Aspyr, the publisher best known for its Mac ports of popular PC franchises, will be producing a handful of Nintendo DS games in 2009. The first dual-screen portable title out of the company will be Touch Mechanic, a game that's more than a little inspired by Atlus' Trauma Center. But instead of saving people's lives, you're fixing up a series of automobiles.
In the same way Trauma Center let you 'be' a doctor without the risk of endangering real lives, Touch Mechanic gives you the chance to tinker under car hoods without any danger of causing a pile-up by mis-fitting a gearbox. Garage procedures are much like operations – select a tool, pick a part to fix, replace the right screws and so on. They're competent enough, though intricate paint jobs are too fiddly and all the damn screws look the same. You can do a spot of car modding as well, but the options are pretty limited.
Early in the game, players are told what to do and how to do each step along the way. After moving past the first customs show, players must remember the tasks they've done before. Tasks do get quite repetitive as one can expect, with four tires each held on with four bolts – but the object is to learn new tricks like how to change over to a dual exhaust system or add a new bumper. These new tricks take some of the sting out of the repetitive segments.
GameZone writes: "Touch Mechanic doesn't try to create a revolutionary gameplay experience. Instead it treads in a wading pool that isn't too deep for anyone to feel worried. If you're a car buff and wanted a customization/repair car game then Touch Mechanic will be your game. You'll have probably just enough elements to keep you playing all the way until the end".
