Garage Mechanic Simulator – Out Now – $6.99/£6.29) – Ultimate Games SA

As soon as Garage Mechanic Simulator loaded, I felt the most vivid sensation of déjá vu. The interface, background and even the all-too-brief tutorial immediately brought another game – that I’ve recently reviewed, or at least tried my best to review – to mind.

That game was Bus Fix 2019; in my post, I mentioned how I’d really tried hard to work around the obtuse mechanics after the ridiculously unhelpful tutorial. Sadly, though the focus has moved on from buses to cars here, little else has seemingly changed.

There’s still the same unintuitive icons, a lack of on-screen prompts (which would go a long way to solving the control issues) and an in-game economy that uses two completely separate types of money ($ and c) to confusing and frustrating effect.

Though using the touchscreen lends the experience a more tactile – and approachable – edge, considering that there’s less wrestling with the obtuse, unintuitive controls, it does still feel as if most of your time is spent shuffling through bland, uninteresting menus and poking around the innards of cars on a completely featureless background.

It’s a shame, really. A game of this nature could be a pleasant and chilled out diversion, but with the interface issues and lack of meaningful assistance in game, it’s incredibly difficult to recommend. It’s a very frustrating experience, unfortunately – and no lessons from the design of Bus Fix 2019 seem to have been taken on board by the developers.

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Many thanks to Ultimate Games SA for providing the Garage Mechanic Simulator review code.