mini metro

Review Mini Metro (mobile)

Game: Mini Metro
System: iOS and Android
Developer: Dinosaur Polo Club
Publisher: Dinosaur Polo Club
Age Rating: EU 3+| USA E
Price:  € 5,49| $4.99
Release Date: 24 August 2018
The game was released on the Switch on August 30 2018 for $9.99.

Overall Feeling: I like it a Lot

(Review code kindly provided by Dinosaur Polo Club)

Like many of you, I have to commute to work several times a week. I know, commuting to and from work is something most of you don’t look forward to. Although I actually make the best of it, playing on my handheld gaming device of choice. But taking the metro, bus or train can be a challenge with delays and crowded carriages.

Did you ever wonder though, how the people of the London Tube, or of the New York Subway do it? Getting you on your destination on time. Transporting so many travelers day in day out, and most of the time, without a hitch?

The brainchild of two brothers

In Mini Metro you can give it a shot yourself: build a metro network in well known cities. Make sure people get from A to B in the shortest time possible. And make sure you stations don’t get overcrowded! 

Mini Metro was released on Switch on August 30, but it has been out for some time on other game devices. It was playable on Steam in 2015 and became a mobile game in October 2016. It would have been a good game for the DS too, using the stylus and the touch screen. But the Switch, with its touch screen, is a great home too. 

Mini Metro is the brainchild of brothers Robert and Peter Curry. When he was visiting London, Robert found the planning of the daily route on the underground map very compelling. He suggested making a game about navigating the underground, but Peter felt it was a good idea to do it the other way around in a game: with the player creating the map and plotting the routes on it. That’s how Mini Metro was born. 

Control your own transport system

In its core, the game is based on a simple idea. You start out with three stations, represented by a circle, a square and a triangle. As some of your passengers want to go to a circle, or a square or triangle, you have to connect the stations. Trains then start to travel on the line. Back and forth, or if you’ve made a loop, around and around. And each time a passenger is delivered at the destination, you get one point.

The more stations pop up, the more you have to connect. Sometimes by extending the line, sometimes by re-routing a current line to include the new station. And in time, more odd shaped stations pop up, that have a different shape. They have less passengers to deliver too, but then the stations are scarcer too.

When the in-game clock has registered a week, you get a new locomotive and a choice between two items. Either more tunnels (to pass under the rivers), an extra line, an extra carriage and sometimes a bigger station. And the farther you are along, you will need that, as you lose the game once a station gets overcrowded.

Quick decisions necessary

This may sound fairly simple, and at the beginning, you find yourself mesmerised seeing the trains move and stations pop up. But as the in-game days tick away, your metro lines are getting more popular and pretty soon you will see the dreaded grey circle pop up to indicate that the stations is getting crowded. What to do? Add another locomotive or a new carriage? Re-routing the line? Quick decisions have to be made.

Sometimes there is nothing left to do, and you see your efforts go to waist which can be pretty frustrating. Luckily the game has several modes, Normal and Extreme, but also Endless which won’t let your stations overcrowd and you can play as long as you like. Because Mini Metro isn’t just about winning: watching your network evolve and seeing the trains go to and fro can be very relaxing too. And you don’t have to worry that you’ll wake up your partner: there’s a night mode too. And even a colourblind mode, if you can’t recognise the line-colours. The game has another option too: you can record your gameplay, if you want to analyse where you went wrong in hindsight too.

Getting to be a metro expert

When you start out, you can play in London, Paris, New York and Berlin. Melbourne would be next, but you have to transport 200 passengers in Berlin first. And so on: there’s Hong Kong, Osaka, Stockholm, Saint Petersburg, Montreal and many more. Such fun to play in a city you know: I often visit London, and I could easily recognise the layout of the Thames dividing the city. 

If that’s not enough for you, there’s a daily challenge to design a metro network in one of the cities in a set amount of time. After you are done, it shows you the leaderboard and how you have performed. Humbling for me, I can tell you.

Conclusion

The graphics of Mini Metro are fairly simple and if you have ever seen the London Metro map, the inspiration is clear. The sounds the game makes are more like vibrations and clicks. And in both cases: I wouldn’t have it any other way. This game doesn’t need colourful graphics, fast movement or orchestrated soundtracks. It is just perfect as it is.

The touchscreen on my iPad works perfectly, as I suspect the Switch touchscreen is perfect for it too. The price point on mobile is good. If you like strategy sim games this is a perfect buy. Hypnotic when playing on Endless mode, but good for short play bursts too. I can really recommend it on mobile, so: I like it a Lot!

I like it a lot!

 

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