New to Steam, having released on 15th April from it’s Early Access, is a great new metro station management game from DMM Games. The PR team were gracious to give me a STATIONflow key some months ago during the Early Access testing.
This game might have been reviewed by a free key, but STATIONflow is not going to get an easy ride. I will rant as much as I want about it and I will talk about it like a £49.99 AAA title that I pay out my pocket for. So sit back with your coffee, coke or beer, take a seat right here and let me tell you that I actually like this game…. with some reservations.
Now this, I have found is a game I could quite possibly play on my Twitch channel, and indeed in the earlier days of the Early Access / Beta there was one or two video’s out there, but it was not quite ready for me to show off…. really. Now we are in full release though, it’s time to take a look.
How to STATIONflow
The format of STATIONflow is quite simple. You have a metro station and you have to develop it. You have to manage it through levels and challenges. You have to manage the lost tourists and the elderly commuters who can’t use stairs. You have to remain profitable and successful. As you work through the tasks, you work your way through an increasing difficult range of station scenarios.
Although there is no campaign, there are a number of different station layouts to play. Among them are the classic map that was used for developing the beta with testers, though to various layouts that are going to test you.
You have to make sure that you satisfy the increasing needs of the passengers, make sure they can get from ticket gate to train, and keep the cash flowing in. You get a grade on a daily basis – it’s a bit like going to school – and how well you do reflects in the amount of bonus cash you get to spend!
There is much to like about this game
What I like about this game is the ease that you can build. Building floors are basically a massive drag and drop operation and you can create massive elaborate layouts. The progression in the normal difficulty is almost there, I like to make things harder for myself by not pausing the game… ever… and that is something that is going to make me lose out.
The way that different types of passengers, and different needs are introduced is on a daily basis. Make the grade at the end of the day and you will get something new to trouble you. If you make a mess of the station though you get the chance to start again as each map is fixed in layout…. no procedural generation here!
I also like the whole animation generation. It is simple, but so, so effective. The fact that each passenger in a group is identical does not come across as “lazy graphics” but actually works quite well to me. The fact that they have a very basic range of animation actions does not matter in a busy metro station either, and actually lets you focus your eye on the issues.
But there is also room for improvement
I am not sure if I am missing something obvious, but there are a few things that I would consider difficult to understand in the game. The problem is, and regular views to my Twitch channel will be able to tell you, I don’t always spot the obvious and so these issues are quite possible just figments of my wonderful imagination.
People are blind to signs?
Now I like to have as much signage as I can. Have a junction? Stick a sign in! At the bottom of a staircase? Stick a sign in. So it might be that I have so many signs that I am confusing the passengers.
A few times though, having placed a signpost in the middle of a concourse at a junction, people just don’t seem to see it. Passengers are looking right at it, thanks to the game giving you some help with the field of view, but they just ignore it and go in a completely crazy direction. The problem then is that they become annoyed and you quickly will have to help them out!
I don’t know whether it is the game not being able to cope with the amount of information, or something I have done though.
Floors can become too busy
Now something that in hindsight I might have to take another look at is the way that some of the maps have been built. Certainly in one of the maps I had great trouble connecting a number of entrances that were possible just a little to close together. This, combined with an angle that they were placed at, it was difficult to connect them both together in close succession, which would be the logical solution in the real world.
What I do have to do again though is check out whether a later unlock in terms of flooring will work better than what I was trying to do with rectangular floor panels.
People demand things… Right… NOW!
I like the way that STATIONFlow introduces new elements at points where you are just getting settled. The problem is that when they introduce something new, for example a drinks machine, as soon as your station re-opens people are demanding a drinks machine. It would be nice if there was that little lag, even half a day, where you have the chance to construct your new toys.
The fact that I play without pausing probably adds to it for me, but when you get demands before you could even have possibly built it…..
I have yet to see the end to STATIONflow though!
I am getting so frustrated with STATIONflow sometimes that I have yet to see an end game. I know that this is because I prefer perfectionism and I find that once I get to level 7 or 8 I get so frustrated with building my perfect tube station that I close out without saving and say “never again!”
I love this frustration though, I am so determined to have a station that is working just the way I want it, that I am abandoning and restarting stations for minor infractions.
If I had not been generously offered a key by the PR team, I would possibly had looked at the Steam page, said “I’m not sure” and moved to the next in the queue. I would have made a big mistake!
STATIONFlow by DMM Games is available now on Steam.