- 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 29/Jun 04:26

Architect Life: A House Design Simulator – Review

We’ve said it quite a few times before, and now we’ll say it again: Simulator games are all the rage right now, and it seems that the hype is not going to die down anytime soon. At the time of writing this review, we are actually working on another simulator title, namely Supermarket Simulator, which will be featured soon. That being said, we are keeping our ambition of running a local supermarket under wraps for the time being, as we delve into the complicated job of an architect in Architect Life: A House Design Simulator. While Nacon has vastly improved the quality of its games over the last few years, the publisher’s simulator titles do tend to lag a bit behind. Is Architect Life another Ambulance Life, and will it be pronounced dead at the scene? Or, will this one become a sleeper hit in the genre? Read on to find out. Story Even though Architect Life does have a career mode you can play through, there is no real narrative component here. Sure, you get to name your company, and you get a few pieces of flavor text here and there, but we wouldn’t call this an evolving storyline. This is perfectly fine, as the campaign serves merely as a mode where projects slowly get bigger, making sure you get the hang of things before you dive into the sandbox mode. Graphics Graphically, Architect Life left us with mixed feelings. Some aspects look great when taking a closer look at some textures and a few of the furniture models. Other than those few items, things don’t look all that great. There are quite a few rough edges, and when you’re viewing the building timelapse, everything looks rather horrible. During this part of every project, it feels like we’re watching gameplay footage of something that came out roughly two decades ago. Luckily, the UI is clear for the most part, even though the actual menu organization felt a bit off. Sound In terms of sound design, there isn’t that much to tell. The game has fairly basic SFX for placement and almost typical elevator music when you’re drawing up your plans. It’s all functional, but chances are that you’ll just put on your favorite playlist when playing through what Architect Life has to offer. Gameplay Architect Life: A House Design Simulator is a simulator title in which you’ll design plans for houses, do some interior decorating, and see your drawings come to life. Everything is fairly straightforward, and the game does have a few tutorials to play through to get the hang of things. The game pretty much throws everything you’d expect at you, albeit with rather clunky controls and very limited furniture options. Drawing out your plans is once again fairly straightforward. You can choose outer and inner walls, you’ll see the exact measurements as you’re drawing them, and you can start dividing things up into rooms after that. You’ll have to finish the floors, the walls, place heating and air conditioning, make sure all the necessary furniture is placed, ensure there’s a roof, and so on. You can see what the project needs to be finished, and you’ll need to take into account the budget and even the deadline. During the actual building phase, you’ll also need to make choices when problems arise that may impact the project’s price or deadline. This was a nice touch. In the career mode, if you stay under budget and still have a high satisfactory rating, you might earn a bit of extra cash. You’ll also gain experience, which you can invest in perks that grant you bonuses. You can, of course, just skip the career mode and delve into the sandbox mode if you just want to build without any constraints. While the concept is decent, the execution feels flawed. The controls, for example, are tedious for the most part. For items, you can choose between the snap-on mode and the free build mode. When you choose the former, items will snap in place against each other, or against walls, etc. It’s good in theory, but the execution ended up being frustrating. Items do not just snap against the wall; they snap in specific places, making precise placement very hard. If you choose to drop your items without this mode on, it’s almost impossible to get the correct angle. Even the slightest tap on the key(s) to turn an object will often turn it around too much. On top of that, while the menus are clear, they are sometimes just oddly arranged or annoying to work with. There are basically two furniture menus, one with essential items and one with more decorative items. This, in a way, would make sense if the TV symbol presented us with actual TVs and not just a few tables. The candle icon, on the other hand, presents us with TV sets. It doesn’t really make that much sense. The more you play, the more you notice odd design choices, clumsy mechanics, and a very limited offering of customization options. As there are already 3 DLCs available, it seems the developer wants to focus on selling cosmetic DLC, much in the same way as EA’s The Sims. Conclusion Architect Life: A House Design Simulator has a few interesting elements where the game’s potential shines through, but due to clunky controls, limited design options, and a somewhat bland career mode, things ultimately fall flat. Don’t get us wrong, this isn’t a bad title per se, it just lacks polish and additional content that is not being sold as separate DLC. As it stands now, Architect Life can offer some entertainment, but we advise waiting for a hefty sale.