Manic Mechanics Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Manic Mechanics wears its influences as clearly as a mechanic’s boiler suit is splattered with engine oil and brake fluid. This is Overcooked!, only instead of preparing a multitude of meals for ravenous punters, you are instead tasked with fixing up a never-ending string of banged-up cars.

It’s not just you though, as up to three of your friends – or closely kept enemies, if you are so inclined – can team up in local play. Played from a top-down perspective, all four mechanics careen around the screen, dodging traps, grabbing engines, and spray-painting fenders. It’s as chaotic as one would expect for the genre, and while the visuals may lack some of the charm of Overcooked!, they’re still bold and bright, ensuring you never lose sight of your avatar amidst the mechanical madness of churning conveyor belts, exploding batteries, and out-of-control bowling balls.

The level design is disappointing though, focusing on being wacky over any demand for the player to use their little grey cells, nor, strangely, is there much requirement for teamwork. Each player can happily do their own thing, oblivious to their pals, and the team will still be able to three-star a level with little effort. It’s a shame, as one of the things I most enjoy about playing local co-op is the need to talk tactics with friends; to re-strategize a failed mission and ultimately succeed by working together. Manic Mechanics does not engender teamwork, it just offers party game madness.

Where Manic Mechanic really trips over its own carbonator is with its insistence on having every car-fixing action be a QTE mini-game. It’s an attempt to add a little complexity to a fairly straightforward game and genre, but all it succeeds in is player frustration. Want to inflate a wheel? Then be prepared to tap the button to gradually increase a tiny meter until it’s green. Painting a door? Then wiggle the stick whilst holding a button until the meter tells you you’re done. You will complete these same QTEs thousands