As a kid growing up in the late 60’s I had some pretty cool toys – nothing compared to the tech toys of today, but my sandbox was filled with a variety of Tonka trucks, tractors, dozers, and other assorted toys, all being secretly used to groom me for a career in construction. But my sandbox wasn’t that big, and it rained a lot, and all the neighborhood cats would eventually visit my “construction site” and leave behind clumps too tough for my Tonka earthmover to handle. While that construction job never did materialize – although I did operate a jackhammer one summer – I’m always amazed at all the skills and machinery required to build and maintain our infrastructure, and I always seem to find myself stopping and watching any major construction in my area.
Launching Construction Simulator triggered a flood of childhood memories with the high-quality photos being used in the menus and the staggering amount of equipment being brought into this sim. Over 70 machines spanning all major types and manufacturers are waiting for you to begin your virtual career in construction management. While the game does offer a multiplayer component, you’ll find it is locked until you complete at least the opening mission of the story mode, which is basically one long tutorial integrated into some mission-based gameplay.
The first thing to do is create a character and a company, which you will slowly evolve into an expanding and successful construction empire…if you do things right. You’ll level-up your company through three expansion tiers, each with their own objectives and challenges. Not only do you have to go out and do all the work and operate all the machines, but you also have to run the daily office tasks like maintaining your fleet as well as handling all the finances for the buildings and machinery, which are always expanding. You can even qualify for bank loans for faster expansion if you want to take a risk.
Construction Simulator eases you into the massively complex world of construction management with several introductory jobs where you are given clear instructions on where to go, what to do, and what machines you’ll need to get the job done. Even when the game does turn you loose into the world, you still have a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips with a super-detailed manual for how all the machines operate as well as rules for the simulation. There are two massive maps spanning multiple districts, each with its own set of job icons that will slowly unlock as you progress through the career and expand your operation. The Germany-inspired European map is especially interesting, with a much-needed change in scenery and some projects influenced by the region. In additional to campaign missions, you also have side contracts that present you with interesting challenges and beneficial rewards.
The core gameplay loop is to pick a job, which is broken down into all the stages listing machines and building materials required. You’ll then need to either buy or rent the required equipment from the dealer. There is a bit of financial strategy involved here, so something like a dozer you will use on nearly every project would be something to buy, whereas a giant crane you only need for a few days would make a better rental. Considering you have to maintain and fuel all your vehicles is another good reason to rent. Once you have the machines, you’ll need to buy any building materials required. In most games you’d simply select these, and they would appear, and you can sort of do that here…for a fee. There is always this financial balance in play, so when checking out of the store you can pay extra to have the supplies delivered to your warehouse or even to the actual job site, otherwise you get to drive your truck to the store, load it, then drive to the job site. It adds a bit of realism to the process and also extends your gameplay, although I found the driving awkward and not that fun, so I opted for the Fast Travel in most situations.
There is no financial cost to fast traveling, and fuel is consumed, and time does pass, so you aren’t cheating the system. There is a night/day cycle, but this seems to only factor into your rental period. You apparently have no stamina to worry about and can work 24-hours a day if needed. Most machines have operational lighting, so work all night if you have to. One caveat to fast traveling is that you might miss out on collecting some of the 100 hidden gold hammers stashed around the city. These have no apparent purpose or value outside of an achievement for finding them all, but I’m always a sucker for a good egg hunt. Pro tip – they are easier to spot at night.
As you advance your career, you’ll earn skill points that you can use in an impressive skill tree that will give you certain advantages like increasing your crane speed or increasing bucket capacity or even help with your fuel economy. There is a staggering amount of stuff to manage like your vehicle fleet and material warehouse along with all the bookkeeping. You can also check your job and career progress as well as detailed gameplay stats showing you more info than you probably need to know. Once you finish the opening campaign you get access to four more as well as the unlocked multiplayer. The four new campaigns include boosting tourism, helping with urban development, technology builds like solar farms, and finally fixing up the harbor area. The aforementioned side contracts span projects such as land development, commercial building, and parking lots.
