Developed by Pyramid Games S.A. and published by Ultimate Games S.A., Rover Mechanic Simulator is a simulator that allows you to live your life as a rover mechanic on Mars. As you are the only rover mechanic on Mars, you need to make sure that all rovers on Mars are working in their top-notch condition. It is a unique take on the normal car mechanic sim genre, and we dig into the game to see how much fun it is. This is our review of the PS4 version of Rover Mechanic Simulator in which we 3d print some parts and fix robots on Mars.
Your main task in Rover Mechanic Simulator is a three-step process. You have three game modes Disassembly Mode, Analysis Mode, and Assembly Mode. These three modes play a critical role in the repair process of every rover that rolls into your workshop. After reading your tasks, you will begin by disassembling your rover. For this, you will enter the Disassembly Mode, and then you will move on to the parts that require fixing. Different mini-games come into play here as you will unscrew screws and remove them bit by bit to access the main part that needs changing.
This is very relaxing, and the game does not push you with time limits and other stress-inducing tactics either. You can take your sweet time working on the rovers and this is one of the best aspects of the game. After you have disassembled parts, you will need to analyze the rover to see which parts need repairs and which parts need to be replaced. Once you have done the repairs and replaced the worn-out parts, your next phase is finally the Assembly phase during which you put back together everything that you have taken out of the rover. For your ease, everything that you take out of the rover goes into your warehouse which acts as your inventory of all of the parts that you currently have.
While you might think that living on Mars, you will have issues with procuring new parts and fixing others, but you will be glad to know that your facility is a top-notch facility, and it comes with everything that you need to fix rovers on a different planet. For this purpose, you will find various advanced machines in your workshop such as a fully-functioning 3D printer, a workbench, a PCB table for all your electronic circuit repairs, a crusher for recycling used parts, and finally the ECU Configurator that allows you to configure the rovers once they have been repaired to see if they are fully functioning with the new parts or not.
The parts shop has been replaced with a handy 3D printer since obviously there is no other shop on Mars, and you cannot expect DHL to drop your new parts. Every broken part or equipment can be 3D printed right in your workshop. You will need to dish out cash for 3D printing and each part takes some time depending on their complexity but once done, they will be available to you right away. You can pick them up and install them in the rover like any other part. Extra parts and new 3d-printed parts that you take out of the rovers are stored in your inventory.
For discarding older parts, you now have a Crusher where you can crush them and if you can scavenge anything out of the old parts, it will be added to your inventory instead. While this is somewhat similar to the normal sims, having these fancy new machines and terms for buying new parts and selling old ones is certainly a good change and makes you feel like you are in a futuristic setting which you actually are in the game. Since the new machines are heavily dependent on computers and wires, you now have your very own PCB table and ECU configurator to make sure that all circuitry is working fine as well along with the physical bits.
The game actually offers you three diverse professions to excel in as well. While they are skill trees, the game calls them professions and depending on your mood and playstyle, you can either mix and match or keep investing in a single tree to master that particular profession. These three professions include Analyst, Economist, and Technician. If you love getting your hands dirty and prefer more DIY tasks, you can go for Technician however if you prefer quick analysis of the bots, you can choose the Analyst. Finally, if you want better money management in the game and make sure that you are getting a decent amount of all the time you invest, you can go for Economist.
Each of these skills costs Skill Points that you earn every time you level up in the game. Your jobs are marked as quests in the game and every time you complete a quest, you earn both reputation and money. The more jobs you complete, the more you level up, your reputation goes up and the more complex tasks you start to get including tasks that contain Premium tasks. These are additional complex tasks in quests that require more time and effort, but they pay really well and boost your reputation up for more Skill Points. If you are not satisfied with your current build, you can refresh your character and assign the earned skill points to new slots as well. This keeps your options open and if you are not happy with your current build, you can change them later to have a new set of skills to try out new things.
For just a Rover simulation game, Rover Mechanic Simulation offers plenty of content to keep you busy for hours and hours however there is one problem in it that is common for all simulators and that is long-term playability. While you will really enjoy your earlier hours with the game and tinkering with different rovers inspired by real-world rovers built by humans, a time will come when the quests start appearing to be repetitive and pretty much the same deal. This is the problem with all simulators, and it is very hard to keep sims entertaining for longer periods of time.
The developer has given plenty of content in the game and has even added retro games like Space Invaders that you can play on your console where you operate your crane but eventually, all of this starts to look repetitive. Apart from this, the game also does not look like a new-gen title and visually, the game is weak. The overall gameplay is fine, but the camera controls are clunky. I would have preferred if the game offered a free-view option where you could freely inspect all bits of the rover but sadly it gets locked to certain parts, and you have to deselect and select another part to move it around. These annoyances apart, overall Rover Mechanic Simulator is a fun game and one that can keep you busy for hours.
Final Verdict:
While Rover Mechanic Simulator is an interesting take on the whole ‘mechanic simulator’ genre, it brings the same woes of other similar titles with it as well. The game is really fun for the first few hours but then the game tends to become tedious and repetitive as you complete similar jobs over and over again without much progress or change in the game. It is a fun new take on the concept and anyone who has a fancy for living on Mars or is just interested in different rovers that we’ve sent in space would really enjoy this sim. If you love simulator titles or mechanic games where you open up machinery, analyze them and fix them, you will love playing Rover Mechanic Simulator. Must-buy for fans of mechanic simulators.
Final Score: 7.5/10
