Ever wanted to know what if feels like to run a city´s subway system? Well, wonder no more since Mini Metro is here to fill your subway management needs! Mini Metro is a puzzle strategy game in which you manage the subway system of small but growing city. You must manage lines and stations real time, all while keeping the flow of passengers going to prevent any delays and oversaturation, which can happen when the city grows. Believe me, you cannot stop progress, and it becomes evident as the days pass and you find out that your initial trains are not enough to satisfy the transportation demand.
After a quick tutorial on how to play, you are immediately sent to your first city. You start with three stations, a couple of lines, and some trains. From here, you start to shape your subway network. As time passes by automatically, more stations appear and you must undo some lines and reposition them in a way that they can cover for the demand on new stations. At the end of each in game week, you are granted an additional train. Also, you can choose more resources for your subway. You can choose between more lines or wagons to increase passenger capacity (I tend to alternate between both each week). Stations are represented by shapes like squares, circles, and triangles (in the beginning but as the city grows pentagon and oval shapes can be seen) as well as passengers. Speaking of which, the shapes for which passengers are represented mean the station the want to go to. For example, if you make a line that goes through square and circle stations and on those stations there are no triangle stops, your passengers won’t get in the train and so forth. You need to actively and successfully connect all stations possible with your limited resources.
Mini Metro has different modes that can give you hours of game time. Normal mode, as its name implies, is where you learn the ins and outs of subway management. If the stations get saturated, the city can´t function, and its game over. Infinite mode is as normal but with a twist. While stations can’t get saturated, you must build tracks in a efficient way, since resources are more limited than in normal mode. For those who like a challenge, there’s Extreme mode. Like normal mode, you must prevent station saturation but also need to think ahead of time with how you are building the tracks, since once the track built, you can’t remove it. The tracks are permanent.
There is a lot to do in a game, which boasts simple graphics but addictive and engaging game play. Also, there are a lot of cities in which to play like London, New York, Hong Kong, among many others. Each has a specific requirement to unlock. For example, to unlock Osaka, you need to get to week ten in normal mode, so there is a lot of unlockables to look forward to. Each city is a challenge in itself, so I like the variety given. There is also a daily challenge that you can play against other players in the world.
Control wise, the touch screen is the way to go. Personally, I feel to controls with Joycons are too stiff and not as responsive as the touch screen, so if you are mostly a handheld mode player. you are golden. If not, the controls are responsive enough to play.
Bottom Line: Mini Metro is a really good puzzle game that even with simple visuals can give you hours of fun. I really give it a solid recommendation. With tons of content and daily challenges against players all over the world, Mini Metro is right on track to become a must have on your Nintendo Switch.