Flashbang : Cargo Bridge

Welcome back to Flashbang where this week we’re looking at Cargo Bridge by an author known as Limex. In general, I prefer to finish the games I review here so that I can give a complete picture of the game, but in this case, Cargo Bridge is simply not cooperating. This is a tough game that is a whole lot of fun.

There are 2 parts to the game. In the first, your little workers walk to the cargo that must be moved to the house on the far left of the level. Cargo can mean a crate, a safe, or even (gulp) an elephant. Your goal is to build a bridge over the gaps that will allow the workers to move the cargo into the house.

To achieve this, you enter the second part of the game, the construction phase.  In the construction phase you are given a budget for parts, and you use that to actually build your bridges. Using the funds you have you purchase connectors and walkways that attach to the anchors located on the screen, then attach the pieces to one another in an attempt to make a bridge that is just sturdy enough to carry your workers and their loads. These are not smart workers. If you say go, they go whether there is a bridge there or not. If the bridge collapses and they watch their coworkers die, they continue to flow over the ledge like lemmings.

The art is cartoonish and fun, and the sound is neither distracting nor amazing. The physics here are good. If you build a bridge that wouldn’t really support itself in the real world, it’s not going to support itself here. If the cargo gets caught on something, it will start to roll which creates more strain for the bridges. I’ve also discovered that a bridge that doesn’t work the first time may very well hold the second time, based on how much bouncing there is on it.

As the levels go on, the problem that I have run into is that I know how to build the bridge, but I just don’t know how to afford it.  I’ve even killed my workers on purpose once or twice simply because the animation is fun. It is a relief to find a game that is challenging enough to take some time to master yet rewarding enough to keep me going towards the end. It is also an easy game to pick up, play for five or ten minutes, then go back to work. I feel bad giving it a grade since I haven’t finished the game, but for the moment let’s call it a solid 9. If something changes greatly in the later stages, I will be sure to let you know.