Prep your snag list – Constructor remake is out now
Dodgy builders
After a couple of delays (builders, eh?) Constructor [official site], System 3’s remake of their estate-building strategy game from 1997, finally launched on Friday.
You're an up-and-coming property tycoon tasked with building an empire while sabotaging rivals with dodgy plumbers, explosions, and gangsters. It was a much-loved British classic with lots of silly accents, including the voice actor for Boycie from Only Fools and Horses.
Unfortunately, judging by player reviews the cracks are already beginning to show.
Alice found the demo to be a bit wonky and while some of the problems appeared to have been fixed, others remain - and in the full game. Users are still having random crashes and issues with resolution scaling, making the game looked stretched. There's also a lack of missions (players are seeing "coming soon" on the mission screen), which is annoying for a fully-launched game.
System 3 have, at least, committed to constant tweaks of the game, including weekly mission update packs. There will be new features added regularly and the chance for player-made maps to be officially included in the game, which is neat.
It's fair to say that some people are having a lot of fun with the nostalgia of it, and hopefully System 3 will be able to solve any performance issues with a patch (and add some damned missions). I never played the original but I know a lot of people loved it, so it would be a shame for the remake to be ruined by bugs.
If you head over to the Steam page you can download a demo or purchase the full game for £24.99/29,99€/$29.99. Here's four minutes of in-game footage to help you make up your mind:
