If you go back through the various real-life job sims on the Switch, you’ll find that my track record with them has hardly been kind. In my defense, there’s a substantial number of them out there that simply have no business being released as a finished product, but there have also been plenty that are implemented well enough, I’ve just found them to be snooze-worthy. But hey, what better way to help point out those titles that leave a positive impression than to be sure to clear the deck of those that are merely middling at best.

Most typically sims that have revolved around construction I’ve found to be pretty tedious. While the creative aspects of doing something like building a house can be fun, it’s been depressing how many of these titles have had you doing quite a lot of drudgery like clearing the lot or things of that nature first. OK, so you’ll do a bit of that in this title as well, but a key difference is that the majority of the time you’ll at least be using heavy equipment in some way to do it. As the old saying goes involving big boys and their toys, there’s just something fun about taking control of some machinery and getting to know the nuances of getting it to do your bidding.

If this sounds like it could be fun, I’ve got pretty good news for you, as the game is loaded with opportunities to use all sorts of heavy vehicles across over 100 different jobs. I’ll admit that getting started with the first few was a little rockier than I expected. But as I got used to aspects like which camera angle to switch to in order to be able to see what you’re doing, or being mindful of the controls that can take some effort to get accustomed to, I began warming to it more. 

There’s no question that, especially when compared to the competition, Construction Simulator 4 has really tried to put in the work to try to make it a great experience. Sure, you could hold the choice to have it set in Canada against it (I’m kidding), doing things like driving your rigs around town can be wonky and kind of funny, and not everything is a blast to use. That said, variety really is what helps sell the experience, and taking a crack at just about every piece of construction equipment you can imagine does have some appeal… though perhaps it’s best to pick up on sale.