I spent a few pleasant but troubled days with Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 [official site] just after launch, reporting that it was a great game saddled with significant technical and interface issues. Since that time, the developers have released approximately eight million and twelve patches (not to mention a feverish mea culpa for the game’s launch woes), so it’s time to take it back to the shop and see if it’s safe to drive by now. (more…)

Hello person reading this on the Steam update page for their favourite game! You can only read this paragraph introducing the Steam Charts right now, but I promise if you only click through to the full article you will read insights into this game of the sorts you could never believe! People, it’s the mother-stuffing Steam Charts. (more…)

Consider this piece to be ‘what I somewhat think’, or perhaps a demi-review, if you don’t go in for our larky terminology. I’ve spent a day and a half so far with Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 [official site] and, though I really do dig the core experience, enough’s enough. It’s a hot mess (as the developers themselves admit) – enough of a hot mess that I beseech you to steer clear of for the time being. But at the same time, you should absolutely keep a close eye on this singularly captivating and cathartic game, and return once it’s been made road-worthy. That’s true whether you have any interest in or knowledge of cars yourself (I know I don’t).

Here’s my reasoning, on both accounts. (more…)

Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 [official site], the latest iteration of the surprisingly zen-like automobilic repair game, launched last Friday. It brought flashier graphics, raiding junkyards for salvageable car husks, over 1000 parts to wail in confusion at and, it transpires, about as many bugs. I found that, on launch day, the game was in worse shape than a Robin Reliant that had spent the last thirty years abandoned in a tumbledown barn, and sadly had to bail on playing it. I was very much not alone, as the currently ‘Mixed’ Steam reviews reveal – prompting the devs to issue a public apology.

“You have full right to be angry at us, to be disappointed. To make refunds. We deserved it,” they acknowledge in an uncommonly desperate post, but pledge to make the game road-worthy asap. Indeed, they’ve already issued five patches in the four days since launch.

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