 GameCentral reviews a new local co-op game that takes inspiration from Overcooked's manic chefs and sees how they'd work in a repair shop. One of the best aspects of Nintendo's Switch is that while it can run big, heavyweight games like Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom it also, to an extent, channels the playfulness and frivolity of the Wii, the console that brought gaming to a whole new casual audience. That doesn't always work out for the best, as seen with the peculiar Everybody 1-2-Switch, but either way the Switch is the undisputed party-gaming king. Manic Mechanics, created by Scottish developer 4J Studios – which rose to fame by porting Minecraft to consoles – unashamedly seeks to mine the Switch's party-gaming potential for all it's worth. Although you can play it solo, and it's still fun, it's primarily designed to be played by two to four people co-operatively, either locally or online. It's easy enough to describe: its gameplay is essentially that of Overcooked, except rather than taking place in kitchens, it's enacted in car repair garages – with car parts taking the place of food ingredients. So, you and your co-op mates must pick prescribed car parts off conveyor belts, fix them and then fit them, as quickly (and, inevitably, manically) as possible. So, you might have to take doors or spoilers to the paint station, or exhaust pipes and engines to the mechanical station. Tyres must be inflated, on a tyre inflation station, and each item of equipment you use has a subtly different button-pressing mini-game. All pretty simple, but the chaos quickly ramps up. Before long, you have two cars to work on at the same time and all manner of hazards start creeping into your virtual workplace, ranging from the garage owner throwing paint at you, which renders the floor slippery (you can pick up and wield mops and fire extinguishers), to areas which periodically become el){kind=link}
GameCentral reviews a new local co-op game that takes inspiration from Overcooked’s manic chefs and sees how they’d work in a repair shop.
One of the best aspects of Nintendo’s Switch is that while it can run big, heavyweight games like Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom it also, to an extent, channels the playfulness and frivolity of the Wii, the console that brought gaming to a whole new casual audience. That doesn’t always work out for the best, as seen with the peculiar Everybody 1-2-Switch, but either way the Switch is the undisputed party-gaming king.
Manic Mechanics, created by Scottish developer 4J Studios – which rose to fame by porting Minecraft to consoles – unashamedly seeks to mine the Switch’s party-gaming potential for all it’s worth. Although you can play it solo, and it’s still fun, it’s primarily designed to be played by two to four people co-operatively, either locally or online.
It’s easy enough to describe: its gameplay is essentially that of Overcooked, except rather than taking place in kitchens, it’s enacted in car repair garages – with car parts taking the place of food ingredients. So, you and your co-op mates must pick prescribed car parts off conveyor belts, fix them and then fit them, as quickly (and, inevitably, manically) as possible.
So, you might have to take doors or spoilers to the paint station, or exhaust pipes and engines to the mechanical station. Tyres must be inflated, on a tyre inflation station, and each item of equipment you use has a subtly different button-pressing mini-game. All pretty simple, but the chaos quickly ramps up.