Cart Life (2013)

 PC
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Digital Spy
    Mar 29, 2013
    100
    A few bugs aside, Cart Life is an astounding achievement.
  2. Post Arcade (National Post)
    Mar 26, 2013
    85
    Cart Life really is unlike anything else out there. I’ve never had a game that so pointedly puts you into a role and expects you to make its life work just like your own.
  3. 4P.de
    Jul 16, 2013
    80
    While the concept shines, the execution sometimes is not as elaborated. Nonetheless I left this grey and pixelated world in good spirit.
  5. PC Gamer
    May 21, 2013
    80
    Emotive storytelling that puts the tedium and stress of work before pleasure, but somehow still has a lightness of touch. [July 2013, p.70]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. Multiplayer.it
    Apr 22, 2013
    80
    Cart Life is a truly rewarding experience. It's all about feelings and connection. Difficult to believe as it sounds, your favourite videogame heroes for the years to come are three ordinary people.
  7. GameTrailers
    Mar 22, 2013
    80
    Even with numerous technical problems, Cart Life offers more than simple entertainment. You’ll cringe when Andrus’ rent is due and despite your best efforts, you’ve come up short. Dealing with the landlord is more frightening than most survival horror games and it has a lot to do with the fact that you aren’t shooting zombies. This isn’t escapism at all; Cart Life puts the trials of life front and center. For once, the player has to think about issues rather than blasting them with a shotgun.
  8. GameSpot
    Jan 14, 2013
    75
    If you have the patience to endure its myriad technical problems, you'll find a captivating portrait of urban existence in Cart Life.
  9. Destructoid
    Feb 4, 2013
    65
    Cart Life is short love with a long term divorce. The beginning speaks to the heart and intellect, but the rest recalls pain and boredom. It's worth experiencing, but go in knowing you may not be the right person for the job.

Awards & Rankings

42
#42 Best PC Game of 2010

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 22
  3. Negative: 7 out of 22
  1. Traque
    May 14, 2013
    3
    Cart Life has all the aspects of a brilliant game: striking art style, fantastic storytelling, and unique gameplay mechanics, all of whichCart Life has all the aspects of a brilliant game: striking art style, fantastic storytelling, and unique gameplay mechanics, all of which should have made it the quintessential indie game. Unfortunately, these are completely buried under game-breaking bugs, bizarre design decisions, and a pretentious author who refuses to fix anything and labels everyone who disagrees with him as a "hater". The bugs are the worst of it they occur all the time and will usually result in a crash. Since the game saves your progress very infrequently, a crash means you can lose a lot of work. There's also no pause function or way to slow down time, so if you get a call or need to step away for a second, too bad. The game itself is fairly short once you figure out what to do, and none of the endings are particularly satisfying. If Hofmeier would fix the bugs, expand the gameplay, and get over himself, this would be a no-brainer to buy. But as things stand, this is more like a very early beta, and not even worth the $5.… Full Review »
  2. Corwin86
    Dec 23, 2013
    5
    Many reviews already said much...

    My rating is low because I really liked the idea, the setting... and also the style of the graphics, why    Many reviews already said much...

    My rating is low because I really liked the idea, the setting... and also the style of the graphics, why not...

    Sadly, the game is still buggy, way too difficult to play or to "understand" in some circumstances.

    But, most serious of all, the developer still haven't resolved many bugs, this is the main problem.

    I wish I could play this game again, but now are months that I wait for patches... and little comes...

    A really wasted chance, in my opinion.    … Full Review »
  3. Kitouski
    Jul 17, 2013
    5
    Let me start with saying I love this game. I really do and I want to recommend it to everyone. It's price point should make it a must have,Let me start with saying I love this game. I really do and I want to recommend it to everyone. It's price point should make it a must have, given it's critical praise, unique story telling and bizarre yet fun game play. All of these things should have been, but I just can't recommend this game to anyone in it's current bug infested state and I can't say it's worth it's retail price.

    Cart Life is a game were you play as a cart stand owner, taking care of various mundane tasks such as eating, sleeping and traveling. Three different characters have different trades with their carts and have various addictions and problems, giving you a lot to tend to with both limited time and a limited budget. I don't think I've ever played such close attention to my budget in a game before, in fear of hitting the red at all times.

    Not sure what time it is and need to make it back home? Don't miss the bus or else you can expect to spend the next couple of hours walking or pay a hefty taxi fare. Hungry and need to eat before getting to work? Time is work, work is money and on top of that food isn't free. This game is incredibly depressing and constantly puts you up to doing boring, mundane tasks like folding newspapers and brushing your teeth.

    Now comes the issues (primary bugs) that essentially breaks this game. This game is fairly short, and shouldn't take you too long to start finishing the game with each character. Having said that, I have gotten caught conversations in game with inescapable infinite loops, the game outright crashing, and other bugs that would be on the edge of spoilers on more then one occasion. I have crashed more often then I have finished the game, bugging out a handful of times and having to start again from scratch. The bugs are simply out of control and this would be excusable as an indie title still in development but this game has been around for nearly 3 years as of this writing and has only recently been put on Steam for the whole world to see. If the game still plays like an early beta, why does it have an official release? This is excusable and I'm quite frankly surprised Steam allowed a game in this condition to be sold through them.

    Gripes with the game itself would include the inability to pause the game at all. Any time while you're playing the game, whether that be walking from point a to point b, having a conversation and even opening help files to understand how to play the game and the clock is ticking and you have no way to stop it. Many features in the game exist to try to give a painfully realistic feel where you can waste time and must constantly satisfy needs to survive so whether the inability to pause was intentional or not is beyond me. While many of the frustrating features of the game make it what it is, the inability to pause the game is simply pushing it. I couldn't imagine any other reason it would be excluded given how easy that should be to program in. Maybe it was the designer's idea of a joke, but there's quite a bit of irony when life's calling and you have to use the bathroom or take a call but you can't because you'll character will starve and it'll be 1am by the time you get back without closing the game.

    All in all, this is a game that I would support the critics on if it weren't for the numerous bugs that aren't mentioned at all in the mainstream reviews. This absolutely needs to be fixed. I feel suckered into buying this game seeing praise for it everywhere, down to an amazing Metacritic average score hanging out next to it in the Steam Store.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »