Walker Texas Ranger
Like all simulations that can exist, Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator stays classic. The title gets you started by creating your character, from a choice of templates. Please understand that here, the character editor will be strictly limited, with the choice of gender, and only three small face choices on the female and male sides. Already, this mechanic is extremely poor. However, we hope that early access will allow the little guys at To-Go Games to rectify the situation and offer more customization possibilities in the future.
But in short, once the character is made, you are ready to take up your post in Faremont National Park. You will be able to travel in a vehicle and travel the road, or on the contrary wander on foot along the various trails, where most of the park’s visitors walk. For the rest, know that you start in your refuge, where it will be possible to make a quick trip, to sleep once it is possible to spend the night, or to visit the reception center next door.
The latter, however, does not have a lot of interactions, apart from adding your various photos of the local flora and fauna, in order to interest visitors. A bit like the shelter, this reception center is under-utilized. Furthermore, it is a great shame that the game does not currently allow us to carry out nighttime rounds. This would indeed be a good idea to break the routine of the day, although there are sometimes changing weather conditions, which ultimately have little impact.
And the lack of consequences on most mechanics, we will continue to harp on throughout this article. But before that, it is clear that Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator remains suitable technically and artistically. We are initially enthusiastic about the green settings, oscillating between trails, forests, clearings and a few surrounding campsites. There’s even some life in the game, with a few hikers roaming the area.
This is encouraging, but we will once again regret a really dated technique on 3D models. Everything is quite robotic, like the animations or the game physics, very strange and old-fashioned. For the first game from the Slovak studio there is still hope, but we will have to work hard to obtain a flamboyant result. Especially since most environments end up looking the same, and it would perhaps be wise for the To-Go Games teams to probably add more different biomes during its early access, which releases this March 10 on Steam.
The hard, boring life of a forest ranger
Now that the foundations are laid, you have to be respected as a new forest ranger who has recently arrived in the region. To do this, you can first interact with the various characters, in particular to check their authorization. As in a Papers Pleaseyou must check the validity date, the type of subscription and if the protagonist is in the right place and at the right time of day (morning or afternoon). Depending on what you find, you can pronounce the sentence on them. You can choose to validate his papers because everything is in order via a dialogue choice, or tell him that he has broken in.
Subsequently, you can decide to exclude him, wipe him out, call him to order, or simply fine him. Once you have validated your answer, it will flash green if you are correct, and red if you are wrong. A mechanic that is still pleasant at the beginning, but unfortunately without consequences even if you mess up, apart from not having any experience at worst. We would have liked to have at least penalty points, but that is not the case. The developers obviously have in mind to include new mechanics throughout this early access which is supposed to last a year, and let’s see if they will do what is necessary to improve all the game mechanics.
Obviously, be aware that there are still this lack of consequences, especially if you do not go to your shelter on time. You start work at 7:30 a.m. and once 7 p.m. has passed in the game, Effy, the protagonist who is with you constantly on the radio, will summon you to return to your cozy nest in order to finish your current day. If you don’t do this, you will just have a loading screen, and will automatically move on to the next day, in the morning. Once again, no penalties to report, showing that Ranger’s Path; National Park Simulator must improve considerably.
Apart from these frustrating pitfalls, it is necessary to emphasize a progression that is as repetitive as it is unrewarding in terms of finality. If you actually want to continue to the next main mission, you will be required to gain experience. To do this, you will have to choose to collect garbage, clear some obstacles on the trails, check authorizations, provide information to visitors to guide them or answer their questions, or even simply restore certain elements of the numerous trails, as well as carry out additional missions. They will often be given to you randomly by Effy, and you will be free to accept them or not.
In absolute terms, Ranger’s Path: The National Park Simulator offers diversified activities to reach the next mission, but only most of the main quests will be most interesting. Between following footprints using your ranger sense which can be activated via a button, and also tracking down poachers or individuals turning the national park upside down with graffiti everywhere, there will still be plenty to do. This is perhaps even one of the strengths of the software, unfortunately undermined by an additional side and a progression which will be too boring after several hours. We will also note missions where you have to find lost hikers, and go through dialogue choices on how to take care of them, but these phases are too rare to be exhilarating.
The tools of the perfect ranger
In other gameplay elements, you should know that your forest ranger will be equipped with a host of tools to repair bridges, or repaint benches or even panels. Depending on what you need to repair, an icon will be displayed on the object to be repaired to show you which tool to use. At this point you will need to open a selection wheel and select the right accessory to start work. Depending on the device selected (adjustable wrench, hammer, etc.), you will need to carry out a small QTE, different depending on the tool. Once done, this will restore the item in question.
You will also have a waste grabber, with a garbage bag which will fill up gradually, and which will have to be emptied with a trash can in the surrounding area. QTE sequences which are otherwise not very stimulating, sometimes riddled with bugs. And surprise, there are no consequences for missing them. Ranger’s Path; National Park Simulator obviously wants to be a little too much chilland therefore quickly redundant on its gameplay loop, already scratched by its progression.
There is, however, a minimum variety of tools available, but it should be noted that the selection wheel is still capricious at present. It is common to have to click on it several times so that our protagonist decides to select it. We will note a rigidity in the character controls, too limited. A few invisible walls also come to play spoilsport on this map, which tarnishes the gaming experience.
Moreover, for a simulation, the driving of the vehicle is very questionable at the moment. The feeling nevertheless remains relatively old-fashioned and with very few credible sensations. We have the impression of controlling a bar of soap, and locating the damage on our car would not have been an exception, in order to increase the realism of this simulation. However, we will not shy away from our pleasure with the use of a camera, trying to diversify a gameplay which really needs it, in order to photograph the fauna and flora.
Finally, regarding the overall interface of the tablet which serves as a hub for mission objectives or even the map and or lexicon of fauna and flora, it is quite refined. But once again, elements that could have been nice, such as a skills tree or even a management aspect, are absent.
Coming out of these many hours of Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator, we cannot say that it is yet a simulation of a ranger who breaks bricks. Although the core of the gameplay is functional for an early access title, we still have the feeling that there is a huge lack of game mechanics to make the software a little nugget. Alas, apart from a few frankly pleasant main missions, we find ourselves with gameplay elements without major consequences or at worst, a loop that is too routine, which can make you let go of the title too quickly. It’s a generally mixed impression that this simulation leaves us with, which has potential, and let’s see if over the course of early access, the Slovaks at To-Go Games will be able to reverse the trend.