The minimalist and extremely beautiful design of Mini Metro is one of the selling points of this strategic game.
To play, you must first select a gamemode and then a place, like New York City.
The game starts out simple — you use a “line” and connect one point on the map to another. But it quickly becomes more complicated as more points appear. You must use other lines (which each have a lovely color) to start new paths and add trains and carriages to existing paths when they become busy.
About 5-10 minutes in, my screen looked like this:
Off to a good start. (Click to enlarge image)
In about another 10 minutes, my screen looked like this:
The game had now become quick-paced and very busy. (Click to enlarge image)
Also in the second screenshot, you can notice the little icons next to the points. Those are the “people” that are waiting to go to that point. This has greatly increased from the previous screenshot.
Also notice the number at the top right corner. In the first screenshot it reads “21”. In the second, it reads “47”. That is the average number of people that you have transported in a day. By the time I finished that level, it was at 63 people.
The Bottom Line:
This game is a great one to play if you are bored or need a break from something. Putting order into the traffic system gives a feeling of pride and the whole game is a lot of fun. Another thing is that the design of the game was one of the main reasons I decided to pick it up and give it a go.
Rating:
★★★★★
See Also:
Something interesting about this game is how similar it is the to New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual and the subway signs based off of it. That is a book of standards for the signage in the New York City subways that was designed in 1970.
Here is a picture from the manual:
Picture 63 of 182 from the New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual (Click to enlarge image)
You can view all of the pages here: http://thestandardsmanual.com/
Now look at one of the real subway signs:
A New York City subway sign. Photo: nyhabitat.com (Click to enlarge image)
Ben's Reviews 