0.0 hours played
Written 10 years ago
Having grown up in the northwest corner of Connecticut, the FL9 is a locomotive that I am in no way a stranger to. Even today, with no active units rostered on revenue duty, I am less than hour away from an FL9 in the east, west, and south. I watched Metro-North run FL9's and F10's wearing colorful paint jobs of McGinnis, "Beach Ball", "Platinum G-String", and their mock-up New York Central "Lightning Stripe" paint. I would spend afternoons around the property at Vanderbilt Mansion and watch the Amtrak units zip up and down the Hudson Line with Empire trains in tow. Even visiting the Danbury Railroad Museum and Naugatuck Railroads I would find them on display and towing visitors happily along.
My favorite memory of the FL9, however, is having the privilige of receiving my first ever cab ride in one. In 2009, just after graduating high school, I spent a day on the Naugatuck Railroad riding the cabs of both FL9 2019, and U23b 2203. 2019 had yet to undergo the cosmetic restoration it received for the Streamliners event in Spencer, and, well, was showing her age. I will never forget the ride though... the sounds, the smells, the heat, the motions, and the views... all burned into my memory. One would imagine that this would be a good thing when running the unit in TS2015, but unfortunately, it is quite the opposite. I say this because of the simple reason that the real thing has ruined the simulation. In no means does this make this DLC bad, per se, but it's left me a little dissapointed. An example would be to take someone who has been fed McDonalds hamburgers all their life, and feed them a real, good, homemade burger with fresh beef. It's just not the same going back to the McDonalds; are their burgers good, sure, I like them, but they just don't have the same taste as the genuinr article; this is the same way that the DTG FL9 just doesn't have the same feeling as the real deal. I understand this is a computer simulation and does incur the rather heavy drawback of not being able to satisfy all of our senses, however, there are some things DTG could've done to make this better...
While I do give this DLC a "Yes" for recommendation, this is simply due to the lack of a "Neutral" or "Meh" button. Below are my reasons why, starting with the bad:
CONS -
- The majority of my negative feelings toward this DLC are sound related. I purchased the unit today whilst at work at the full price of $20 USD (typically I wait for a sale, but like I said, I have emotional attachment to this unit). During the day I'd check up on Facebook and see if there were any complaints, and unsurprisingly, the usual complaint in regards to poor sound quality came up multiple times. What struck me as odd, however, is the complaint being in regards to the unit having recycled engine sounds. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, an EMD 567 sounds like an EMD 567 in whatever it is. Unless you have a very trained ear, the average buff would have a hard time distinguishing this between another F-Unit. It wasn't until I got into the game that I realized that the COMPLETE SOUND SET had been recycled, HORN AND ALL!
In my opinion, the horn is one of the most dissapointing features. In all the screenshots, mounted just above the cab, is the iconic five chimes of the K5LA air horn. What I would like to know is, how is it that the Metro-North P32 has an almost perfect sounding K5LA, especially from head-out view, and yet this has the stock two-chime default F-Unit horn? I honestly would be completely thrilled if DTG replaced the horn and bell with the P32's. On top of that, the bell is much louder than it should be in-cab, and just because the default F-Unit horn has been made louder louder, does not equate it to a K5LA. For those of you who have never heard an FL9-mounted K5LA, please watch this video of an Amtrak unit sporting one... http://youtu.be/bX5FXwBEBes
The engine sounds are the next dissapointment. I don't know if it's because the unit was stuck in electric mode, but the prime mover was far too quiet. Honestly the engine sounds from the UP or PRR F-Unit would work like a charm, as long as they were loud enough. Even the Portland Terminal's E-Unit has better sounds. Here is an example of the real-life unit... http://youtu.be/5gfirXW2Rkk
The sounds are a huge letdown here, and could very easily be fixed. I will be writing an e-mail to DTG in regards to atleast having the hornsound changed out in a patch. It's a shamed that Armstrong Powerhouse does not produce soundsets for US locomotives, as I find they do an excellent job at filling in the gaps DTG tend to leave in regards to sound production.
- The Metro-North Shoreliner III's being recycled feels almost like a cheap shot. For any players like myself, who already own the Metro-North P32 DLC, you'll find that the only thing you paid $20 for was a new locomotive model with old recycled sounds. At the very least, DTG could've replaced the blue band with a red one and add Connecticut Department of Transportation lettering and logos as needed. It is not like they do not have the licensing; the CT DoT badge is located on station signage throughout the NY-NH route, and I would imagine should be included with the MTA license. As much as I would've liked to see the older single-windowed Shoreliner model, I honestly would feel much much better about the money I spent on this DLC package if the cars were just reskinned into CTDoT red. I understand to many that this may be a new item, but at the very least consider the existing customer base for the New Haven Line DLC. Perhaps offer a repaint for free to existing customers?
- The physics don't seem right. The brakes seem far to strong and apply far too quickly, and the unit loads far too quickly when power is applied to the throttle. There's not much more to say about that.
- Lack of scenarios! Only three career scenarios included, two if you count the two-parter as a whole. For $20 for a DLC locomotive pack, I would atleast expect a Locomotive Tutorial to go over the basics of the engine and get my feet wet. This is especially apparant with the lack of a cab signalling tutorial for the FL9. Make sure you RTFM for this one if you're unfamiliar!
PROS -
- The model is beautiful, I look forward to any Marketplace Metro-North repaints that appear. I would highly suggest "Beach Ball" and "Lightning Stripe" schemes.
- The Shoreliner interiors are incredibly well done; I can almost smell the vinyl seats and feel the coach interior heating.
- The cab feels pretty well done, considering this represents an active-revenue unit. I have no complaints there.
-Typically people complain of the units swaying too much, but I can say this is pretty accurate of the actual unit. The 3-axle trailing truck certainly rides rough in real life.
- Conclusion -
I do like this DLC, I really do, and I want to like it more, but it just doesn't feel, complete. It feels almost as if this was pushed out just to keep the masses happy. In my opinion, if this had it's horn and bell replaced with the existing P32's, and the engine sounds tweaked to be the exact same as the existing E/F-Units, along with red-striped Shoreliners... well, this would be perfect. But until DTG addresses these issues, I would hold off on buying this until a patch is released or it goes on sale; unless you're like me and have a particular fondness for this engine...
