Review Insights · App Store
Train Station 3: Rail Tycoon
Pixel Federation Games · 6,577 ratings · ★ 4.6
4.6
★★★★★
6,577 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 42 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"game"
24 negative reviews mention this · 57% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Pay to play. Very expensive to play this battery killing game" - Kpmmmmmm
2
"play"
11 negative reviews mention this · 26% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Pay to play. Very expensive to play this battery killing game" - Kpmmmmmm
3
"money"
10 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Disappointed. Lots of ads, and you will need to spend real money to progress beyond the first couple “years.”" - Weio752
4
"spend"
7 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Disappointed. Lots of ads, and you will need to spend real money to progress beyond the first couple “years.”" - Weio752
5
"through"
5 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "All clickbait.. no game. The game is one of those that holds your hand the whole way through. Click this, gather than the. Shows you the graphics,of the thing it just,told you to do. No actual game involved. Might as well be a movie, at least then I wouldn’t have…" - Jimmy1640
6
"graphics"
5 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "All clickbait.. no game. The game is one of those that holds your hand the whole way through. Click this, gather than the. Shows you the graphics,of the thing it just,told you to do. No actual game involved. Might as well be a movie, at least then I wouldn’t have…" - Jimmy1640
7
"stuck"
5 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Fun…to a point. Stuck in 1959 with nowhere to go, no jobs to do, only passengers to transport. I still have THOUSANDS of passengers to transport from Stockholm before I get to move to 1960. The reason? Because you only get a few passengers an hour unles…" - My2016V
8
"long"
5 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Mac users. TS3, no longer functioning on my Mac,,,,humbug!" - Centurion11tm
9
"waste"
5 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Move along. Wrote a review earlier and suggested this game has potential. I can't find the review to amend so I'm leaving a new one. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME I typically won't spend money for the raciest few weeks to see how a game lays for free, and I…" - ATX BubbaDude
10
"event"
5 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Just uninstalled. Had no jobs from regular play or events. Subsequently was demoted. I am not watching ads if I can’t play. Explain that to your advertisers." - Sunshine Dave
📋 All 42 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Pay to play
Very expensive to play this battery killing game
All clickbait.. no game
The game is one of those that holds your hand the whole way through. Click this, gather than the. Shows you the graphics,of the thing it just,told you to do. No actual game involved. Might as well be a movie, at least then I wouldn’t have to click where it tells me every 4 seconds. Bad all around. I really have no idea where these positive reviews are coming from
Review won’t post
Chernobyl section freezes every time I try to go to a task making it a useless endeavor.
Just uninstalled
Had no jobs from regular play or events. Subsequently was demoted. I am not watching ads if I can’t play. Explain that to your advertisers.
What happened to all my work
Cant restore my saved data since all i did was delete the app out of boredom nah im good Yall something else got me pist
Update ruined the game.
Updated the game and now it kicks you out when trying to watch stupid ads to get your prizes has made it unplayable
Fun…to a point
Stuck in 1959 with nowhere to go, no jobs to do, only passengers to transport. I still have THOUSANDS of passengers to transport from Stockholm before I get to move to 1960. The reason? Because you only get a few passengers an hour unless you pay, pay, pay. No thanks.
Nice game but it’s a money grab
Great graphics. OK to play but if you want any extras, the ads are ridiculous so much so I’m seriously contemplating quitting the game. The ads are entirely too long. 90 and even 2 minutes ads NOPE!
Adds for free game items
1 star. While I do like playing the game, but the developers can’t get a handle on adds freezing the game. Nor can they fix a programing issues with their new surveys that will rotate the game screen on (Mac) laptop or desktop trying to do surveys for gems. Currently the one survey I tried to do is still stuck on “what is your sex?” page. The Trainstation 3 app says it is compatible for Macbook Prolaptop computer and Mac Studio desk top computer. I tend to disagree.
Plus here is what will be said with no improvement to playing the game.
“Thank you for your feedback! We understand how frustrating repetitive ads can be. Not all ads are mandatory, and we’re always looking for ways to improve the ad experience. Your input is greatly appreciated!”
If Trainstation 3 is supposed to work on all these different devices maybe developers need to play on the different devices to see how their game preforms instead of blaming the device.
Plus here is what will be said with no improvement to playing the game.
“Thank you for your feedback! We understand how frustrating repetitive ads can be. Not all ads are mandatory, and we’re always looking for ways to improve the ad experience. Your input is greatly appreciated!”
If Trainstation 3 is supposed to work on all these different devices maybe developers need to play on the different devices to see how their game preforms instead of blaming the device.
Русский язык
В описании заявлена поддержка русского языка. В игре его нет.
Move along
Wrote a review earlier and suggested this game has potential. I can't find the review to amend so I'm leaving a new one.
DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME
I typically won't spend money for the raciest few weeks to see how a game lays for free, and I'm glad I didn't pay anything. I didn't do "jobs" and "upgrades" in the proper order so I have been sitting here for the last five days with no jobs to do because I'm not paying to upgrade so I can continue.
DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME
I typically won't spend money for the raciest few weeks to see how a game lays for free, and I'm glad I didn't pay anything. I didn't do "jobs" and "upgrades" in the proper order so I have been sitting here for the last five days with no jobs to do because I'm not paying to upgrade so I can continue.
Mandatory event participation
I deleted the app because of this.
$$$$$$
Most expensive game ever downloaded and still have to watch tons of long ads. Enjoyable until you get to the 1950’s, then be ready to empty your back accounts or give up.
Garbage
Another in the long list of “free games” that will not allow you to progress unless you spend real money. You reach a point where you cannot go any further without a significant cash expenditure. An absolute waste of time.
Ads are way too long
You need to shorten the ads to no more than 10 seconds or be able to “x” out of them in 10 seconds and get the rewards for the exposure to the ad. The longer the ad, the less likely people are willing to click on them, especially those awful scam “money making” ads. They’re fake and cheapen your reputation being associated with them.
Pay to play and pay and pay
I really like parts of this game. The graphics are nice and I was enjoying seeing things unfold. Unfortunately by the time I got into the 1940s, it’s pretty much impossible to advance without spending money. I have no tasks left to complete except heavy hauls and it would take a week or more to get enough in-game money to buy one new train. Or I could spend $20. But I did this to get through the 1930s. I’m not willing to keep spending this kind of money to advance. I am happy to buy a good game to own the game with no ads, etc. But this game could easily cost me upwards of $100 and it’s just not worth that.
Issue
Great game before it started turning off and shutting down, unable to play it at all. I wish they’d get this thing fixed. I have deleted it and reinstalled it. Turned the graphics down low. Try to reach out to the programmers no response.
Disappointed
Doesn’t hold a candle to TS2, too much time spent reading corny stories. Much preferred TS2 with different countries etc, probably go back and start over there
Need an option to skip stories
Need an option to skip stories
Fun but glitchy and crashes
Fun game but is very glitchy. Game constantly crashes. When it does run properly the game is fun but your fuel will run out quickly and take a long time to restore.
Fun at first
The game started out great, but having all my event jobs require the event trains just sucked the joy right out of it. It also keeps balancing so no matter how hard you grind you still don’t get anywhere. If the developers don’t fix it soon I’m going to delete it
Good visuals but not worth the effort
Just a micro transaction game designed to make you watch adds and spend money.
You tell a train to go to a location and then wait for it to return
You burn through fuel so fast then wait for an hour+ to do more.
Won’t play again.
You tell a train to go to a location and then wait for it to return
You burn through fuel so fast then wait for an hour+ to do more.
Won’t play again.
Great graphics. Lousy sim
Avoid. Digital fentanyl. You can’t play this without spending hundreds of actual dollars in In-app purchases.
The old Sid Meier Tycoon games were far better simulations.
In this digital crack ripoff, there are no decisions. The progression is tightly scripted and absurd: serving customers in Texas from a hub in Pennsylvania. All is designed to get you to spend increasing amounts of real money to keep playing.
App developers keep pushing the lie it’s possible to play without in app purchases. No if is not. Several times the app stalled at a point in the storyline. Could not continue playing until making expensive “special offer” purchases and lots of “gems”.
The old Sid Meier Tycoon games were far better simulations.
In this digital crack ripoff, there are no decisions. The progression is tightly scripted and absurd: serving customers in Texas from a hub in Pennsylvania. All is designed to get you to spend increasing amounts of real money to keep playing.
App developers keep pushing the lie it’s possible to play without in app purchases. No if is not. Several times the app stalled at a point in the storyline. Could not continue playing until making expensive “special offer” purchases and lots of “gems”.
Game is fun but…
Game is fun, now I’m stuck in 1959, with no way to progress because I need to use the only trains with power above 25 for regular supply lines? That is far from Lean. I should put the lower power trains for them, the 8-10 power not my good ones.
Such a waste. Oh the events where only 1 train can deliver goods? Also not Lean.
Sad I even spent money on this.
Such a waste. Oh the events where only 1 train can deliver goods? Also not Lean.
Sad I even spent money on this.
Trash
This new game unfortunately is trash. It has completely stopped functioning - nothing is happening and there is no direction on what to do next it’s like it’s stuck. Oh well it was nice for a minute. Now deleting.
Ads cannot be exited
The ads in this game cannot be exited and force you to close the app which doesn’t give you the bonus for watching them. The game is fine but the ads are not
Ads Station 3
Ads for fuel ads for workers ads for durability ads ads ads
Waste
It becomes a burden to try to work through the process of this app. There are so very many maneuvers to wade through that it is a waste of time and no fun at all. I am delighted to delete it.
