Developed by picture4u and published in conjunction with FreeMind SA, CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian is a job simulation game in which you lace up the rubber-soled boots of a computer repair man that’s also a dab hand in systems administration. It’s a strange merging of technology occupations but that’s not all that’s strange about this run-of-the-mill game.
A Day in the Life of a CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian Tech
Sticking to the tired and overused job simulation theme, CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian throws you straight into the shallow end with the most mundane of job-related tasks. Starting out with a little light soldering and systems administration work, the little promise is shown within the early parts of the game.
With that being said, there’s something quite therapeutic about fixing components and I quickly began to question my sanity as I found myself settling into an RFID chip repair and – dare I say it – enjoying myself as I got lost in the process.
While still sticking to the unchanging tracks of job-simulation games, the topic explored this time around is certainly one of the more interesting ones. With the jobs coming in thick and fast, there’s also a little variety in the given tasks that keep things interesting and running along a nice and steady pace.
Of course, it isn’t all computer component repair in a day in the life of a computer technician, so picture4u also throw a systems administration element into your role. This part of the job requires you to add new users to the database; change users’ roles, emails and passwords; and be a general dog’s body – a slave to the database as you work to keep it free from intrusion and running in fine order.
CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian – Hacker Alert!
While I never had any first-hand experience of a hacker during my time playing CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian, the prologue does leave hints that somewhere down the line the company has annoyed the wrong kind of person. Having sat on his (or her) rage at your business for so long, he (or she) can no longer take it and wrecks his (or her) havoc on your growing enterprise.
From videos, however, I surmised that the black-hatted enemy hits your company by ways of systems intrusion, deleting crucial database items and – rather oddly – rearranging your office furniture (my research tells me that there isn’t yet a computer virus that can move your desk, so worry not). It would have been nice to experience the attacks first hand but that’s something I can look forward to in the coming days.
CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian and its Unfortunate Bugs
CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian is a mellow and relaxing experience, on the whole. However, this sedate and chilled out atmosphere is often shadowed by irritation as bugs begin to rear their ugly heads. While there are no real doozies that ruin the game completely, there are certain areas that need addressing in the coming weeks. The biggest of these came when I was first soldering and the iron just kept resetting into place every time I changed the camera angle to focus on the component I was working on. It doesn’t make the game unplayable, merely temporarily annoying.
CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian – Summary
CipherCraft: Cyber Guardian, is one of those games that would actually be enjoyable, if it wasn’t for the niggling bugs and irksome glitches. However, I have every faith that picture4u will see feedback and give the game a small update to iron out the creases. It shows plenty of promise and uncharacteristically for games of this ilk, has some nice features such as the cheat sheet built into the workstation mat and the voltage testing mechanic.
RATING
OUR SCORE - 6
6
SCORE
An interesting and relaxing job simulator with a cyber twist. Constantly tarnished, however, by bugs and glitches.