A recent theme found in many Facebook games is that of trains. From games like Train City and Lucky Train, which are focused solely on trains, to titles like CityVille, which relies on a train system to exchange goods between users, it's clear that developers are happy to release games themed around the railroad. So too was Vivo, Inc. who decided to go back to the wild west with their train-themed Facebook game, appropriately titled Wild West Express.
Led through the game by Railroad Bill, you'll be able to turn a once desolate stretch of railroad, in the middle of the hot desert into a sprawling, bustling western town. The goal of the game is to add "facilities" or businesses to your growing town that will produce goods. Goods are then sent along the railroad to other towns, with every shipment you send out making you more more, and giving you experience points used to level you up.
To see just what makes Wild West Express tick, hop on board and meet us behind the break.
While the concept of simply producing goods and shipping them off down the line sounds simple enough, Wild West Express actually has a fairly complex transportation system. You'll be able to own multiple trains, and you can send trains full of supplies to different towns. Of course, different towns will be different distances away from your own town, so the farther away a town is, the longer your train will take to travel and return.
You'l also need to buy specific kinds of cars for your trains to hold the various goods you produce. For instance, your starting Farmhouse will produce Grain, and you'll need to purchase a Grain Hopper for your train in order to transport the grain safely to a neighboring town.
Other businesses include Horse Stables, Ranches, Bakeries, Butcher Shops, Post Offices, and the like - things that you'd expect to see in any town of the old west. Depending on the item, you'll produce different goods. The Horse Stable produces Horses, obviously, while the Butcher Shop and Bakery produce general food items, as examples. You'll unlock more and more kinds of businesses as you level up in the game.
Wild West Express contains an energy system of sorts, that is instead called your "Water Supply." Being in the middle of the dry desert, you'll need water to grow your crops, power your trains and so on. You'll only have a certain amount of water to spend in every play session, with water regenerating slowly over time. You can also purchase water outright for premium currency.
All told, there are 13 different items your town can produce, and 13 different items that you can receive (you can send trains to and from your friends' towns, as well as the CPU controlled towns). As you send different items, and collect your profits successfully, your stock ticker will increase, showing your overall successfulness in the game. This stock ticker serves as a way for the game to compare you to all of the different players on Facebook via an in-game leaderboard.
There is also a light quest system in Wild West Express, that serves to help you become more acquainted with the gameplay by having you purchase specific businesses, collect their goods multiple times, and so on. You'll receive experience point rewards for completing them, so they aren't a waste of time, especially since they are likely tasks you would be completing on your own anyway.
Unfortunately, Wild West Express looks to be one of those titles that forces you to level up a bit too far before unlocking other game features, as you'll need to be at least level 9 to be able to hire a sheriff for your town, giving you the ability to add security to your trains. You can, however, purchase any locked item early for premium currency, which is an expected addition here.
If you've yet to try a train-themed Facebook game, why not hop on board with the other 11,000 players that have already tried this new game?
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