Click&Fix Review

I better be getting paid for this Mr. Pager Guy.

Time for another incremental game! Honestly, I almost passed this one up until I looked at the developer, thought it seemed familiar, and found out it was from the same guy that made Infiniclick. And since I liked Infiniclick, I thought I would like this one too! Well, let’s dive right on into my review!

In Click&Fix, you’re just going about your day until you find a pager. Strange, but not as strange as what you just stumbled into. It turns out that whoever is sending you messages was so into repairing consoles that they stumbled upon an evil console which then sent them into another dimension. This stranger has no idea where they’re at, but suspects that the only way to get out is to find the console that did it to them. You decide to help him and thus starts the long day of cleaning and repairing consoles. Too bad you can’t keep all the money you’re making , but hey I don’t think you’re doing this for money. You’re just a good samaritan. Also, it seems only one person could be taken by the evil console, which is a good thing since you would have been trapped too.

The story here is simple and does its job, which is all it needed to do. It gives an explanation for the evil boss consoles, doubles as a tutorial, and gives you a goal to help the guy behind the pager.

As with all incremental games, gameplay here is quite simple. Of course, you need to buy the consoles (which are a variety of different handheld consoles) that you’ll be repairing first, with the first one being free. You just need three tools: a screwdriver, a brush, and a little repair robot. Flipping the handheld console over, you’ll see the screw(s) you need to, well, unscrew. Once all of them are fully unscrewed, you can then clean off all the first with your brush. This will then allow your little repair robot to come in to repair the motherboard or whatever is wrong with the console. Once the repair robot does its job you can then screw the back panel back on and finally sell it off! For much more than you bought the broken version for. Pretty easy to get the hang of and to get into a rhythm. You do also get money goals which works as a way to gate consoles and upgrade tabs. It also is a way for you to encounter the evil rogue consoles which act as boss encounters. You’ll be repairing the evil consoles just like you would a regular console, but with a challenging twist as each of them will throw you in for a loop on your first time encountering them. Like the first evil console gives you a ton of tight screws. Not only that, but you are also timed so you have to make sure you got all the upgrades you can realistically get.

Of course, that’s not all as there are a lot of upgrades you can buy to make things easier. This is especially helpful as consoles do get harder to clean and fix the more expensive they are. You can increase your screwdriver’s strength and even make the cursor bigger so you can unscrew more than one screw at a time, upgrade your repair robot to be faster and more efficient, upgrade batteries for all of your tools, and even add more tools with upgrades that leads to automation (just to name a few).

This isn’t all in the upgrade department as there is a roguelite element in Click&Fix. You won’t be able to save the guy behind the pager at your base knowledge so you’ll be heading to the Research Table where you have an upgrade tree. Using Research Points that you’ll earn whenever you repair an evil rogue console, you can buy upgrades that will follow you between runs. These are actually pretty helpful like increasing how much money you’ll earn, increasing your base screwdriver strength, increasing the evil console timers, and giving you an easier way to flip multiple consoles at once.

It will most likely take you multiple runs, but eventually you’ll have your hands on the console that trapped the pager guy. It will rue the day that it failed to trap you in another dimension as you’ll be ready for it this time.

Once you finish the story, you’ll unlock Unscrewing Ace mode. This basically is a mode that both expands the game past where it ends in the story and a challenge mode. It not only adds more consoles and goals, as well as a more powerful base screwdriver, but a 20 minute timer. Once the 20 minutes are up, you’ll be kicked out. Of course, this also means that it has its own Research upgrade tree with upgrades that will add a handful of seconds to the timer when you do the requirement (like repairing the egg consoles that have a low chance of appearing) or make a few things a bit easier. Unscrewing Ace mode is also where you’ll be able to make a ton of Research Points, which is needed considering its own upgrade tree gets pricey quickly.

I’m honestly pretty mixed on Click&Fix. On one hand, I do like the incremental gameplay but on the other I don’t like the roguelite element. Even though I haven’t played many incremental games, I do know that I like ones that price upgrades well. Meaning that you don’t go a long time without being able to buy any upgrades. I did feel that Click&Fix did well in this aspect, both with how much they are and progress gating them. I also did like the gameplay itself and how you eventually upgrade to where most of it is automated. However, it’s the roguelite element of the game that I didn’t end up liking. I think part of it is because I didn’t know it was in the game, even though I did play the demo haha, but it did cause me some confusion. It’s a bit embarrassing, but the first five runs after my demo save (by the way, your demo seems to carry over to the full game) I quit to menu after repairing the first evil console since I didn’t realize the goal progress bar also got repaired. I thought there was meta progression I had to hit I guess, but I figured it out eventually. Plus it did allow me to get some meta upgrades. Figuring that out did make me lighten up on the roguelite element, but then I hit the Unscrewing Ace mode where I went back to not really liking it. Granted though, that may be more because of a mix of the hard 20 minute timer, opportunities to add time is few and far between and barely adds time to the timer, and accelerating game time.

Anyway, I did like the upgrades themselves. I am a bit surprised there wasn’t a Research upgrade that lets you start with a tool you can buy later in a run (like the magnet) or increase your base brush strength or increase the base Unscrewing Ace timer though. The tools you get later in the run are pretty helpful and I like how you can get it to where you can mostly automate the cleaning and repairing process (though not for long since a run is basically over by that time sadly). I did also like having a chance of different color variants of consoles appearing and how they sell for much more than the default color (and especially how you can get an upgrade that guarantees it). Oh, and I almost forgot that this game was pretty perfect to play while listening to something else.

So, yeah, pretty mixed on this title. I was honestly planning on 100%-ing the game (even though that meant needing to replay the tutorial since demo progression carrying over didn’t unlock it automatically), but I just got tired of Unscrewing Ace mode and not being able to progress to the point where I was seeing new consoles as well as the Ace upgrades being too pricey.

As for negatives, like I already mentioned I was mixed on the roguelite element of this game. I felt the upgrades tied to Unscrewing Ace mode get pricey too quickly and the hard 20 minute timer does make it harder to progress even to where story mode ends (granted, I did play the mode with game time accelerated). Part of me feels that a timed mode where you see how far you can get in 20 minutes should have been a challenge mode separate from an extended mode rather than it being combined into the same mode.

As for the visuals and sound, they’re good here. I do like the variety of handheld console models and how colorful and bold the game is (even though I almost did pass over the game due to it) and it has the classic relaxing music. Most of the sound effects are good too, but I did find that the sound for when you level up a console was too loud and harsh (even when I turned down SFX). It took me a while to even realize what it was tied to and honestly I don’t know if it’s needed or at least it should just be a little soft ding.

Verdict

I’m pretty neutral on Click&Fix. I did enjoy the incremental aspect of the game, but I’m mixed on the roguelite element. I did also like the Story mode, but mixed on Unscrewing Ace mode. Depending on the price, I do think if you just want to play the Story mode it’ll be worth it; otherwise I probably will only recommend this if you like incremental games, roguelites, and time challenges.