The Backlog: Mini Metro

Mini Metro has you placing tracks between different train stations that are shown as basic shapes (starts off with squares, circles, and triangles). Each track line has its own color. The goal of the game is building your metro as big as you can. Each of the passengers are also basic shapes, and represent what station they need to get to. If the waiting line at each station gets too big for long enough, you lose the game. Because of this whole game being one big simple gameplay loop, it feels very much like an arcade game rather than a full-fledged puzzle experience that it's marketed as. With the number of passengers you've transported sort of being the high score within each playable map. The maps are real life locations, and are shown by simple visuals. Blue on the screen being rivers, and land usually being just green or brown. There are no roads shown like with real-life navigation software, akin to google maps.

I applaud the developer for making the graphics so minimalistic but understandable. This is a showcase for a well designed layout. There aren’t too many icons shoved in your face, it's very simple and clean.In terms of poorly designed elements, the only one that comes to mind is the instructions. I think it is powerful to have a game that doesn't overload you with tutorials on how to play it, but there's something to be said with no upfront tutorials being shown. Figuring out how to play this game is simply clicking and pulling on symbols until something works. For example, if you guide your mouse to the bottom of the screen you're represented with various colors, which are the railroad tracks, and also other icons that show you if you can build a tunnel under a river. Each usually shows a number that tells you how much of a tool you have left. The longer your game lasts, you are awarded with building tools for your metro. Sometimes it's more underground tunnels, or making one of your station’s capacities bigger. Unfortunately, it does seem randomized. At times I was waiting a while, or never got the upgrade I needed to continue my game. And unless you go to the instructions themselves and look up how to play, it's a bit tough to understand every tool on screen.

There are little clips of information that pop up from time to time but I would have liked it if I had made constant mistakes playing, that Mini Metro would show me brief reminders that would tell me how to play better. I understand this could be annoying for some people, but it would have been welcome because I wanted to get better at the game, but didn’t really know how. The game is really easy if you just want to connect a bunch of railroads together and hopefully they work, but I was constantly wondering if I was actually putting down a railroad line in a good or bad place, I would have just liked a little more guidance.