Traffic jams are the worst, and yet no one has managed to come up with a solution for this recurring problem. Well, at least in the real world. If we make the jump to video games, Mini Motorways just might be onto something, in that it lets you draw roads, upgrading and changing them to ensure traffic will always flow as smoothly as possible. Until it doesn’t.
See, while the cities in Mini Motorways are based on real-world locales, like Tokyo, Los Angeles, Dubai, and Mexico City, the puzzle aspect of each is anything but a simple never-changing one-and-done affair as over time, they’ll all grow and change. I suspect this will help ensure that there’ll always be something to do, a road to optimize, something to upgrade, rather than, you know, sitting around doing nothing as cars just drive by, not a care in the world.
Redesign your city to keep the traffic flowing, and carefully manage upgrades to meet the changing demands. How long can you keep the cities of the world moving?
Of course, since plain roads will only get you so far, a fair amount of upgrades have been made available: motorways, tunnels, bridges, highways, and roundabouts should all help make things ever so slightly easier for aspiring traffic managers. Then, once you feel like you’ve gotten the hang of things, a slew of challenges awaits – daily and weekly – with “rules-altering sets of map modifiers” to truly test your ability to adapt, optimize, and above all else, keep a cool head when gridlock after gridlock pops up on the map. A simplistic, colourful, easy-to-read map, which in no small way helps make Mini Motorways approachable for players at just about any skill level.
Mini Motorways is available on Steam ($9.99) and Apple Arcade. Switch? Q1 2022.