There are some games out there that end up being entirely better than they have any right to be although they are almost never simulation based games.  The problem quickly becomes that the actual grading system falls apart with these titles, as they are wonderful and enjoyable–the problem is that the mechanics of it don’t tell the same story. What ends up is a game with game of the year quality enjoyment, but sometimes entirely broken gameplay that actually ends up making the game.

A perfect example of this is almost as soon as we started playing the game on the stream, (embedded below) and found out that you could file across the map and through the ski box simply by picking up an object you were standing on.  This action was almost 100% repeatable at that time.  The game’s response to this is giving the player an achievement for figuring out a way to reach an insane height.  This game knows how rough its edges are, it still wants you to embrace it.

The day to day of running the gas station seems like it would be a slog, but between the inventory management and constantly unlocking new sections of the station there is a nagging desire to keep going on.  There is even a price fluctuation mechanic that takes place if you keep the station open for days on end, driving the price of replacement goods higher and higher.  It is the subtle additions that truly make the game worth experiencing.

The station can also be customized to a rather interesting degree, although the downside of that is that it doesn’t really seem to impact the customers if you do it or just leave the paint to start peeling.  Even though the decorating and designing of things in the store is entirely cosmetic, and the clients only notice as they have to walk around whatever is placed it still gives the station a feeling like it is yours at the end.

Gas Station Simulator is better than it probably sounds in review, but numerically and mechanically it is nothing special.  What makes it special is the fact that it knows just what it is and just welcomes that strangeness.  You can tell that this is a project filled with passion, and that it must have been a really good time to make.  Buy this game, you owe it to yourself.