| Quick Verdict: Spray Paint Simulator has a long way to go before I can sit here and call it a good game. It’s certainly not the worst, is playable, and has some enjoyable aspects. Unfortunately, there are too many drawbacks that overshadow the good things. |
| Game: | Spray Paint Simulator |
| Developer(s): | North Star Video Games |
| Publisher: | Whitethorn Games |
| Review Score: | 6 |
| Cozy Score: | 7 |
| Price: | $14.99 |
| Pros: | Stabilization can be turned on to minimize motion sickness. |
| Cons: | You can’t co-op in the career path, only free spray, which isn’t accessible until you beat the level. There’s a hidden difficulty slider in the settings that I found 75% into the dreaded bridge, and it’s automatically set to the highest difficulty. There are very few levels for the price point. |
| Platforms: | PC |
| Genres: | Simulation |
Spray Paint Simulator is a tried and true concept wrapped up in a new package. You’re given something to paint, do the prep, and then get to work covering various objects with the requested colors of paint. You’ll paint smaller things like a car all the way up to a mecha robot that will require a cherry picker (truck) to complete.
This seemed like a homerun at this point, but Spray Paint Simulator has several things working against it. I wish I would wax poetic about all the good points before diving into what’s wrong, like I normally do, but this game is small, so there’s not much to say other than I loved the fact that you could stabilize the camera. Doing so means that your camera view isn’t whipping back and forth as you paint like some other versions of this gametype do.
Mega points for that stabilization, but things kind of just slide downhill from there.
Spray Paint Simulator boasts the ability to play co-op with your friends, which I think is a massive draw. It’s especially important when you have someone to help you with the bigger paint jobs. Unfortunately, you can’t play the Career mode multiplayer at all and the Free Spray co-op mode isn’t available until you’ve completed the level. So, you have to play through the game solo before you can replay it with friends.
For me, that kind of makes the Free Spray null and void. I’m not the type of gamer who likes to replay levels that I’ve already completed. So, I wouldn’t get anything out of this setup.
Also, I think the game difficulty scales far sharper than it should in terms of difficulty. You go from a car, a kitchen, and a bus, which all have smaller parts that keep you excited by progress, to a gallery, a bridge, and a mecha robot that are large expanses requiring more paint, which makes it harder to see the progress on.
If you’re wondering what’s after the robot… nothing. This is basically six levels. During the bridge level, you’ll be pulled out at 10% to paint the cherry picker you need. So, if you want to count that, then you have seven levels.
Watch the trailer for Spray Paint Simulator!
For me, this is too little content for the $15 price tag. I was expecting a lot more and while it does seem that there are intentions to add more levels at the end of the year, I’m not seeing the value in this moment. I’d advise waiting for more content to drop or waiting for a good sale before investing in Spray Paint Simulator if your heart is set on it.
While looking at the reviews, I found that most people had the same issue that I did. Once you hit the bridge, things slow down to a snail’s pace. The bridge introduces a lot of smaller parts with larger ones that require you to go around them 360 degrees and the required amount of coverage feels grueling.
Imagine my surprise when I went into the settings to check something and found a difficulty slider. The tutorial doesn’t mention it at all and, from my experience, these types of things are usually front and center on the main screen.
Not only was the slider hidden, but it’s automatically whacked up to the hardest difficulty. I was 75% into the bridge when I found this. By simply sliding the bar down, I got an additional 5% on my completion and the rest of the build went by like a dream.
From what I can tell, the difficulty affects the amount of paint needed on a surface for it to be considered “complete”. While the hardest difficulty might be fun while playing co-op, it just felt like beating a dead horse when playing alone.
Even using hints to show the parts I’d missed wasn’t helping me because the nooks and crannies were so small. There were even some upgrades you could get and those did little in the way of helping to ease the frustration.
If you play Spray Paint Simulator, I definitely recommend shifting down the difficulty once you hit the gallery. Things slow down there, but really slog once you get to the bridge. If you’d like to try it, you can get it for $14.99. Otherwise, you can check out some of our other reviews, like Tiny Aquarium: Social Fishkeeping or Squeakross: Home Squeak Home.