Now broken?
The 1.15 update stopped all progress and new tasks - stuck with heavy hauls where it’s not possible to have enough 1940s engines. PLEASE FIX THIS
New event is broken
You build 2 buildings and then that’s it, you are locked out until you spend 1000 event coins.
Free coins 50 per 24 hours.
NO THANKS
Free coins 50 per 24 hours.
NO THANKS
Game is fine, but…
1 Star for having three minute ads, that consist of 30 seconds of looping content. Repeating the same stupid ad six times in a row is inexcusable.
HORRIBLE DO NOT RECCOMEND
I downloaded the game and of course like any other new game there is a tutorial phase. However not even 5 minutes into the game where it wants you to deliver 60 tons of oak wood for a coal mine you are out of stock in oak. It will tell you to go back and get more oak first but the game will NOT allow you to do so. I’ve contacted customer support to get it fixed and nothing. Worst game ever!
Confusing
For the most part, I could collect products. There was not sure way to get customers. Warehouse was full and just stalled. Tried to find a way to get customers, eventually, just sat there doing nothing. Just a waste.
There was a glitch in the game
I contacted technical support multiple times issue was never resolved. I had to quit playing the game after months of plane.
Loved the game but then everything broke
The game it’s amazing and I really enjoy it but the locomotives keep breaking all the time, trying to force you to buy diamonds, to buy “disposable tools” to repair it… Really turned off the whole gaming experience
Mac users
TS3, no longer functioning on my Mac,,,,humbug!
Disappointed
Lots of ads, and you will need to spend real money to progress beyond the first couple “years.”
Tutorial = Boring
I’ve downloaded this game probably four times now just to give it a shot each time I get a little bit further than the tutorial and then I just get bored if there was a way to skip the tutorial and just play the game that would be awesome, but I just cannot get through the boring slow tutorial. It feels like one of those chunky game ads where you have to play and then it tells you to download it.
Last update not stable on my iPad6
I love the game. But since the last update, the game crashes immediately when I open it. I’ve tried to offload some other large apps, but that has not helped yet. I seem to have an enormous amount of data associated with this App compared to other games that I play.
$$$$ Cha Ching
Ok the game is awesome but $30 for an event pass has put a hault to my interest. I draw the line when I feel personally gouged. Seriously 10 -15 $$ would draw a lot more hits and the income would be close to the same and that would = happy players not unhappy players.
Honestly, hate that you can’t just purchase a game
The popups of advertisements for other games is awful I’m going to play a few days then delete it. Awful way to leach money. Just sell the game for a set price and be done. Anything that’s subscription and pay to play gets deleted. Don’t need if.
Title: Why is the 3GS21B still locked? I have 2,340 tokens but can't buy it!
Subject: Technical Issue: Activity Shop Item Locked Despite Sufficient Tokens
Dear TrainStation 3 Support Team,
I am writing to report a potential bug regarding the "Welcome to Springfield" event shop.
As shown in the attached screenshot, I currently have 2,340 Activity Tokens, which is more than enough to purchase the NRE 3GS21B Freight Locomotive (priced at 1,000 tokens). However, the item remains locked with a padlock icon.
I have checked the following but the issue persists:
1. Sufficient Tokens: I have over double the required amount.
2. Interactive Lock: The padlock icon is unresponsive and provides no specific unlock requirements when tapped.
3. Region/Level: I believe I have met the necessary progression requirements for this stage of the event.
Could you please clarify if there is a hidden requirement I missed, or if this is a synchronization error with my account? I would appreciate it if you could look into this and help me unlock the locomotive before the event ends.
Dear TrainStation 3 Support Team,
I am writing to report a potential bug regarding the "Welcome to Springfield" event shop.
As shown in the attached screenshot, I currently have 2,340 Activity Tokens, which is more than enough to purchase the NRE 3GS21B Freight Locomotive (priced at 1,000 tokens). However, the item remains locked with a padlock icon.
I have checked the following but the issue persists:
1. Sufficient Tokens: I have over double the required amount.
2. Interactive Lock: The padlock icon is unresponsive and provides no specific unlock requirements when tapped.
3. Region/Level: I believe I have met the necessary progression requirements for this stage of the event.
Could you please clarify if there is a hidden requirement I missed, or if this is a synchronization error with my account? I would appreciate it if you could look into this and help me unlock the locomotive before the event ends.
It's fun until you can't move on
This game is really fun until they make it impossible to move on in both the temporary and regular campaigns. Proceed with caution.
Sentiment summary
92%
Positive (4-5★)
4%
Neutral (3★)
4%
Negative (1-2★)