Often, I’ll have days where I don’t sleep well. On those days I’ll nap a lot, generally not enjoy everything around me, and the last thing I want to do after a long day with very little sleep and after I’ve had food is to play a game. So, if by some miracle you’ve made a game I enjoy during those times, you’ve probably hit gold. I’ve been playing Mini Motorways quite a lot during my days and tireless nights for about a month now. In the sequel to the wonderfully relaxing and chaotic Mini Metro, you are given control of roads at city hall.

Honestly, after playing for hours and often being frustrated by the random generation of the building placement, I can’t pinpoint why it is that I enjoy Mini Motorways so much. At it is core, you are problem-solving the issue of bottle-necking. You start with a sort of mall and a house connected by a road. The house has a car and people, and a mall/business needs people to function properly. It is very simple, if you ask me. As you can guess, progressively, different malls and houses pop up out of nowhere. They appear in varying colors and each has to make it to said color and back in a timely manner.

It is a bit more complex and I like it. However, often I’ll find that any issue I have with a road being bottle-necked is baked in by random generations. Luck of the draw, it has always been the issue with anything that sits a bit close to that Roguelike loop of repeatable gameplay. Mini Motorways isn’t a game where you play one level for days. I find myself playing in short stints, often just 30-45 minutes at most. Of course, it is not a Roguelike or lite, but it does feature that small “one more run” thing about it.

Once you add in that complexity of the density of several malls and houses in such a small section of the map, it becomes hard to fit in your tricks. I think I need to explain this for the Americans: A roundabout is a thing you drive around and maintain some decent speed, often without the loss of momentum found at a T junction or four-way crossing. A roundabout is a big thing to fit in that tightly confined space. In short, I’ve been swearing profusely at a lot of traffic and sometimes the roads themselves too. Not all of them are as big, but they do bring their own challenges.

I don’t drive and I don’t do city planning in my spare time, so some of this might seem obvious to drivers. However, until last week I still didn’t know the use of a motorway. Traffic lights are a mystery sometimes, more often than not causing backups where I don’t need them. I love a bridge, but I’d rather get a roundabout to try and fix my issues elsewhere before I start expanding. Expansion is something that can’t be stopped, you don’t control it, you simply control where the roads go once everything has developed out of control.

In fact, it was only last Sunday as the Manila weekly challenge was ending that I learned not only the use of motorways, but their most infuriating problem came to life. I had two motorways crossed over each other and over a section of road to one of the malls. Then another mall popped up under the motorways. I was left asking myself, “Why is that demanding so much traffic?” It turns out it wasn’t connected because it appeared under the motorways and I couldn’t see it. Only then did I think to click and hold the US-style highway signs and move the motorway. Which have a fun elasticity to them.

I think that concept, out of the many hours I’ve played Mini Motorways is the most infuriating part. The idea of believing you know enough, only to find that the game could have explained something a little better. I’m not looking to be hand-held through everything to solve the problems and get to the top of the leaderboards in every city, that defeats the purpose. What I would like is something (scenarios or text tutorials) explaining the benefits for each of your options. Some will be obvious, as a bridge is exclusively used to cross water and a tunnel is used to go through mountains.

This most likely makes it sound far more complex than it is in reality, but it isn’t that complex. Then there are the Leaderboards. The “I am better than X amount of people at this one thing” boards are something I genuinely hate, as it brings out my needlessly competitive side. On one of the daily challenges, I ended up coming 3rd before being knocked to 4th, and I truly punched the air in victory over that. The thing is, you are tracked over every level (and the challenges) so I know I am X amount of hundred or thousands of trips behind the leading top ten. The point I am trying to make is, despite knowing I caused a bottleneck somewhere, I don’t think there is enough feedback to continually improve.

As much as it may sound like “I don’t feel like I am improving, therefore I think the game is bad,” that’s not the case. Of course, improvement is coming and I more than enjoy my time with Mini Motorways. I’ve gone as far as to discuss the game when talking about the top games I’ve played this year. I am loving my time with Mini Motorways. Frustrations aside, the simplicity and calming nature of the game mixed with the dark mode, makes it one of my go-to stops before I head to bed some nights. It is challenging enough to have me swear at it and expend energy, but it is therapeutically relaxing enough that it pumps the brakes on the wheels of my brain before bed.

Ultimately, in the time I’ve been able to play Mini Motorways ahead of release, I’ve amassed more time and enjoyment out of it than games I’ve bought during that period. Be it while watching TV or sitting before bed, I always found time for Mini Motorways to put that little bit of wholesome swearing at colorful shapes calmly moving around on the roads I’ve ruined by poor planning. I have likely been creating what are ultimately the world’s most headache-inducing nightmares.

A PC review copy of Mini Motorways was provided by Dinosaur Polo Club for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Mini Motorways

$9.99 USD

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Night-mode.
• Minimalist art-style.
• Simple and calming sound design.

Cons

• A lack of immediate feedback or understanding on the use of some tools.