Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 review for Nintendo Switch, PC

Just to be clear: yes, this game?s official name is Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021. It was released on the Switch with that name in *checks calendar* 2023. If you were looking for an inauspicious omen about how much care was put into this port: it?s right there in the name.

I get that picking on the game?s name is low-hanging fruit, but Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 ? or, as no one has ever called it, MMS21 ? is one of those Switch ports that doesn?t seem like a whole lot of attention was put into it, and you don?t need to look very hard to see why. As far as I can tell, this is a straight port of the PC game (which was first released back in 2021, when the name made sense!). PC games, of course, have the benefit of mouse and keyboard, which are helpful in simulators like this where you need to be able to zoom in on very small parts and perform precise actions.

On the Switch, by contrast, it?s a chore. And not even a chore in a good way, as you?d hope for in a game that?s kind of literally about doing chores. Rather, it asks you to use either touch controls or the thumbstick/button combo to do tasks like finding lots of tiny little parts scattered all over the motorcycles without much in the way of direction, and then painstakingly unscrewing the screws holding the parts in place. As you can imagine, it?s painfully unfun. Once you?ve done all the tasks for each new motorcycle that comes into the shop, you get to test ride them, which is a nice bonus ? but to get there, you?re performing lots of menial labour, and as soon as you?re done the test ride it?s back to doing more menial labour.

To be fair, as someone who doesn?t even have a driver?s license, I?m not exactly knowledgeable when it comes to motorcycle parts, so I was at a bit of a disadvantage in figuring out what the game was asking me to fix. But at the same time, last year we had Rover Mechanic Simulator from the same publisher, and even if I didn?t particularly enjoy it, I could at least say it was playable on a console. I don?t think the same can be said for Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021, since you?re going to spend a lot more time here fighting with the fiddly camera and controls than you are fixing up and riding bikes.

Which means, ultimately, that there?s no real reason to pick Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 up on the Switch. It might be fine on PC (though the Steam reviews indicate even that?s a bit of a mixed bag), but as far as the Switch release goes, even if you?re a huge fan of motorcycles, you?re better of skipping this one.

Ultimate Games provided us with a Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 Nintendo Switch code for review purposes.