I once baked a really awesome Oreo cake. It took a whole afternoon of some serious baking, and I even pulled in a couple of friends to help me do it. Going through each step, I feverishly awaited the moment when I could sink my teeth into the decadent and sinful combination of chocolate in chocolate, topped with chocolate, filled with chocolate and served with a side of chocolate.

It ended up being a huge mess.

Looking back, the whole thing was doomed from the start. The idea was there, and it was a really good one; but I now realize that I was, perhaps, a little ambitious. While most amateur bakers (that is to say, people who don't bake) would first try making a pretty standard chocolate cake – a simple task in itself, which yields a treat that is as good as any other that contains Satan's sinful ingredient – I wouldn't settle for anything less than two layers, cream filling and rich icing. And that's not even counting the caramel on top, the Oreo cookie base, and Oreo cookie halves for further decoration.

My problem was that I didn't know when to stop. And instead of making a delicious cake, I ended up with a goopy, chocolatey mess that was too rich for anyone's stomach lining to handle. It also didn't help that I opened the oven half-way through baking. Rule number 1: NEVER open the oven until the baking time is up.

Now you may be wondering how this is relevant to World Train Royale: I assure you, WTR is this cake.

WTR is a game that has many good ideas that work when you imagine the end result, but overwhelm you when you actually get stuck into it. Like my ill-fated yet delicious monstrosity, it feels like the developers were trying to do too much in one package and ended up with a confusing, frantic and, well, generally un-fun game.

The premise is pretty simple: deliver resources, get paid. To gather said resources, you play 'match-three' (a la Puzzle Quest and the like) and load them onto your train. The train can be upgraded (or downgraded) at a cost to suit your current needs, with each train engine being faster (but able to carry fewer carts) or slower (but able to carry more carts), and each cart being able to carry more or less of specific types of resources (liquids, lumber/rocks, etc). Oh, and there's a time limit, but at this point, that's a good thing. As you progress, the local map opens up with a few towns you can deliver to, with each town wanting specific resources and paying more for them.

This works. This works really, really well. Because of the time limit, you have to plan your trips pretty damn well. Hooking up stone carts to the fast train means you can take 2 full carts of stone to the town farthest away in the same time it would take you to deliver 3 full carts of oil to a closer town in the slower train – for more money. That's the idea. And it works.