If you had a smartphone in the earlier days of mobile gaming, you’ll no doubt be familiar with the pretty infamous endless runner genre. They took the scene by storm at first, there were loads of ones to choose from, and for a brief window of time they had quite a lot of popularity. Well, until the reality that in the end there’s only so much you can get out of them dawned on many folks, who then moved onto the next mobile genre dujour. 

Since I was one of those people with a smartphone at that time, I remember my kids in particular being hooked on endless runners, though I only dabbled. I do remember MetroLand specifically though, so it was a bit unusual loading it up so many years later now on the Switch. The good news and the bad news both, is that it feels very similar to what I played back then. You’ll be doing your best to run your three lanes, quickly jumping to and fro trying to grab currencies, avoid obstacles, and sometimes trying to get a bit vertical when possible. There are some things you’ll run into that will only stun you, which will let the cops chasing you get close, while others will simply knock you down, ending your run.

For anyone familiar with the genre that will sound like pretty well every endless runner, and that’s where the bad news edge sets in a bit. The clear ties to the mobile arena are also felt in the plentitude of currencies, daily challenges, and loads of things to unlock. Honestly, even though the game at least isn’t trying to constantly get you to buy stuff with real-world currency, it would have been nice for the grind to have been changed into another format as it all feels weird in a paid game. I suppose if you stick with it for some time, unlock the character you like, gear them up how you like, and line them up with the talents and other attributes you prefer it could be nice, but it would take you a pretty long time to get there.

The challenge here is that on the one side you have the fact that this genre really feels best suited to fully mobile play. While you can take your Switch on the go, it isn’t as convenient to have in your pocket to pull out for a run or two and put away, and there’s really no huge advantage in gameplay that the system offers. On the other side there’s the fact that the Switch has the likes of Aerial_Knight's Never Yield, and some others that have endless runner vibes, but play at a much higher level. That sort of leaves Metroland in a spot where it could be nice to have as an option, but it still feels like a bit of gaming junk food more than something satisfying.