Constructor Download (1997 Strategy Game)

The goal in Constructor is to build a town, generate a flow of income, and keep the residents happy. As the game progresses towards the more advanced stages, the player competes with other builders (computer or human controlled) for the prime locations in which to build a new community. Gaining control of the best areas can often be accomplished through dirty tricks and ruthless tactics. Two Constructor players can compete head-to-head over the Internet or a local network.

Constructor gives the player the chance to run a construction company in a place where real estate is up for those who want to develop it first and where everything is allowed to get rid of the competition.

Starting in a single plot of land with the headquarters, a construction team (composed by a foreman and one to five workers) and a repairman, the player must start by building a wood mill and provide housing to the bottom of the social ladder: slobs. From there, taking advantage of their fast reproduction rate, the player can train new workers, and as soon as three different wooden huts are available, the council will allow the construction of a cement yard, which in turn allow the construction of better buildings. However, slobs wouldn't appreciate living in such luxury, and so a gadget factory can be built so that computers are distributed to their houses, allowing for a new generation of better educated citizens. While the workers pack a nasty punch when in a large group, violence should be left to the professionals. After building a Pizza Parlor, the player is allowed to use the services of gangsters. These are able to take on that pesky foreman or that building the Council asked to get rid off.

But there's more to the game than build from ghetto houses to luxury buildings, and as they say, all is fair in war, and construction IS war. The player can send his foremen to capture other teams' buildings, or do even worse: provide housing for the scum of society. From hippies to ghosts, these can do a number on the other teams' properties. Want to stress out a tenant? Send the thugs to do a wild party in their house. Need some cash or materials? Send the thief to relieve a team from them. All this while avoiding the others do the same on you by assigning police patrol to key areas. As time passes, it pays out to build other, more friendly, buildings. A school allows everyone to breed more civilized members of the society, the hospital allows recovery of wounds much faster or the park, where everyone goes to relax a little, among others. Improving the rooms and giving them garden furniture is also a good way of keeping tenants happy, but jealously can grow among neighbors. Failing to comply to tenants requests and demands will quickly turn the Council against the player.

The player will have to balance the output of their tenants to achieve success: overdoing one of the elements will take a dent on the bank account (leading to bankruptcy), cut the arrival of new workers (putting a strain of existing teams), replacement for deceased tenants (leaving houses vacant that eventually decay into a flaming pile of rubble not before giant cockroaches settle in) or police and mob favors (to patrol areas against undesirables and gangster actions).

The difficulty level affect what maps can be selected, but also which actions the undesirables can perform. To choose higher difficulty settings, more computer players (up to three) must be activated.

Constructor is a building game in which the purpose is to build buildings, make cash, and complete a series of objectives. You have only 5 maps to play on, which is a major disadvantage. Constructor is very humorous and doesn't have a shred of seriousness, so if you dislike funny games this is not for you.

Constructor is deep and has many features, including the ability to use police, mobsters, and gadgets to help you defeat your opponents and make your residents happy. If your residents become unhappy, they will leave and stop bringing in cash and extra workers (which build buildings and convert into repairmen and gangsters) and tenants (which populate your buildings). Workers can also take over buildings and attack enemy workers. Repairmen have the sole task of repairing your buildings whereas gangsters can attack enemies much more effectively than workers, and are the only people that can attack buildings.

Constructor's AI is extremley ruthless and will not hesitate to build on your land, take over and destroy your buildings, and generally wreak havoc. The graphics are extremely well-done for such a primitive engine. The sound is well done, although it isn't the best quality. This game is fun is because it oozes charm and is surprisingly addictive once you get into it.

Constructor has several downsides as well. While the interface is generally easy to use, it has a extremely annoying obmission; you cannot use the right mouse button to move your workers, which can get very annoying when you are trying to build up an area quickly before the AI moves in. Also, the game does not have much variety, and once you exhaust the initial charm and fun, it quickly becomes boring.

Overall Constuctor is an extremely fun game while it lasts.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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