It is safe to say that Construction Simulator is the most robust and complete game of its kind with plenty of machinery and building materials, and varied projects scattered about a diverse map. So, is it any fun? Interestingly enough, the final note I have on my long list of review notes was that “the game actually feels like work”. Once the rush of actually operating a few of these childhood fantasy machines is over, the game plays much like what I feel it would be to do this in real-life. Bucket after bucket of dirt, pouring concrete, smoothing out piles of dirt, placing wall and roof panels with a giant crane (okay – that never gets old). I suppose your fun will be determined by your own love of construction and the toys that you get to use in the process. In a day where you can play sims to farm, mow your yard, or wash your car, Construction Simulator is some high-level stuff.
So, let’s lay out all the bad stuff. With the exception of the high-res photos of various equipment during menus and load screens, the graphics range from average to good. There is a persistent shimmering on many textures like pavement, and there is also a very annoying ghosting on the character when they move or turn, almost like a thick aura. You can tell all the attention to detail went into the machines. The overall city and environmental graphics aren’t trying to compete with GTA, and vehicle and pedestrian traffic can be adjusted along with many other visual settings and effects. I started playing in 4K but ultimately switched to 1440p, which helped with a few issues.
But this is all minor compared to the absolutely atrocious camera controls that damn near broke the game for me. You are always fighting for camera control, even when you try to use the sensitivity setting in the options. The main issue is trying to play with a gamepad, which feels great for operating the machines, but there is no way to control the camera aside from zooming with R3, so I was having to reach over and use my mouse 3-5 times per minute to make micro adjustments to my work angle. Things only got worse as the projects got more complex and required more machines with more moving parts.
The poor camera also affects your driving, and I often was forced to play from the driver view just to get anywhere, and don’t even get me started on having to obey traffic laws including red lights. Thankfully, you can toggle this off in the options, and you will want to because every light in this city is red and takes forever to change. If you run a red light or even turn right on red, you’ll hear a siren indicating you broke the law. I have yet to see a penalty for these infractions or even a cop car on the streets – perhaps I’ll get a traffic bill in my financial section. Ultimately, between the poor driving physics, the always-incorrect GPS, and the fact that many vehicles can’t be driven on city streets and must be taken to a job site on a trailer, makes Fast Travel your new best friend.
My sense of joy and wonder at having instant access to dozens of legendary construction machines and getting to use them in real-world construction situations was short-lived due to poor controls and even worse camera angles. A big part of the problem is that controls are relative to your position in the cockpit, so when your camera angle gets reversed so do all your controls, and when each direction on both sticks is often representing a joint or distinct function on your machine; it can get complicated fast. In those rare moments where your camera view actually lines up with your player view the game controls and feels great, but those moments are rare indeed. At least half of the six hours spent playing this game were more frustrating than fun. Perhaps playing the game entirely with a keyboard might alleviate some issues, but these machines were meant to be operated with a gamepad. The analog feels so good when it works.
Construction Simulator is an ambitious title that requires a lot of time and dedication to master all the machines at your disposal. Thankfully, help is just a button-press away, and there are even handy command overlays for each machine, so when you forget how to rotate a load on the end of a crane it’s easy to figure out. I did have a blast playing portions of the game, but the final two hours of fighting the cameras and the controls just wore me out. And when you start using fast travel and paying to automate key portions of the game like loading and delivering product, you start to wonder why you’re playing at all.
Those who are into construction are going to love this game despite its issues, but the overwhelming complexity of systems and controls are unlikely to appeal or inspire a younger generation to seek out a career in construction. If anything, Construction Simulator will shatter your fantasy of putting on a hardhat and digging trenches, paving parking lots, or building office buildings, and reveal it to be as boring in gameplay as it is in real-life. But, considering how many of these mundane job simulators exist and how popular they are, there must be some captivating quality that can turn work into play.
