Review of Car Mechanic Simulator 2015 - A Solid Makeover in the Repair Shop

For some time now, tinkering under the hood of a car has been a favorite activity for people other than mechanics with a lot of experience under their belts who are accustomed to the difficult art of repairing vehicles in various workshops on a daily basis. All of a sudden, it became the domain of gamers, spurred by Car Mechanic Simulator 2014 from Polish studio Red Dot Games. This year’s follow-up to the abovementioned production has to confront the high expectations of many fans of the original game. Is this rather original gameplay concept slowly exhausting its potential?

The success of CMS 2014 surprised just about everyone, including the developers themselves. This unassuming project has turned into a production that managed to sell hundreds of thousands of copies. The credit goes to the quality of the game as well as its unique theme. Ever since the legendary Gearhead Garage, there has been a vacuum in the market waiting to be filled by a decent car mechanic simulator. The sequel to 2014’s surprising success was to confirm that the Polish developers know what they're doing and are able to carry out a solid makeover and tweak their export-worthy virtual gem. Good news is that they did the trick.

Grab Your Monkey Wrench And Get Down To Work!

Car Mechanic Simulator 2015 could be easily described in one sentence: there is more of everything here, and the car repairs we carry out are much more complex. I could see it for myself when I first sat down to replace one of the engine parts; in the previous edition all we could do was dismantle several spark plugs and wires or a couple of overhead elements. Imagine my surprise when I was faced with the task of exchanging a piston located right in the middle of the power unit. Disassembly of parts prior to accessing the malfunctioning module takes at least a few minutes – slowly and gradually we reach the goal by breaking down the engine and loosening various lids, coils, and other components. It’s not an exaggeration to say that now we can find as many parts under the hood alone as we did in the whole car in the previous installment of the series. Without a doubt, individual tasks have become far more complex; according to the developers, the game includes about 200 vehicle parts to repair. Now we can do far more than just tinker with the engine and suspension. Our tasks will also involve overhauling the body as well as replacing fenders, doors or the trunk lid. What's more, thanks to the paint shop we will be able to add a selected color to our vehicle, even though it is a rather inconsequential feature.

It's fairly obvious even at first glance that compared to its predecessor, CMS 2015 is a title far more complex and requiring an even greater mastery of individual vehicle components – even more so because some of them are characteristic only for the selected vehicle model, and the cars available for repair works include new models as well. The entire machinery fleet was created virtually from scratch – it comprises a dozen cars, and among them we can find not only the good ol' passenger cars but also vans or jeeps. The creators also went for a solid gameplay system makeover; in this edition, missions are randomly generated, which means that we never really know what kind of job to expect. We are now given freedom in choosing tasks, so as to be able to avoid the repairs that won't pay off or the ones that we simply don't feel like doing. The whole concept is based on experience system – the players are awarded points not only for a job done, but basically for any dismantled or assembled part of the vehicle. With the goal to make the introduction to the game slightly easier for beginners, the initial orders are accompanied by list of components to be replaced. It’s a very good move on the part of the authors. At the beginning, many players could experience a serious case of vertigo when looking at the plethora of elements before finally reaching the right module. Thanks to the developers’ decision, the players slowly immerse in the game, while the level of difficulty of individual orders is constantly increasing. An additional improvement is the implementation of special features that enable us to carry out our tasks in a more efficient manner. For every 1000 points, we earn one that we can exchange for special skills that increase the chance of recovery of damaged parts or significantly accelerate the process of loosening and tightening screws or removing individual parts. At any time, we can also build extensions in our workshop, such as adding a few themed posters or other elements.

Garage Wars

As fun as they are, routine repairs are not the only source of income in CMS 2015. From now on, we can also participate in special auctions of old, damaged cars, which we can then restore in our workshops. Of course, when buying a car it is of key importance to estimate how much money we will have to spend on, e.g. a full replacement of the body or reviving the engine to the point where turning the key in the ignition doesn’t cause a persistent wheezing sound. With the proper estimation of the cost of labor we can earn quite a sum, amounting to the multiple cost of a rather large renovation commissioned by a customer. It's worth it to look for real gems and find cars which can provide a solid income.

Those of you who have already enjoyed tinkering in Car Mechanic Simulator 2014 will not be surprised by the method of carrying out individual orders and renovating cars in our garage. Screw by screw, we get to the individual components of the vehicle, replace broken parts with new ones purchased in an online store and put the car back together. However, the control system has undergone a slight modification, and I have an impression that this change is not necessarily positive. We should certainly applaud the creators for adding several commands which we can use during the renovation; they make it very easy and quick to switch between standard view and plan view showing the technical condition of the parts, as well as change the mode from assembly to disassembly. Unfortunately, the process of replacing individual components has become overly complicated; now any operation associated with removal or installation of parts must be preceded by a few seconds spent holding down the right mouse button while simultaneously indicating the selected item. This, of course, is followed by the moment many players favor the most, that is loosening the screws – and those are quite numerous in some parts. It is a pity that the developers unnecessarily lengthened the time of renovation by introducing such peculiar features. The system used in CMS 2014 proved to be quite solid, and now it has become slightly less intuitive, which can be rather annoying in the long run. It is worth mentioning here that the experience points we earn can be used to buy a feature that significantly shortens this process; however, before we can get our hands on it, we’ll have to get down to some serious work.

Screw by Screw

If you expected Car Mechanic Simulator 2015 to provide breakthrough graphics, you will be greatly disappointed; on the visual side of things, the production of Red Dot Games looks very much like its predecessor. Still, it’s a decent look, and certainly better than the one found in various simulators. A cool idea is the focus on importance of corrosion in the estimation of the technical condition of a vehicle. While inspecting the individual parts, very often we can see at a glance which component is causing the problem. There's virtually nothing to criticize in the overall stability and optimization of the game – from the outset CMS 2015 can be enjoyed without any hindrances such as the game kicking out to desktop, hanging, or experiencing alarming drops in FPS. The rich variety of graphics settings along with an FPS meter will help easily adjust the visual effects to our PC's computing power. I’ve also had the impression that the camera work has improved; however, in some cases, such as getting to the smallest parts of suspension or engine, it struggles to provide a fully satisfactory result.

Fans' concerns that CMS 2015 would look like an underdeveloped paid DLC for the previous installment of the series proved to be unfounded. The new game introduces a number of varied and very interesting modifications that enrich the game. We are allowed to make independent decisions and choose which orders we want to carry out. A much much richer variety of available parts and vehicles ensures that figuring out the patterns of how things work will take a lot more time than it did in the 2014 edition, whereas the ability to repair old clunkers will provide a source of a solid income. The experience system was also constructed in a quite reasonable manner, so as to introduce us to the workings of this production gradually and without obstruction. In the long run, we cannot escape a certain feeling of monotony (after all, how many times can you replace pistons and loosen the wishbone without getting bored?). However, the title succeeds in providing many hours of enjoyable tinkering under the hood of a car. It's a positive change for the Polish studio to no longer be associated with humoristic racing games, but rather with a really solid and – most importantly – still improving simulator that manages to fill nicely this rather neglected niche. We can be sure that there's more to come from this team.