Manic Mechanics Nintendo Switch Review

  I think sometimes there’s nothing better than hanging out with your mates, playing couch co-op and having a good laugh, although admittedly, it doesn’t happen very often these days. So when I saw that Manic Mechanics was announced at the most recent Nintendo Direct, I put it straight on my wish list. This past weekend, I managed to sit down with my wife and kids, and sink a few hours into some couch co-op fun. Manic Mechanics eases you into its wild and wacky world with a story mode that follows the player on their journey to become the best mechanic. The story flows through individual islands, run by different mechanics, and increases in difficulty with each level. Each new islands mechanic adds new features and gameplay elements that keep that difficulty curve rising in a fun and challenging way. While the narrative may be shallow, it’s not really the sort of game that would benefit from a more in-depth story and lore, and the minor exposition delivered allows you to get into the fast-paced gameplay sooner. The game is presented with great graphics and effects which make the Manic and hectic action play out really well in both handheld and docked. Cars slide into the production area with sparks flying, paint gets spilled from the spray booth, and tyres inflate and pop off their station with colourful effects. The characters and environments are bright and colourful and easy to navigate, despite the chaos that ensues with four Mechanics running around trying to build a car, which is where the real fun begins. The game takes cooperative play to the next level as you and your friends have to coordinate and plan to get as many cars fixed as possible. Each station has its own mini-game attached to it such as sweeping the spray gun left to right or mashing X to inflate a tyre. At first, you will think you have this mechanic business down-pat, until later stages start adding things like charging batteries or combining batteries with old engines to make electric engines (which is a good nod to going green) even to the extreme of repairing cars in a bowling alley where bowlers can not only hit you with a spare but score a strike on your car, knocking parts and progress off it. While this may seem frustrating at first, it’s great environments like this that make the game such a blast to play, and keep the gameplay loop exciting by slowly introducing increasingly difficult gameplay elements. While 4 players shine, solo play can be a bit lacking although that’s the nature of the beast. You wouldn’t really play Mario Party solo and that’s certainly the case here. My kids and I played some solid sessions and it really held their attention as there was something for everyone to do, and feel as equally important. My 5 year old daughter enjoyed mopping up the workshops and it was important to keep the flow of work going as spills cause accidents and slow you down. It’s this sort of accessibility that help make Manic Mechanics the joy it is to play, and it can also be played on a single joycon. All in all, Manic Mechanics is a solid package at an affordable price. There’s plenty of frantic fun to be had with a bunch of mates, or your family for an evening co-op session. There’s going to be plenty of laughs, probably a few arguments, and definitely an evening well spent.

So what’s it like? 

A cross between Car Mechanic Simulator, and Overcooked.