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  1. UPDATE: The latest patch (version 1.4.201) corrects the crashing glitch on level 49. I've left the details in the review with a strikethrough to maintain context but the rating has been changed to reflect the now bug-free version of the game. Combine the head-spinning physics puzzles of Bridge Constructor with the sardonic commentary of GLaDOS and you've got Bridge Constructor Portal from developer ClockStone and publisher Headup Games. This mash-up feels like a no-brainer: both series challenge the player with wild puzzles that you often only complete by the skin of your teeth. Adding portals, turrets, and weighted companion cubes to the makeshift construction challenges of Bridge Constructor adds a welcome new dimension to the gameplay. Puzzle fans should enjoy the variety of challenges that Bridge Constructor Portal offers from the first simple construction to the final nail-biting test. You play as a new recruit to the Aperture Science test lab where you build bridges to transport test vehicles from start to goal across sixty levels. As you might expect if you've played Portal, GLaDOS oversees the test procedure and often begins the level with her unique brand of deadpan humor. Fans of Portal will love to hear from everyone's favorite homicidal AI, and she is once again voiced by Ellen McLain. Obviously the puzzle structure of Bridge Constructor Portal doesn't lend itself to much storytelling depth but the quips from GLaDOS and a few little skits at the beginning of each section of the game add just the right touch of dark humor to the game. If you haven't played a Bridge Constructor title before they are physics-based puzzle games. At the simplest level your goal is to guide a vehicle from the starting point to the goal by building a bridge/roadway. Bridges have to be supported properly—a single line stretched across a large chasm will simply collapse—so there's some degree to which you have to take weight and balance into account. Bridge Constructor Portal eases you into the gameplay with plenty of tutorial levels and even includes a best practices guide that offers helpful tips on keeping your bridges supported. Even with just the standard bridge elements there are numerous ways for the game to challenge you, and oftentimes you'll be staring at the screen with your fingers crossed, willing the bridge to stay up long enough for the test vehicle to make it to the end. When you add Portal elements to the mix, things start to get crazier. With portals you have to be extra-thoughtful of a vehicle's speed; with turrets you need to find a way to disable them before the vehicle rolls into their line of sight; with weighted companion cubes you have to love them for all of the assistance they offer. Pretty soon your vehicles will be sailing through the air from one portal to another, briefly landing on your makeshift bridge construction before rolling into the goal. Like any good puzzle game solving these extra-difficult levels is hugely satisfying—and, for more sadistic players, the inventive ways you can crash vehicles or send them hurtling into pits of acid is awfully entertaining. And the brightside to Bridge Constructor Portal's gameplay is the wiggle room afforded to the player. Generally there is a method to solving a puzzle, but you don't have to be perfectly exact—there's some leeway in terms of how you get there. This is only further evidenced by the extra challenge of each level: getting multiple test vehicles to the exit. Sometimes your bridge is only good enough to get one vehicle to the goal, but to get an entire convoy of ten cars safely to the exit your design has to be sturdy. These convoy challenges aren't needed to progress in the game but finishing them does add an extra layer of difficulty, and proves your mastery of the game's physics. There's also a pseudo third layer of difficulty: to complete a level with the least number of bridge components, thereby keeping construction costs to a minimum. I say pseudo because the game doesn't actually offer any kind of benchmark for construction costs, but you can see how much you spent at the end of each level and know for yourself whether you were efficient or wasteful. With sixty levels Bridge Constructor Portal offers plenty of intense challenges. You may feel like you're breezing through the early levels but soon enough each puzzle can take what feels like an hour to finish as you first plot out what needs to happen then carefully adjust with trial-and-error tests. Since you have to finish each puzzle to move on to the next it's easy to feel stymied at times, especially as you test a bridge over and over. Some constructions can take a good sixty seconds to complete, and watching everything play out only for one error at the end which means you have to make a small adjustment and run the whole thing again—it can be tiresome at times. But the game rewards patient and persistent players. If you're prepared to overcome the game's plentiful challenges there's a lot for a puzzle fan to enjoy here. The game's controls also leave something to be desired at times, but thankfully the gameplay never requires fast movement. Moving with the left control stick can be a bit stiff—it's not hard to see that the game was originally designed for mouse and keyboard—but since you aren't building in real-time there's no penalty for just taking your time. This Switch version of the game also offers touch controls, but in this case you're sacrificing precision for speed. Even if it can be a little clunky at times it makes more sense to stick with the control stick and buttons. UPDATE: Patch 1.4.201 fixes the crashing glitch on level 49. I've left the text below for context on the original review but this no longer affects the game's rating. Unfortunately we've come to the elephant in the room that I mentioned at the beginning of this review. Every time I finished level 49 the game would crash, bringing me back to the Switch's main menu, and forcing me to restart the game at the beginning of level 49. Having to restart one of these puzzles even once would be pretty annoying since it can take so long to figure out the perfect configuration of bridges and ropes to reach the goal, but when the game crashes every single time I try to progress that's a flat out game breaking bug. I can't say how prevalent this bug is but it left a pretty large stain on my experience with the game and means I can't recommend the game whole-heartedly, even if the rest of the gameplay was solid. Bridge Constructor Portal offers plenty of unique physics puzzles that manage to find the fine balance between challenging and engaging. Your grasp of simple physics/bridge construction will be tested, but the satisfaction of each level completed is a strong motivator—that, and GLaDOS's mocking commentary. Be sure you've updated the game to the most recent version to avoid any bugs. Otherwise, get ready for a mind-boggling puzzle adventure across bridges, over pits of acid, and through portals. Rating: 8 out of 10 Bridges Review copy provided by publisher Bridge Constructor Portal is available now on the Switch eShop for $14.99.
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