Bridge Constructor Portal – 14 Hours to Beat
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong – 3 Hours
Played
This week's video game article features
a comparison between two construction simulators: Bridge
Constructor Portal (Bridge Constructor), and When Ski Lifts Go
Wrong (Ski Lifts).
Bridge Constructor Portal is the
better known of the two, because it is based on Valve's famous Portal
series. The developer, ClockStone,
and publisher, Headup Games, who had already produced four
Bridge Constructor games together, licensed Valve's product to
generate enthusiasm for their game. While Bridge Constructor
Portal features portals, the companion cube, turrets, and GlaDOS,
still voiced by Ellen McLain, the mechanics differ significantly from
the original because they belong to different genres.
In the construction sim, When Ski
Lifts Go Wrong, the player
controls a large outdoor park. They build ski lifts, gondolas, and
paths for skis, snowmobiles, bikes, motorcycles, and snowboards. The
game was the first developed by Hugecalf Studios, and published by
Curve Digital, who also had in a hand in Bomber
Crew and The
Flame in the Flood, among
others.
Both Bridge
Constructor and Ski Lifts require the player to solve
puzzles using engineering skills. Each feature a number of 2D levels
where the player builds a structure capable of supporting a ski-lift,
gondola, vehicle, or person to the end of the level.
Bridge Constructor
includes two objectives; single and convoy. First the player builds
a structure which can support a single cart to its destination. With
this success the player can either; access the next level, or send a
convoy across the one they just finished. A convoy is four to twelve
carts, which inflicts additional stress on the construction. For
many early levels, the convoy will successfully travel across the
same structure as the solo cart. In later levels the elevated weight
requires more support. When Ski Lifts Fail
features one core objective and three bonuses. To complete the main
objective the player transports a predetermined number of persons to
their destination. Like Bridge Constructor,
fulfilling this requirement unlocks the next level. But the player
unlocks further material by building a structure which 1) doesn't
break, 2) is under budget, and 3) has the riders bump into the medals
placed across the level. Both games record the cost of the
structure, but they also allow the player to build with an unlimited
budget. Though Bridge Constructor
measured the cost of each project, the game offered no reason, and
therefore no pressure, to consider it as a factor.
The
goal of each game is similar, but the process of building offers
diverging experiences. When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
includes a variety of materials. Cables, planks, logs, ramps,
supports, foundations, chair lift chains, and wheels. Sometimes it
limits the materials available, while other times the quantity is
unlimited. Bridge Constructor Portal
includes only two construction materials: cables and scaffold.
Scaffold can be turned into ramps by a click of the mouse. Most
levels can be beaten with the scaffold and ramps. This comparison of
materials might make Bridge Constructor
sound simpler than Ski
Lifts, but this
couldn't be further from the truth. The puzzles of Bridge
Constructor are more
sophisticated and innovative than those of Ski Lift.
Both games
encourage proper construction. Both include levels where the player
starts with a partially built structure. Always demolish it and
start from scratch. Both teach that triangles are the strongest
shape to build with, and that a strong structure requires a proper
foundation. One flaw Bridge Constructor and Ski Lift
share is the inability to create ramps with smooth surfaces to
prevent bumps.
There are three
differences which makes Bridge Constructor Portal more
structurally strong than When Ski Lifts Go Wrong. First, the
puzzles in Bridge Constructor are simply better. They require
more creativity to complete, though often its not difficult to
determine the basic premise. Players can build around the developers
plan and create their own unique solution. For example, on level 56
I built a solution that did not use any of the four portals provided.
Looking on YouTube there are over five
widely different solutions for the final level. Bridge
Constructor includes many more moving parts and obstacles to
overcome than Ski Lift. There's the eponymous portals,
but also repulsion gel, propulsion gel, laser doors, two types of
buttons, the companion cube, regular doors, turrets, hazardous goo,
and a pellet launcher and catcher. Ski Lift pretends
to offer seven types of maps, and a variety of construction
materials, but includes only two styles, ski-lifts and driving
vehicles, and only a few minimal hazards.
The other
difference is the reliability of the game-play. I already mentioned
how making smooth curving paths was tricky in Bridge
Constructor, but impossible in Ski Lift. The
vehicles of Ski Lifts handle terrible, which makes those
levels frustratingly difficult. The player doesn't directly control
the carts in Portal but the drivers perform with phenomenal skill.
Each cart includes three people, and in hazardous terrain only the
driver will make it, but what a dedicated professional this
androgynous character is. Only complete destruction of the cart will
defeat him or her. The carts, lifts, and vehicles often fall from
high cliffs or crash into hazards. When this happens in Ski
Lift the player loses. But when it happens in Bridge
Constructor the carts roll back onto their wheels and continue
on their way, though they may be missing a rider or two.
The final
distinction is the structures themselves, and the outcomes they
generate. The structures in Ski Lift seem like they'd
be more interesting because of the variety of materials, but the game
uses fewer pieces and doesn't encourage innovative building. The
structures of Bridge Constructor are fabricated out of many
individual pieces in novel forms, and hold together more reliably.
Unfortunately, even in Bridge Constructor a single
change in a large structure can cause a butterfly effect, leading to
dramatically different outcomes when a convoy of twelve carts drive
over it in quick succession.
In Conclusion,
Bridge Constructor Portal and When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
both require the player to solve puzzles with engineering skills, the
latter is one is finicky and frustrating, while the former offers a
reasonably structured experience, though nothing as brilliant as the
game it derives its name from.
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