwa no Yamatesen. This might just be the longest name in video game history, so I'm just going to call it Densha de go DS!

Densha de go is a train driving simulator in which you have to do all manner of exciting things like stop at stations, slow down for speed limits and...er... did I say stop at stations? You'd think it'd be boring but it's far from it. Boring games are the most fun. Take The Sim's for example, who'd have thought a game where you wash dishes, fix broken sinks and empty the bin could be fun, but it is! Densha DS follows the proven video game design formula of sounds boring = turns out to be fun.

In this version of Densha de go you get to ferry passengers from one station to the next on Tokyo's busy Yamanote line which is now 100 years old, and to mark this moment Taito's released a new Densha de go game which is the second game to follow after the supposed swan song of the series Densha De Go Final which was released on the PS2 in 2004.

The game has been split into two time periods the shouwa period and the present day. You get to drive about 3 trains from the showa period and 3 trains in the modern period. Keep an eye out for Tokyo tower being constructed when you're in the showa period and the Shinkansen pulling out when your in the modern day. Unfortunately though you can't drive the Shinkansen and there are a lot more cool looking trains which you'll see flying past you which you can't drive in the game. To the Japanese rail fan purist this might be fine (since the Shinkansen doesn't run on the Yamanote loop) but to gamers who want value for money this might be a bit disappointing. As I mentioned earlier you can only drive on the Yamanote loop line, while in other Densha games like Final you got to drive the Chuo, Osaka loop and Tokaido lines and you also got to drive a lot more trains! But It's not really fair to compare this game with Final. Final on the PS2 was on DVD, and DVD's can hold a lot more data than Flash cards and on that note I suppose I'll let Taito off the hook. The game does look good for a DS game, every thing from the trains to the scenery has been rendered fully in 3D and the game runs smoothly with no slow down when you're going flat out. It sounds good to. Trains whoosh by,doors clunk when they close and the conductor informs passengers of the next approaching station(s), (sometimes in English) and there's the ever present hypnotic sound of 'du-du-du-du...du-du-du-du' that only trains can make.

Densha DS is a lot more forgiving than it's predecessors. It's no longer game over if you pull into a station too quick and go 10 meters over the stopping line. Gone are the 5 or 10 little human shapes in the right hand corner which vanished when you made a mistake like set off when the doors where open. Instead you start the game with 30... things, (I can't read Japanese so I can't translate the Kanji!) Each time you make a mistake like go one metre over the line or you are one second late into the station or you break the speed limit you lose some...thing's and if this happens too often it's game over.

To control the train you can either use the stylus to slide the power and brake levers up and down or press a series of arrows marked 'speed up' or 'speed down' on the bottom screen while you enjoy the drivers window view on the top screen. The touch controls work perfectly and don't ever feel fiddly and the DS proves an ideal platform for the series with it's touch screen controls, open your DS to 90 degrees to get a more realistic feel.

The game it self is fairly friendly, the menus may need some trial and error to navigate but the actual business of train driving is pretty fool proof, as all you have to read is numbers such as speed limits, time limits and distances in meters to the next station. Pulling into a station at the right speed is easy to learn but difficult to master but when you glide in bang on time you'll be punching the air with delight.

All in all Densha De Go DS is a relaxing, addictive little game to play if you're fed up of being a space marine, crashing expensive cars or decapitating endless zombies.
It's really whetted my appetite for more train driving antics, since Final wasn't final and the touch screen controls work so well, here's hoping we see a Densha de go game on the forthcoming 3DS.