Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead PS4 Review

Out now for several platforms is Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead from ClockStone Studio and published by Headup Games. This review will be focusing on the recent PlayStation 4 release.

I’ve said it before, and destined to say again: I don’t like The Walking Dead. The lack of hope and distinct shitheels that remain in the apocalypse forced me to abandon the series so long ago.

However, unlike typical zombie games, Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead is different. For starters, these aren’t zombies you encounter, but walkers. There’s a difference. Additionally, this survival game is about building bridges, and not metaphorical ones with the reprobates that occupy the wastelands.

Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead PS4 Review

In the three days I’ve spent on this planet, if I were to look at my accomplishments when it comes to bridge construction, I’d have to say that the experience is quite limited. Bridge-building simulators have steadily grown in popularity, but guiding random vehicles across chasms in fictitious towns aren’t that appealing. A pursing group of walkers, on the other hand, is much more of an incentive.

There’s a story attached to Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead, but it’s not going to be the part you’ll be talking about to your chums at the virtual water cooler. The key thing is survival, and as you progress through each level, new mechanics will trickle through offering more variety and further head-scratching.

In a nutshell, you start as two survivors stuck in a rut, lacking any sort of direction. They meet with an engineering genius who has the personality of a chair and the social skills to boot. But there’s no question about it: he knows what he’s talking about (and a great mechanic for teaching you how to play the game).

Stuck in a hole, your first task is to build a bridge overhead for the walkers to continue without knowing you’re right under their noses. Before long, you’re making the type of constructions attached to this sub-genre and triggering traps to wipe out said walkers and get to safety.

Engineering Degree Required. Sort Of

Geometry and physics were never my strong point. Marry that with a lack of common sense and some of the ‘easiest’ puzzles had me bamboozled for an age. For those lacking patience, this might put you off, but this was the appeal of Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead.

A quick game would often take an hour or so filled with utter incompetence, on my part, that I’m sure the local council would be more than willing to snap me up on minimum wage, what with my proficiency levels. Despite the constant failures, there was never an element of deterrence, though a melancholy feeling of inadequacy would creep in now and then.

Gravity is not your friend – especially as so many levels feature dilapidated structures that you’re unable to tether your materials too. The construction itself takes place as if time were still, giving you free rein to experiment. Once you’re ready to go, you can witness your team running towards a rapidly descending bridge that’s falling apart. Every time a bridge collapsed on top of or beneath my survivors or watching them eaten by walkers made me laugh. I’m not sorry.

This sadism was the motivation to get better each time, but that never happened. However, Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead has that freedom of creation. Sure, you have a primary mission to rescue your team, but the options for each bridge doesn’t feel entirely restricted, and even the most subtle changes can make or break your work of art.

I Order You To Build

Though there’s no time limit, you will get rewarded if you can complete the mission in as little moves as possible, a.k.a. without spending so much on materials. It can be done, but in this scenario, there’s only one way to skin a cat.

If you do find yourself stuck, you can keep using materials, at the expense of not getting the sheriffs badge of excellence for your craftsmanship. However, using more materials isn’t always the way as it makes them heavy and they’ll drop as time restarts.

In addition to building, you can give your survivors commands. This is almost turn-based, and you have waypoints on the screen to interact with. Generally speaking, your people will move on their own accord, but if they get to a ladder or a machine, you’ll need to have given the command on what to do. The game does pause however once they’re there should you need to enter an order.

Moving around the screen is simple enough. Controller-based cursors aren’t the most responsive, but you don’t need to be quick and accurate here; you just need a sound knowledge of physics. Again though, it’s probably common sense, and I’ve made my disclaimer.

Don’t Burn Your Bridges

Visually, Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead is alright. It doesn’t have the same aesthetic as the comic books (I did make a start on them, so familiar with the style), but having played the other Bridge Simulator games, this is progress, and I liked it.

The story elements are forgettable though. It does start with some voice acting then switches to text-based dialogue before and after the objectives. Not bad, but nothing special either. In reality, puzzles are about the gameplay and whether they offer the right amount of challenge – a story is a bonus, and in this case, it absolutely is.

Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead is the polar opposite of how the TV series makes me feel. While the latter genuinely brings me down, this game makes me laugh out loud as I send my minions to their agonising deaths, but more importantly, this game highlights my weakness in having to think out of the box.

As a veteran point and click adventurer, I know most of the tricks in the book and being a fan of a range of narratives, I can second guess most story arcs and usually accurate. With this sort of puzzle, there’s no shortcut or methodology other than using your brain and what you learned at school. Alternatively, you can do a trial and error experiment, which managed to see me through in the end, and in many ways, that made Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead much more enjoyable than I expected.

Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead Review Summary

A simple physics-based puzzle game, Bridge Constructor The Walking Dead might draw in fans of the franchise, but the focus here is on the problem-solving and not the survival story. I enjoyed the game and would recommend to anyone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously (scratch that – it’s a good exercise for the other types too).