Tank Mechanic Simulator

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Fast Facts

Tank Mechanic Simulator

Developer: DeGenerals S.A.
Publisher: Ultimate Games
Website: http://tankmechanic.degenerals.com/
Genre: Simulation
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: 27/08/2020
Price: £16.19

A code was provided for review purposes.

Tank Mechanic, Not A Job For Everyone!

Well, I bet you can guess what this game is about. It’s about tanks, it’s about being a mechanic and it is certainly a simulation of both of them. Tanks are cool, fixing stuff is neat, so even though it sounds like something quite dry and boring, I was willing to give Tank Mechanic Simulator a shot. Hopefully, things are fun, implemented well and the game makes the arid subject matter interesting and rewarding.

So what exactly do you do in this quirky niche title? Well, find tanks, repair tanks and try and profit off said shiny, considerable war machines. Tank Mechanic Simulator is simple in premise: you get contracts and jobs emailed to you, you fulfil them as you please, unlock more contracts and try and rake in the dollar. You will be buying parts, repairing them and you even go out into the field to dig up long lost war machines. You will be using drones, metal detectors, water hoses and now and again I did find I was quite enjoying myself.

Too Much Faff

As I said above, the game itself is, at times, enjoyable. There are just a few things that detract from the experience and get in the way. Firstly, the menu system seems off on a portable console. The menus are small, far too numerous to navigate and feel too laborious for their own good. Everything has its own menu, the UI is tiny and you are forever clicking through numerous screens and menus to get the simplest task done. I am sure it worked okay on a PC well enough but for a console experience, I would have liked the experience to be a bit more streamlined.

Secondly, taking the tanks apart and using the analogue sticks to take parts off the vehicles does not feel right. I tried different things and played with options but could never find something that felt right. Every job I did, every tank I repaired, felt long-winded and drained the fun out of the game. Selecting small bolts and finding how to take parts off your tank, was, at least initially, too finicky. Some sort of snap-to controls would have been nice and some console control refinement would have gone a long way to improving the flow of the game.

I also had issues with the graphics. I am no graphics snob, not by a long shot, but this game looks very basic on the Nintendo Switch. Basic textures, poor lighting and other graphical issues mean that this game is sometimes very ugly to look at. I am happy playing games that do not look nice but this, in tandem with the other issues, really detract from what this game is trying to achieve. If the game looked a bit nicer, had slightly better menus and controls, the game would be significantly more pleasant to play.

Tanks But No Tanks!

All being said and done, there is a game underneath this rusty, worn presentation. It just takes too much effort to get to it, it’s buried underneath poor controls and too many menus for it to be fun. I did not hate it, I just got fatigued with the game very quickly and that was certainly not helped by the design of most of the aspects of this game. If you are a tank fanatic, you may get some value from buying Tank Mechanic Simulator, otherwise, I would find it hard to recommend it to anyone else.

Rapid Reviews Rating

If you would like to purchase Tank Mechanic Simulator on the Nintendo eShop click here.