Based purely on my love of subways and the game's beautiful design in screenshots, I picked this up on sale recently. I am so glad I did! The game's mechanics are simple, but the gameplay is engaging and addicting. Although the unlocked cities don't represent their real-world versions in regards to population density and transit needs, the various landscapes do make for complex gameplay decisions. Nothing is worse than having a station pop up on an isolated island when you don't have any bridges or tunnels. Also, the use of different train types in different cities makes for dynamic strategies. Design-wise this is a simple and effective, wisely taking inspiration from real-world subway messaging. The London Underground map style and the use of the MTA's ubiquitous Helvetica font are perfect matches for a game which requires simple-yet-clear communication. It's worth it at full price, and there's really no excuse for passing this up when it's on sale.
Although I played most of the classic FPS games of the 90's, and can still find most secrets in Wolfenstein by muscle memory, I never had a chance to play DOOM. A mix of lack of hardware and being focused on non-gaming things for a few years left that hole in my FPS experience. I was back by Quake II, though by then I was suspect about a game that wasn't hardware accelerated, or able to jump or look up. It seemed an important historical milestone, but I didn't think the experience would hold up against games in the late 90's. I was so wrong. A few months back I picked up Ultimate Doom on sale, mostly out of curiosity. I thought I'd install it, and maybe look around a bit. I've spent $1.49 on sillier things. So I played the first map, and the second, and the third... next thing I knew I was at the end of Knee-Deep in the Dead. I'm a notoriously ADHD play-five-games-in-rotation gamer, but all I've wanted to do for the last few weeks is play DOOM. I finally finished the first three episodes, and I'm simultaneously re-playing from the start, and working on Thy Flesh Consumed. And Doom II/Final Doom is on my wishlist, and I'm hoping it goes on sale soon. If you are a modern FPS fan and think the game's dated graphics and sprites will put you off, give it a chance. The game is fast, intense, and sometimes sprawlingly huge, but it is balanced, and pays off the promises it makes. Especially if it's on sale, you can't go wrong. Once you start playing, you'll realize how influential DOOM really is. BTW: I use a third-party app for mapping keys to my game controller (for old games like this), and it made my experience so much more enjoyable.
