Cart Life : Retail Simulator - Review.

 

A street vendor retail simulator…Bet you’ve never played one of those before. And I bet you didn’t know you would enjoy it. Well, maybe.

 

Admittedly this game will not be to everyone’s liking; in fact a lot of you wouldn’t even give it a second look. And neither would I if I didn’t hear about it in one of the gaming podcasts I listen to.

Cart Life is a free downloadable simulation game in which you play as 1 of two characters with different back stories, but both looking to make some cash to go from rags to…well, slightly better looking rags.

I chose to play as Andrus Poder, a Ukrainian man looking to re-build his life in the US.

This is not a game where you go from common street bum to successful multi-millionaire; you play as a realistic character, in a realistic situation going against realistic odds. In fact the only unrealistic thing about this game is the black and white pixel art graphics, which although unrealistic are still very easy on the eyes.

 

It’s very hard to review this game because I have so much to say about it. So I’m going to mention very little about the gameplay, leave out a lot of the details and just let you try it and discover it for yourself. But please, please, please, download this game and give it a go.

Let me explain why I like this game so much though, I’m going to go back to the word realistic, because I think that word defines Cart Life.

I don’t think it’s the most fun game in the world but I admire how the realistic details make it unlike any game I have ever played.

My character buys a newspaper stand at the start of the game, and it is this stand that will get him by in life. There is no big important goal that Andrus is trying to reach; he is simply looking to survive, so it is my job to make sure he makes enough cash to pay his rent, to buy food for him and his cat, to satisfy his addiction to cigarettes and so on. As I said, realistic (last time I use that word, I promise).

I’m not sure if this detail is intentional but I think it is amazing how effectively the game puts you into the shoes of your character. When you are first set free to wander the city, you have no idea where anything is or what to do. As would be the case if you were really a Ukrainian immigrant in a new foreign city.

 

 

Another thing that I like is that you learn from your fuck ups, for example the first time I tried to stock my newspaper stand, I cut into the paper while removing the plastic wrapping, I tore the paper trying to fold it neatly and I was too slow giving change to a customer so he started getting impatient with me.

The next day however I had learned my lesson and I done everything right. And discovering that myself made the whole thing a feel lot more rewarding. Unlike most games today this does not hold your hand; you are simply given a character to play as and thrown head first into a strange world where you are forced to learn how to survive.

As I said, this game may not be to everyone’s liking but give it a chance and I can guarantee that you will at least appreciate its originality.

Download the game for free here.

 

Reviewed by Mark Wilson - 29/12/2012.