Bridge Constructor Stunts Review

When a new game lands on our shelves or our release calendar it is perfectly normal and understandable to expect that game to reinvent the wheel in gameplay terms, however, Bridge Constructor doesn’t seem to feel that this is necessary as what it does is not entirely unique but definitely, the road least traveled.

Lego, Minecraft, and Roblox have all cashed-in throughout the last few years on our fascination with allowing our creative juices to flow by building whatever we like and assessing the results, it stands to reason that now the mobile/flash gaming scene would want a slice of this lucrative pie, enter Bridge Constructor Stunts.

Bridge Constructor Stunts is a puzzle game played from a side-scroller perspective, in Bridge Constructor Stunts you are tasked with ensuring the safe passage of a player-controlled vehicle across the landscape. This is usually achieved by accelerating and decelerating along a placed track however as the game progresses you need to alter and calculate correct trajectory lines in order to get your vehicle to the end of the track, all this while also trying to achieve the best score possible by landing objectives like explosive barrels and performing simple tricks with your vehicle.

Constructing bridges across crevices and completing half-completed bridges is done by entering the ‘blueprint mode’ of Bridge Constructor Stunts. This is displayed as an overlay onto the current game screen, it allows you to see where a strut or support will be placed and whether or not it will connect correctly. Once you have built a bridge or support you are able to test its strength, if it fails the strength test then you are not forced to drive across it, instead, you can edit and change things accordingly until you are completely comfortable attempting the stunt and completing the level.

Upon completing a level, you are able to progress onto the next level however in some instances you are asked to collect additional items in order to unlock the next level, these usually take the form of keys which are placed in increasingly difficult and awkward locations throughout the level.

In a world of screenshots and video captures it is also only natural that a game which focuses entirely on explosions and stunts has a save function built-in, this allows you to view and share your videos of your bridge constructing accomplishments whenever you feel ready to do so, cool right?

As you play through Bridge Constructor Stunts, you are greeted with different environmental backdrops and prop sets, these are coloured and shaded in a manner, not unlike the type we have become accustomed to in the mobile gaming or flash gaming space. They are simple drawings which can be mistaken at times for standard Unity assets and props, this never really bothers you too much as the meat of the game really does lie in the gameplay loop of stunting, building and collecting.

Bridge Constructor Stunts is not special in the audio space, it is comprised of a simple – possibly cloned – soundtrack and the overall sound effects which you are subjected to is standard fare throughout the side-scrolling stunt game space. Every bang, crash, and whallop brings to mind the ‘angry birds’ games and their simplistic audio design.

Bridge Constructor Stunts is not extremely unique, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table of the already saturated stunt game scene aside from the fact that you are asked to customise certain sections of the levels which you have to play through to accomplish success of the levels. This makes you think logically about angles, trajectory, and velocity as you try and reach the end of the level. This approach will stick with you for a short while after you finish Bridge Constructor Stunts but will slowly fade into the non-space of forgettable games as you pick up your next game and offer no second thoughts to the Bridge building mechanic which tries so hard to revitalize a dying breed of games – side-scrolling stunt games.

While I did not have a bad time with Bridge Constructor Stunts, it is increasingly more difficult to think of anything positive to say about a console release which should so obviously have been a mobile release. With its simple art design, lack of narrative and overall repetitive gaming loop, it is ostensibly a mobile game which has been ported to console for nothing more than a quick grab at a cheap buck and while not a terrible game, Bridge Constructor Stunts really doesn’t deserve the space on your hard drive, not when games like Crossing Souls and One More Dungeon exist in the same indie space and are much more deserving of your time, patience and money.

While not a bad game for puzzle game lovers, combining simple graphics and audio with an infuriating gameplay loop Bridge Constructor Stunts feels like a mobile game which has been forced without permission onto the console. it’s not one you are going to be raving about to your friends and is a largely forgettable affair, time would be spent better elsewhere if you could help it.

REVIEW CODE: A PS4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.