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Mini Motorways

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Mini Motorways
Developer(s)Dinosaur Polo Club
Publisher(s)Dinosaur Polo Club
Producer(s)
  • Niamh Fitzgerald
  • Jair McBain
  • Navi Brouwer
Designer(s)
  • Robert Curry
  • Niamh Fitzgerald
Programmer(s)
  • Peter Curry
  • Robert Curry
  • Michael Block
  • Tom O'Brien
  • Tana Tanoi
Artist(s)
  • Poppy de Raad
  • Blake Wood
Composer(s)Disasterpeace
EngineUnity
Platform(s)iOS, macOS, tvOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch
Release
  • Apple Arcade
  • 19 September 2019
  • macOS, Windows
  • 20 July 2021
  • Switch
  • 11 May 2022
Genre(s)Puzzle, strategy
Mode(s)Single-player

Mini Motorways is a puzzle strategy game released by New Zealand studio Dinosaur Polo Club.[1] It is a follow-up to their 2015 video game Mini Metro. The game tasks the player with creating roads to connect coloured houses to buildings.

The game was released on Apple Arcade in September 2019, on Microsoft Windows in July 2021, and on Nintendo Switch in May 2022.[2]

Gameplay

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The game plays similarly to Mini Metro, its predecessor, except it involves following a grid-like system to build road networks instead of rail networks.[3] The game consists of drawing roads to link houses (which contain cars) to buildings of identical colours (red to red, yellow to yellow, etc.).[4][5] New buildings and houses appear randomly as the game progresses.[5] The buildings have pins which the cars of the correct colour must collect. The score is the number of pins that have been collected.[6] If too many pins accumulate on a building (seven for square buildings and ten for circular buildings), a timer is set as a warning. Once a building's timer is full, the game is over.[6] Vehicles reaching the destination will reduce the progression of the timer slightly, and once the number of pins on the building drops back within capacity, the timer will deplete by itself, after which it will split back up into standard pins. Vehicles will prioritize buildings with timers to help deal with them.

After each week, the player may choose between two upgrade choices, which could include special tools.[4] Both choices will always provide extra road tiles, and one choice will always provide a special tool. Sometimes one of the choices will just be road tiles. Special tools include:

  • Bridges and Tunnels - A stretch of road across water or through a mountain, respectively. Only one is used for a stretch of road across an obstacle, no matter how long the road is.[note 1]
  • Traffic Lights - Alternates the flow of traffic.
  • Roundabout - A 3x3 circle of one-way road (no road tiles needed to build) to help improve efficiency of an intersection.
  • Motorway - A singular stretch of road that links point A directly to point B, passing over everything, with the exception of mountains, on its way. The player can shift the Motorway's route (without affecting gameplay) by dragging its shield, allowing the player to see what's going on below it.

If a special tool is deleted, it returns to the inventory once all existing traffic has completed their journey (or takes an alternative route). Traffic lights and the ends of motorways[note 2] can be moved without having to delete and reposition them.

Maps

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As of June 2024, the game features playable maps of 21 cities, with new cities added periodically via game updates:[7]

On April 17, 2023, Dinosaur Polo Club announced a voting contest, where players were able to vote which among the 30 Mini Metro maps would be added to Mini Motorways. The voting ended on May 8, after which the winner was announced to be New York City.

With the release of the "Miniversary Update" in July 2023, and the addition of New York City, London and Mumbai, trains and train stations were included in the game as a crossover from Mini Metro.[8]

Reception

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Mini Motorways received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.[9][10][11] Nathan Reinauer from TouchArcade praised the game's soundtrack and minimalistic art style, both similar to Mini Metro.[4] Pocket Gamer liked the accessibility options, saying that the colourblind mode was a "nice touch", while criticising the frantic pace of gameplay.[16] Eurogamer enjoyed the soundtrack, describing it as "a chilled tumbler of pips and muttering hums and clicks and whistles and honks".[12] VG247 thought that the game was well designed to avoid frustrating the player, "There’s an intricate, impossible-feeling balance to this game; it is fiendishly difficult and filled with tactical nuance... and yet it is also joyously mellow".[18] Rock Paper Shotgun felt the audio design was informative, singling out the car horns as a helpful sound, "Cues like this help alert you to potential problems in your network, but also let you keep a calm head, and I rarely felt stressed or overwhelmed when my cities went awry".[19]

The traffic light upgrade was criticised for its lack of usefulness in gameplay, often making the traffic worse.[4][20]

Notes

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  1. ^ These are two separate upgrades in game.
  2. ^ Before a move is completed and available at the new location, all pre-existing traffic using the original motorway location must finish their journey.

References

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  1. ^ "Homepage - Dinosaur Polo Club". Dinosaur Polo Club. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Mini Motorways gets surprise release on Switch". Nintendo Everything. 11 May 2022. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  3. ^ Gregson-Wood, Stephen (18 September 2019). "Mini Motorways is a management game where you have to create road networks that's available on Apple Arcade". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e Reinauer, Nathan (30 September 2019). "Apple Arcade: 'Mini Motorways' Review – More Micro Management". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  5. ^ a b Donlan, Christian (23 September 2019). "Mini Motorways is the gloriously organic sequel to Mini Metro". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  6. ^ a b Fisher, Carl 'The Disc' (15 December 2019). "Game Review: Mini Motorways (Mobile)". Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Dinosaur Polo Club "Aurora Borealis" update". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  8. ^ Solomon, Ruby (24 July 2023). "The Miniversary Update is Out Now: Available for Mini Metro & Mini Motorways!". Dinosaur Polo Club. Archived from the original on 29 March 2024. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Mini Motorways for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Mini Motorways for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Mini Motorways for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  12. ^ a b Donlan, Christian (22 July 2021). "Mini Motorways review - a city builder that balances precision and beauty". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  13. ^ Shea, Brian (23 May 2022). "Mini Motorways Review". Game Informer. GameStop Corp. Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  14. ^ Reed, Simon (17 July 2022). "Switch Review Round-Up – Mighty Goose, Mini Motorways, Kao the Kangaroo, and more". Gamezebo. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  15. ^ Rairdin, John (16 May 2022). "Mini Motorways (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  16. ^ a b Ng Dellosa, Catherine (10 December 2021). "Mini Motorways review - "Warning: objects may appear less chill than they seem"". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  17. ^ Musgrave, Shaun (17 May 2022). "SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring 'Mini Motorways' & 'Cotton Fantasy', Plus the Latest Releases and Sales". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  18. ^ a b Donaldson, Alex (2 September 2021). "Mini Motorways review: a sublime and brilliant time-waster". VG247. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  19. ^ Castle, Katharine (19 July 2021). "Mini Motorways review: life in the fast lane". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  20. ^ Chaffin, Bryan (24 September 2019). "Apple Arcade: Mini Motorways Is an Addictive Puzzle Game I Can't Stop Playing". The Mac Observer. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
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