Overview

This review will focus on the similarities and differences between two very similarly-themed and similarly-played games, Linie 1 / Streetcar and Metro. I traded away Metro many moons ago as it didn't hold enough interest for me, but I recently picked up Linie 1 and have been enjoying it immensely. That seemed like basis enough for a review comparing the two and my impressions of them.

Each game supports anywhere from just 2 players up to as many as 5 (Linie 1) or 6 (Metro). (There doesn't seem to be any real reason that you couldn't play Linie 1 with 6, however, as all the requisite parts / mechanics are there; you'd just have to steal the 6th player's starting hand from the draw pile.) Similarly, each game is about constructing a streetcar / subway rail system through clever tile play and then running your streetcars / subway trains along the track.

In Linie 1, you will actively run your streetcar along the track, whereas in Metro the cars really serve only as ownership markers (though I used to play the game moving them along the tracks as we built them to help visualize our progress). In Linie 1, your goal is to connect your two terminals while passing a number of destinations on the way, whereas in Metro, your goal is to make the longest track possible starting from each of your terminals and hopefully ending in the crowded center terminals.

Gameplay

The chief gameplay differences between Linie 1 and Metro relate to your objective and your options. As I just mentioned above, your goal in Linie 1 is more narrowly defined than in Metro. In Linie 1, you must connect the two terminals that match your [secretly] assigned streetcar's color and number, whereas in Metro, you can build anywhere and your tracks will just naturally fill themselves in. Similarly, in Linie 1, you must pass by each of your [again, secretly] assigned destinations en route to your ending terminal, whereas in Metro, you have no clear objective to build towards except the possibility of bonus points for reaching the center terminals.

I find the more clearly defined game objectives of Linie 1 to be much more fun and provide a more fulfilling game experience. Metro is simply about maximizing points through track length, with no point or purpose other than the bonus for reaching the center (I actually got so frustrated with this that I tried to provide some direction to the game through some variants that never really worked out quite right). It's also easier for players new to the game to work out what they should do. In Metro, if you're not familiar with the strategies of the game, you'll just be playing semi-randomly. In Linie 1, you can see where you need to go and at least feel that you're making an informed decision when you play your track tiles. Lastly, it's more satisfying to win Linie 1 as you feel like you actually accomplished something tangible, rather than simply racked up the most points.

Aside from the difference in objectives, each game has a slightly different set of gameplay options to present to players. This takes the form of hand-size and action-allowance. In Metro, you are limited to one tile in your hand, which you can either play or substitute for a blindly-drawn tile which you must then play. In Linie 1, however, you always have a hand of five tiles, of which you may play any tile. Further, in Metro, you're only allowed to make one tile play per turn, which makes it hard to get anything going, especially with higher player counts. In Linie 1, you're allowed to play two tiles per turn from your hand. Also, in Linie 1, you can "replace" (really "upgrade" is a better term, given the mechanic) previously placed tiles if they don't suit your needs. All in all, Linie 1 is much less chaotic (and less busy-looking) than Metro, and provides players with a much broader range of play possibilities and planning opportunities.

Victory

This merits a separate section, as the victory conditions are much different between the two games, as well. In Metro, you get points for each of the tracks you [or someone else for you] finish during the game, and the highest score at game's end wins. In Linie 1, however, laying down track is only the first phase of the game. Once you have successfully completed a length of track that passes between your two terminals and all of your assigned destinations, you may reveal your secret color and destinations, at which point victory is only vaguely within sight. After you've completed your track, you must begin to run your streetcar along the track from one terminal to the other, passing the assigned destinations on the way. The other players will now be scrambling to finish their tracks and get their streetcars moving. First player to pass all of their destinations and reach their ending terminal wins.

It should be noted that this movement is handled by a random die roll and that the game can be decided by a lucky roll. There are a few variants to fix this, but they're not as satisfying or fun to me as the original rule. That said, if you don't like luck, you might want to avoid Linie 1 for this reason and choose Metro instead. Nevertheless, it is possible to mitigate the luck in the game. For one thing, you will almost certainly win if your route is significantly shorter than the other players or you start significantly many turns ahead of them. All of your strategic tile play in the earlier phases does pay off. Another more subtle thing to consider is the distance between destination stops on your route. You must stop at every destination you pass, even if you don't need to go to it. This can really slow you down if you've built your track past too many worthless stops. If you space out your stops more and have fewer of them, you can turn the luck in your favor. There is a face on the die that automatically moves your streetcar to the next stop on its track. If you've built cleverly, the few lucky rolls you'll get of this face can really pay off. So, there is a lot of luck to be aware of, but clever play can really harness it in your favor.

Conclusion

For me, there is no comparison. Metro is a dry, thinky, and needlessly clumsy game with no real goal to work towards and not enough control to piece together any sort of real strategy. Nearly all of your decisions in Metro are short-term and tactical in nature, which makes the game seem unnecessarily long as the players will, collectively, have to make 60 of these unconnected, analysis-prone decisions. On the other hand, Linie 1 is a wonderfully fun game with a clear objective for you to work towards, with a nice element of surprise and even some cooperative aspects. The luck element in Linie 1 is slightly higher than in Metro, but it is balanced by a greater opportunity (through the greater amount of gameplay options presented to you) to piece together longer-term strategies to help you overcome bad luck and harness good luck. Planning your route is pretty much worthless in Metro, whereas careful long-term planning is absolutely critical to success in Linie 1. Unless you hate luck and enjoy dry, purely tactical thinking exercises, Linie 1 is the better choice in the streetcar / subway tile-laying genre.