Bridge Constructor Review

Putting you straight into the role of a bridge architect and engineer, ‘Bridge Constructor’ allows you to build any bridge that you have the imagination to create in order to get traffic from A to B. Enduring large canyons, cityscapes and rapid rivers, you’ll put your unqualified mind to the test using complex physics, accurate materials and a healthy dose of ingenuity. Whilst sending copious amounts of cars and trucks over the edge, to success or failure, that’s down to you.

At the start of the game the tutorial ‘mentor’ helps the player come to terms with the rudimentary bridge making skills that you’ll need to get through the game; uses of the different materials that are to hand and a quick explanation of how basic bridge physics work (stick to triangles). The tutorial also pops up frequently throughout the game to give helpful hints and tips when faced with a new type of challenge or more difficult bridge structure that is needed to further the game.

The main aspect of this game is obviously the physics engine, without it the game ceases to be successful. Thankfully, the physics rarely falter and always react in the way intended. The recurring destruction of a poorly built bridge is greatly enjoyable to watch but a successful bridge makes you want to scream in joy after the nth time of trying a new structure. Especially in the later levels, the challenges tend to appear impossible, though with a great deal of thinking and a lot of trial and error even the last group of levels are privy to success.

‘Bridge Constructor’ is an easy enough game, and enjoyable in a magnitude of different ways. On its surface it’s a different type of game than that of the masses of games that are focused on RPG or shooter elements of gameplay. On a more grounded level, this construction game is a lot simpler. A great aspect of this game is that there’s no rush to complete it, the only limits to completion are the way you think. Based in logic, the answers to this game can’t be solved with as many guns as you can carry or levelling your character in a specific way to determine the future outcome of the game, instead you have to think, there are no skill trees, no enemies to get through. All there is, are the materials you need to build a bridge.

The game itself has varying levels of difficulty, something that you wouldn’t expect from such a game. On each level there are three different difficulties; Cars, Trucks and Tank Trucks. Cars, being the lightest and therefore easiest to traverse bridges come first. Then the heavier Trucks, adding more weight on to the bridges tests your creations to see if they’re viable as working structures. If your bridges pass: then brilliant onto the next! If not, then hey, at least you’ll get to watch it burn before you try again. The third challenge for each level, is unlocked later in the game; the Tank Trucks. With a whole hell of a lot more junk in the trunk, the Tank Truck, creates another level of bridge safety. Whilst having to think in a different way to when you were building bridges for the cars or truck, this proves to be another aspect to what makes this game difficult and different. Obviously, as opposed to this, following the usual level based game system, the game proceeds to get harder as you progress along the islands in attempt to provide bridges to every corner of ‘Camatuga’.

Building bridges are all well and good, but without a good atmosphere to create them in then really, what’s the point? Luckily, the game presents itself in a very bright and simplified way. The orange and yellow colour tones that are throughout the game helps focus the player in a way that they’re only focused on the main aspect of the game, without any loud or over animated backgrounds that could distract the player. The different materials are pinpointed by colour coded dots that make it easier for the player to know where to place stone or steel instead of wood, just in case the stress of constructing is too much.

Bridge Constructor doesn’t fall short on many levels and based on the type of game that it is, it’s an obvious but unavoidable flaw that this game is reasonably slow-paced. But that doesn’t detract from the actual game, it just doesn’t make it the most exciting game to play. Just because it doesn’t have the showmanship or budget of any ‘Triple A’ game of today’s charts, doesn’t mean that it stops being a good game. The only negative that is apparent in the game are it’s overly long loading times, for a game that is so small and compact there should be no reason that it takes so long to load a small sandbox.

Although there isn’t much to Bridge Constructor, the positive points vastly outweigh the negative. Bridge Constructor is fun, bright, intricate and informative. It guides the player through the game but doesn’t pander to them. Although the content is repetitive, it is what it is. ‘Bridge Constructor’ is not a game that you’d play unless you really wanted to. It has a very specific target audience and to these people it gives them a great chance to push their imaginations into new ways of thinking. Positives aside, the game has long loading times and its slow pace is the only two negatives that can be seen after playing through the whole game. Enjoyable but unique, are you talented enough to build bridges?

REVIEW CODE: A FREE Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.