Developer: Weltenbauer
Publisher: Astragon Entertainment
Platform: Switch, Android, iOS
Tested on: Switch
Construction Simulator 4 – Review
Weltenbauer’s beloved Construction Simulator series of sim games is one we’ve taken a look at several times in the past. While the PC version always did a little better in our past reviews, previous console releases were also enjoyable. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case with Construction Simulator 4 on the Switch. The series takes a different direction, with this latest entry being released exclusively on Switch and mobile devices. It’s a bold move, that resulted in one of the worst sim games we’ve ever experienced on Nintendo’s hybrid console. What went wrong here? Let’s dig in and find out.
Story
If you aren’t up to date with the previous Construction Simulator games, you may be asking yourself whether or not you should play those first before tackling Construction Simulator 4. After all, how else are you going to follow the captivating story that has been carefully crafted throughout the previous three games? Well, don’t fret, because just like in the majority of cut-and-dry simulator games, there isn’t a story here to speak of. You’re in charge of a construction company and take on a variety of contracts. That’s it as far as the narrative goes here.
Graphics
Previous iterations of Construction Simulator on the Switch were downgraded from the PC version, but with this new title being exclusive, you’d expect some visual optimization for the platform, right? Unfortunately, that isn’t the case here. Textures are pretty much non-existent, and the game looks dated and blocky, with pop-ins being very common as well. Now, if the visual downgrade was necessary to facilitate a smooth performance for Construction Simulator 4, we’d understand this. However, the game’s graphics performance is downright atrocious. The game can’t keep up a steady frame rate, and stuttering is so prevalent that it might as well be considered a feature.
Sound
While Construction Simulator 4’s audio fares a little better than its visuals, the bar isn’t very high in the first place. The music sounds bland and generic. The ambient sound effects create a calm atmosphere when it comes to the game’s environments and also add some realism to the heavy machinery that you operate. Voice acting is absent, although we wouldn’t expect this to have added a whole lot to the game.
Gameplay
Straight-up simulator games typically deliver exactly what their title promises. Lawn Mowing Simulator? Easy enough to understand. PowerWash Simulator? Sure. Car Detailing Simulator? Also straightforward. Construction Simulator 4 is a different beast though. Sure, you get the gist of the game from the title, but ‘construction’ isn’t a single job. Indeed, what you’re getting here is actually a series of very different ‘jobs’ to tackle. The various jobs typically have you operating heavy machinery like cranes and bulldozers. There are supposedly over 100 different jobs included here. This translates into a game that offers very little in the way of gameplay depth but offers lots of variety instead This is both in terms of tasks and equipment. As a result, Construction Simulator 4 feels a lot more like a sandbox game than other titles in the genre. We’d argue that the lack of depth is actually an advantage too, as a lot of the tedium that is a common pitfall for sim games simply isn’t present here. The gameplay loop is a familiar one: initially, you take on simpler jobs that let you familiarize yourself with the game’s core mechanics. You earn a little money in the process and reinvest this in your construction company so that you can buy new equipment. In turn, this lets you take on more advanced contracts, rinse and repeat.
It all sounds great in theory, but in practice, Construction Simulator 4 leaves a lot to be desired in terms of gameplay. Audiovisual presentation aside, it was always clear that the series’ control scheme was best suited to mouse and keyboard controls. We’re not sure what the mindset was behind steering the series away from this setup, but the full transition to handheld gaming isn’t the smoothest in practice. The controller control scheme feels clunky and awkward. Navigating the various radial menus in particular is a frustrating and unintuitive nightmare, with input lag being the most prevalent issue. If it was just a matter of poor optimization of the control scheme, we’d probably be more forgiving because the core gameplay definitely seems like it has potential. Unfortunately, there’s a lot more that went wrong here: while we didn’t outright experience straight-up game crashes, there were instances where the game froze on us while navigating those dreaded menus. In these instances, Construction Simulator 4 became unresponsive, forcing a restart anyway. We won’t go as far as to say that the game is utterly unplayable, because if you can get past the frustrating control scheme and put in some elbow grease, you can certainly complete your jobs. However, as it stands, the game just isn’t fun. We can see glimpses of what made the previous games so enjoyable, so this isn’t an entirely lost cause, but it absolutely needs some kind of performance patch, and fast.
The poor performance makes it very difficult to evaluate the game’s length, because we pretty much gave up after around two hours of messing with Construction Simulator 4. From what we could tell, there are plenty of contracts and campaigns, so if the performance was halfway decent, we can imagine dedicated players getting dozens of hours out of it. If you absolutely want to play Construction Simulator 4 on the go, the game is also available on Android for €4.99. While we can’t imagine the mobile port to be significantly better, you at least won’t have wasted the €35 they expect you to shell out for the Switch port. We can see Construction Simulator 4 redeem itself with a couple of patches down the line, but as it stands, this version of the game isn’t the one you’re going to want to pick up.
Conclusion
In its current state, we see no reason to pick up Construction Simulator 4. This latest entry pales in comparison to the vastly superior original game on Steam. If you absolutely want to play Construction Simulator on the Switch, then previous games in the series should be just fine. Hopefully, a patch or two down the line can improve the game’s performance because there is a good game hiding in here somewhere.
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