Cart Life (2013)

 PC
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

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  1. 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, 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.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.    … Expand
  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 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    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.    … Expand
  3. 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 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 aCart 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.… Expand
  4. leetdood
    May 14, 2013
    0
    This is an incredibly buggy game that has been critically acclaimed by gaming journalists, as if they thought people wanted to buy pieces of art, instead of an actual playable game. This game would have been good if the author updated it, but as far as I can see he's intent on scamming people out of their money by giving them an incomplete product. The game is incredibly buggy and youThis is an incredibly buggy game that has been critically acclaimed by gaming journalists, as if they thought people wanted to buy pieces of art, instead of an actual playable game. This game would have been good if the author updated it, but as far as I can see he's intent on scamming people out of their money by giving them an incomplete product. The game is incredibly buggy and you can't even attempt to play it well without running into like 10 bugs, some of them that require you to end or restart your game. Overall, I would rate this a DO NOT BUY.… Expand
  5. mfs1970
    May 17, 2013
    0
    so hideously ugly with such annoying music who could ever look beyond this books cover! Atari 2600 anyone? This honestly appears as though it would fit on a 360k 5.25" floppy disk and run on an 8088 pc!
  6. ericcoutinho
    Jun 12, 2014
    8
    Cart Life is focused on story, and the everyday life of simple workers trying to survive in the real world. You'll see yourself engaged in their hard and time-consuming tasks like paying the rent, bills, take care of a son or a cat, eating, addictions, dealing with people and their own problems.

    You'll be challenged everyday to manage their time at work, travel, and common tasks.    Cart Life is focused on story, and the everyday life of simple workers trying to survive in the real world. You'll see yourself engaged in their hard and time-consuming tasks like paying the rent, bills, take care of a son or a cat, eating, addictions, dealing with people and their own problems.

    You'll be challenged everyday to manage their time at work, travel, and common tasks. Earning money is a constant concern, and it will be very hard. Meantime (a very scarce time) you have to know your new city, what you can get at local stores, for how much, and what you can get to improve your business. To get a life, to be happy and healthy, not just to survive, and you will be concerned by your character in a sad, depressive way.

    Cart Life is not an easy game on any aspect.
    It takes me 10hs just to have a relatively good ending with a single of the three characters.
    Although the description like "a retail simulator" is true, don't expect so much depth about it. The mechanics are very simple - sometimes dull - and most of the time you'll struggle with them. It's not a game design issue, but a perceived and mostly well-done attempt to reproduce the boring and mechanical aspects of a simple work.

    About bugs.
    I had some difficulty to put the game to work, and the single author doesn't give us any support or patches. I still getting very rare crashes (like 2 or 3 in 10 hours).

    But some things i saw people complaining doesn't seem like bugs to me, like the cash register refusing to open sometimes, or realizing you have no change, and you'll lose your customer. I saw these things perfectly fitting the game purpose, and i think most people will see them like bugs because of the random aspect of the game, or the absence of a good AI. So, every time you open your cash register this random aspect will define how much money it have inside, and you can see the same customer many times on a single day.

    The art style is fabulous for those who had an MSX or similar by the 80's, and although we had not mouses at this time, the gameplay is very closer, sometimes dull like i said before. The soundtrack are really good and old school too, and the music will stay in your head for a long time after playing.    … Expand
  7. SomePCGamer
    Jul 19, 2014
    8
    I am gonna warn you that this review is incomplete and does not include a look at all aspects of the game.It is overall a Great game. But playing with Melaine is impossible. You simply do not have enough money to get started with the coffee shop. This game is pretty hard but in a good way. It challenges you to play more if you dare(the relationship between Andrus and his cat Mr. GlembovskiI am gonna warn you that this review is incomplete and does not include a look at all aspects of the game.It is overall a Great game. But playing with Melaine is impossible. You simply do not have enough money to get started with the coffee shop. This game is pretty hard but in a good way. It challenges you to play more if you dare(the relationship between Andrus and his cat Mr. Glembovski is heartbreaking and i stopped playing because Glembovski went missing two times in a row). This game is very friendly for colorblind people and the music is retro style and works suprisingly well with the dark and depressive art style. I haven't played with the third character yet, because i left almost crying when Mr. Glembovski went missing again.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

42
#42 Best PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

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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. 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.
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  2. 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]
  3. 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.
    Read full review
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