Daily App: Bridge Constructor challenges you to build radical bridges
Bridge Constructor is bridge construction game developed by ClockStone Studio and published by Headup Games that challenges you to build a bridge that is strong enough to support the weight of cars and trucks.
Each level in Bridge Constructor presents you with a different building challenge. You have different materials you can use to construct your bridge and budget that allows for a few mistakes. If you are stumped, you can use your coins to purchase a hint that'll show you either a partial plan or the full plan for a bridge. There is no tutorial, but the UI is intuitive enough that you will know what to do after a few taps.
On the right hand side of the screen are the materials that you can select. Early levels only provide wood, while higher levels give you steel, cables and concrete pillars. Once you have your materials in hand, you can tap and drag to start laying down the framework of the bridge. You can zoom in on the bridge structure and turn on the grid to help you precisely place your parts. There's also an undo button if you make a mistake.
When you are done constructing, you can test your bridge by pressing the "play" button on the bottom right. This will test your bridge to see if it can stand on its own and withstand weight. The game uses color to show you weak areas in your construction, moving from green to red-brown on a scale of strong to weak.
If you think your bridge is ready to traffic, you can tap on a car in this test mode and see if it can drive safely over the bridge. If the test drive is successful, you move onto the next level. If it fails, the car is destroyed in a fiery crash. The app is forgiving and allows you to rebuild and test a few times before you run out of cash in your budget.
The physics behind Bridge Constructor is realistic enough to be fun, but it is not a true physics sim like TrussMe!. A few times in the early levels I built a bridge with no support and cars drove it successfully. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the challenge of thinking logically while building, and was entertained by the animation of the cars as they crossed my bridge.
Bridge Constructor is available in the iOS App Store for US$0.99. It is compatible with the iPhone and iPad. It has in-app purchases, the occasional ad for the developer's other games and links to Facebook to post your high scores.
Really enjoying this logical construction game. The tutorial could use a little more detail, but the game has an intuitive user interface which makes up for the tutorial. Each successful construction adds to your knowledge of techniques to utilize for solving future bridge constructions. The graphics are good, as is the "zoom-in" feature, but the physics of the automobiles and trucks crashing are far from realistic, if that matters to you. Plenty of chances to correct a poorly constructed bridge & rebuild. I love the feature that you can back out pieces from the construction & regain your budget that was previously "spent". So a bridge can be repeatedly rebuilt and tested. The "test mode" shows weak areas of construction by a color shift from green to red-brown before a car/truck "tests" the bridge. Separate from the "construction budget" are "coins," which can be spent for hints on how to solve the bridge construction. More of these "coins" can be purchased as an in app purchase.
