I invite you to a little trip back in time! We are in the early 2000s, where titles like GTA III, HALO: Combat Evolved, Final Fantasy Unforgettable games from one to the next, with stunning graphics compared to existing titles of the time, and often innovative gameplay or story. Until 2010, we got titles that relied heavily on ragdoll physics, like Portal 1, GTA IV, or Bad Company 2, where we could actually demolish buildings on the opponent, relatively life-like.
Now let's move forward to 2017. The first version of our current test subject hits PC. Compared to games of the time, it was already horribly underdeveloped, ugly, and weak even for a simulator, with its physics approaching zero.
But don't worry, the rescue team has arrived! The makers of the game decided to celebrate the big game after 7 years and now release it on consoles as well. Of course with no changes.
Basically, there will be no problem with this concept: as we are accustomed to similar simulators, we will run a company, we can hire people, we can buy working tools and machines, we can carry out various contracts by sitting in them. With the money we receive, we can buy new machines and tools, with which we can choose more serious tasks or even money-making plots of land, at most that must be maintained occasionally. The problem lies more in the gameplay and the emptiness of the world. The map will mainly be large, there are several locations, different missions waiting for us everywhere, and perhaps different machines that can be purchased. There is a road network on which we can travel with our off-road vehicle, but practically it is a ghost town: there are no pedestrians, we will meet a maximum of a few vehicles randomly, and they are also driven by an AI that drives under the crawler grapples without any problems. The various areas are interrupted by a loading screen, which even interrupts the self-repeating, license-free “music” from the three radios. I probably don't need to say that the vehicles, including ours, are driven by ghosts, because they didn't bother to put a hard-working character behind the wheel (which is what appears in the press photos, by the way). You have to constantly pay attention to the fuel level, but refueling can not be done at the gas station, but from the menu, as well as changing various grapple heads and so on.
You can manipulate contracts to some extent, but in the absence of physics, this is also often a struggle. It's a bit like Postal 2, but less funny. You can only break what was previously planned. But it doesn't matter how you do it, what's important is that you do it with the pre-selected tool: if the job dictates that you have to have a circular saw and a hammer, you should knock down the wall with that. Even if you already have a hammer drill or perhaps a jack with a wrecking ball, only the hammer will hold up the wall. If the tubes are three components and you cut off both ends, the middle piece will still float there until you see its “edges.” With the bulldozer, if you are given the task of pushing 4 cars or removing 33 bushes, you can push it without any problems. Well, if the cable coil gets in your way, go for it! You can get around just fine, but unfortunately he can't handle it. In most cases, we don't know what to do, and fortunately we have a button called “See action” that selects for us the remaining tasks on the screen.
In fact, everything can be said about this game, but not good. Perhaps the only positive thing is that it is easy to understand even for younger children, it is not too complicated like a simulator. But in 2024, we will find a lot of titles on the board with which we can have more fun, better and in nicer conditions, and not just something that, based on videos and pictures, may look like a fairly good game, but in reality it damn well is.
