If you first hear the name Autocraft you might just think you’re dealing with some kind of Warcraft clone with cars here. Let me reassure you that it doesn’t come even close. In reality this is a fun game for all of those who have ever played with Lego or K’nex. That’s exactly right; Autocraft wants you to use your imagination again.
First and foremost this is a puzzle game, but building stuff is also a very important part of the game. There aren’t any real objectives except to get to the goal. You start off in ‘building’ mode where you have the opportunity to build a vehicle. At first, this will be a car, but a few levels in you’ll be building an airplane and later on even boats and robots, among other things.
Every couple of levels you’ll learn something new to do so it gradually teaches you all the things you can do. These ‘tutorials’ aren’t too deep. As a matter of fact you’ll be doing everything yourself. The game doesn’t limit you to the developers’ ideas, it allows you to experiment with things yourself and maybe you can even find a different way to do things. I do have to admit that this is pretty hard in the beginning, because you only have a limited amount of building blocks available and you’re probably going to need them all just to understand the game’s mechanics. Still, it’s possible.
And I wouldn’t say it’s impossible but it’s damn hard to get to the end of the level without crashing at least once. Building things is a learning process and a fun experience in itself. It’s very satisfying to see a crafted vehicle do exactly what you want it to do.
I haven’t mentioned the controls yet but they’re really easy to use. Just dragging objects onto other objects will attach them to each other. You can smoothly and quickly drag them to other places, too and by keeping Control pressed you can quickly add the same parts to other pieces and by pressing and holding Alt you’ll be able to quickly delete specific parts. Easy as pie.
As I said there aren’t any real objectives but there are optional objectives you can complete like setting a speed record, collecting a star (‘hidden’ somewhere in the level) or by using a specific amount of blocks. Completing these objectives will earn you more (different) blocks that you can use in Sandbox mode where you can express your imagination and creativity more freely.
Sandbox mode is exactly what it sounds like. You select a level and you start building things with the blocks you have acquired. You’ll also be able to load objects from other users into your levels and then just have fun with them. Fans of Lego and K’nex will have an excellent time here, even if interaction with objects is fairly limited.
The game, at the moment of writing, has 37 levels to complete. The first couple of levels are easy and can be seen as an introduction to the game really, but around level 10 things start to get more difficult. You can play this until the end of time, but if you’re going to finish just the levels then you should be able to complete them between 10-20 hours I think. It depends on several factors so as you can understand it’s a very rough estimate.
As far as the graphics are concerned Autocraft looks really beautiful. This is the first game, I think ever, that reminded me of Mario Galaxy. The graphics have the same style with lots of colors and specific shading. It looks beautiful in motion and the screenshots don’t do it justice. Not entirely, at least. One thing I would like to see though, are more animated objects in the background. It feels a little barebones sometimes, but you’re usually probably too busy building anyway.
The music is kind of subtle but what’s there is calm and soothing, and maybe even a bit futuristic. It’s well done. As for the sounds; crashing, using your engines and blocks connecting with each other all sound realistic enough to keep you immersed.
Autocraft is a fun game that’s all about completing puzzles by building vehicles. If you ever played Turbo Dismount but wanted more freedom and creativity then this is the game for you. I had a great time with it and I’m sure many share that sentiment. I know the game isn’t yet complete, but I’m positive the quality will only improve (it’s already very polished). I’m curious to see what the final product will be like. Recommended !
[Rating: 79/100]
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