Rover Mechanic Simulator (Switch) Review
Release Date: February 18, 2022
Publisher/Developer: Ultimate Games S.A./Pyramid Games S.A.
Platform: Nintendo Switch (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Steam
Price: $11.99
In the midst of exploring the far reaches of the galaxy, someone’s still going to have to do the dirty work. Rover Mechanic Simulator places you in the shoes of the person who gets to fix and clean up the rovers exploring Mars’ terrain. You don’t drive the rovers, merely fix them. It makes me wonder why we need said rovers if we are already successfully colonizing the planet, but hey. You do what you must. I’m just glad it isn’t Mars Septic Repair Simulator.
You spend your time in a repair bay, with five famous NASA rovers needing your support (Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance). You’ll get requests for repair, and how they are worded helps you determine what needs to happen. I think the interesting part is they may say one thing is wrong, but you might see something else as well, and it’s entirely up to you to decide how far to go in fixing it. You can clean parts and pop ‘em back on if they will last, or you can 3D print new parts or solder new circuitboards. You bounce between several stations in order to get the parts cleaned, repaired, or replaced, then send the rover on its merry way. Of course, if you absolutely tire of all of this mumbo-jumbo, just head on over to the PC and inexplicably start playing classic Snake or such.
I understand that “simulator” games come from a genre that is hard to nail down. Jokey “surgeon simulators” or “goat simulators” revel in chaos more than a real experience, whilst “lawn mowing simulators” take it to the extreme. Despite being in a fantasy environment with decent approximations of what these rovers are made of, Rover Mechanic Simulator plays very straight-laced, having you remove and reattach every single component. This can be slow at times, unscrewing six plus screws to take off a wheel or such. (There is a leveling tree that allows this to be sped up, but only marginally). I wish you had more freedom, such as taking off an entire assembly that you can easily access the screws to, instead of removing each individual part just to get down to something deeper in the machine. What this translates to is the experience of playing this game does drill down to “take off parts, put on parts” wash/rinse/repeat. Also, I’d like to see a dynamic touchscreen interface at work, as there’s even places where the system says to use your “fingerprint ID” but it means “push a button”.
There is a peace/zen to the practice of repairing these rovers. Unpack the rover, scan the rover, clean parts, repair parts, replace parts, reassemble, and ship. It may get repetitive for anyone looking to advance story or plot, but as an idle game, I can find a certain peaceful quality to it. Apparently, this game has been out since late last year on other systems and is just now getting a Switch release, so you’ll find plenty of Let’s Play’s on YouTube showing you precisely what you are getting into. Rover Mechanic Simulator provides a style of gameplay that may be tedious to some, but right up the alley of others.
Pros:
-Cool seeing and learning about real-life rovers and then fixing them
-I can play Snake whenever I want
-Getting jobs makes you feel like you are investigating for problems, not just “do this now”
Cons:
-Dismantling absolutely everything to get to an internal part
-Lengthy time doing mundane things like screws
-I would have loved some logical touchscreen support that felt natural
Special thanks to Ultimate Games S.A./Pyramid Games S. A. for providing a code for review!