Written by Alexander O. Cuaycong and Anthony L. Cuaycong
Title: Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead
Developer: ClockStone Software
Publisher: Headup Games
Genre: Puzzle
Price: $9.99
It’s difficult to imagine media around AMC’s “The Walking Dead” franchise as being anything but completely serious. All the same, Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead is able to distinguish itself without feeling utterly ridiculous. True, it still has a somewhat serious plot to keep things going, but it’s lamp-shaded by cartoony aesthetics and physics puzzles that border on the absurd. And guess what? It works for the most part. If nothing else, it proves that games from the Walking Dead franchise don’t need stories at the Telltale Games level, or dramatic gunplay, or spine-tingling horror in order to thrive. They just need a bit of passion, some self-awareness, and good game mechanics to keep them going.
In Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead, gamers are asked to do exactly that – build a bridge from one end of the map of the other in order to get people to safety. Featuring interesting physics challenges alongside light strategy elements, it presents a unique way with which to appreciate the franchise. It latches on to a simple, even simplistic, idea, but manages to stay engrossing for a considerable part of its runtime in light of its stellar design and interface. Right from the onset, it compels the formation of bridge foundations en route to creations that are limited only by imagination. The stages get increasingly more challenging, reducing the amount of resources available even as the franchise’s Walkers come into play as barriers to exit. Adaptation is, therefore, critical to success, as is the need to settle into a comfortable rhythm of assessing the challenge at hand, experimenting, failing, and finally, winning.
And that’s all there is to Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead. It doesn’t have an overarching narrative that binds stages together. It’s not out to be profound or send a significant message. Its visuals are sufficient but unimpressive, mostly relying on its clarity and charm to keep gamers immersed, and what little dialogue it offers is spartan in its characterizations. There are no dark plots, no new motivations to show old favorites in a new light. All it wants to do is get gamers to build a bridge that equates survival with connecting the starting point to the finish line.
Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead doesn’t test the Sony PlayStation 5’s limits with its workmanlike audio-visual presentation. It doesn’t engage in plentiful amounts of drama or gore, but it gets gamers stuck neck-deep in bite-sized (pun wholly intended) brain teasers. At an accessible price tag of $9.99, it’s a hearty recommend.
THE GOOD
- Boasts of enough depth to keep gamers entertained
- Decent game mechanics
- Surprisingly affordable given the amount of content it has on offer
THE BAD
- Somewhat iffy control schemes
- Shallow dialogue and simplistic graphics do not look particularly appealing on the PS5
- Gets somewhat repetitive in the later stages
RATING: 7.5/10
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