Line #76 VideoGame/Constructor


1	[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/constructor-pc_922.jpg]]
2	A RealTimeStrategy game set in a warped satire of the UK. You're put in the role of a building contractor. The object is to build and nurture a thriving neighborhood, with the ultimate goal of putting your rivals out of business.
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4	Also, each of the companies are owned by [[LondonGangster organised crime firms]]. That's a bit of a sticky wicket, eh, wot?
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6	Provided they're kept happy, tenants will breed rapidly, swelling your ranks with tomorrow's civil servants -- all of whom are on the take. For instance, producing a General Practitioner grinds your rivals' hospitals to a halt, while having a [[HangingJudge Magistrate]] results in longer jail sentences for undesirables. Think of it as ''VideoGame/TheSims'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Film/TheDeparted''.
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8	Much of the game's strategy comes from its tenant types, all of whom produce different workers and have their own respective quirks. They also tend to complain -- a ''[[UnsatisfiableCustomer lot]]''. Players also have to contend with the omnipotent City Council, which sometimes demands you develop a specific estate within the allotted time. Fail to do so, and you'll be sacked. [[CementShoes Literally]].
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10	''Constructor'' was developed for [=MS-DOS=] and released in 1997. The game was ported to the Platform/PlayStation, Platform/MacOS and [[Platform/MicrosoftWindows Windows-native DirectX-3]] the following year. A sequel set in UsefulNotes/TheRoaringTwenties, ''Constructor: Street Wars'' (''Mob Rule'' in North America) was released, but was not well-liked by fans. A HD remake of the original game was released in May 2017 for Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/XboxOne, Platform/NintendoSwitch, and PC with an enhanced version "Constructor Plus", following in 2019.
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12	!! This game provides examples of:
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14	* AmusementParkOfDoom: The "House of Fun" arcade, which produces [[MonsterClown Clown]] units. When a clown captures an enemy NPC, he escorts them to the aptly-named "Wheel of Death" ride.
15	* {{Angrish}}: Visit the home of a complaining tenant and you'll hear them grunt, groan, squeak, splutter and mutter gibberish.
16	* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: You can have five of each house type, ten of each tenant rank, twenty handymen and thirty workers. Enemy houses count against your own limit. Council missions will have you scrabbling to seize or destroy enemy estates just to raise the limit.
17	** In the sequel, you can technically make as many of any unit as you want. However, if it gets too high, the city will cut the overpopulation problem at the source (kill the tenant responsible, in other words). With enough firepower and a watchful eye, [[DefiedTrope you can stop this though]].
18	* ArtificialStupidity: Although effective at harassing your estates early in the game, the AI's tendency to overextend itself makes it a laughably weak enemy later on. The computer also lacks proper planning, which eventually leads to mass evictions.
19	* BadassInANiceSuit: Gangster units (shown on the left in the header image) are dressed to the nines.
20	* BadBoss: The company leadership is very unforgiving. Fail to meet an objective, and you aren't just fired, you are executed. It doesn't matter how successful you were prior to that point.
21	** In the "Street Wars" it's even worse, any failure to accomplish an objective or running out of money leads to you being subjected to CementShoes. It doesn't matter if it is a failure on the first mission or if you have a string of success, the boss will have you killed, even if failing an objective is simply deciding to kill an enemy before he decides it's time. [[InsaneTrollLogic Even if a building that you are supposed to not destroy gets destroyed thanks to circumstances that aren't your fault, it's deemed your failure and you are killed.]]
22	* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame:
23	** Hippies can lure enemy Hippies out of the house they're squatting in.
24	** Ghosts can scare tenants out of their houses. Clowns can scare ghosts out of the houses they're haunting.
25	* BigCreepyCrawlies: Neglected houses will produce man-sized cockroaches, which then begin strolling around the block on [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter two legs]].
26	* BlackComedy: The games are built on this. Gang warfare has never been so hilarious, especially with the Undesirables brought in.
27	* CardboardPrison: Police stations are useful for keeping scum off the streets, but become overcrowded quickly. Prisons are the next step up.
28	* ChainsawGood: Psychos (or "Gimps") are the most powerful melee unit. When set loose on a rival's land, they start revving their chainsaw maniacally, scaring away all workers and foremen on the site. Even gangsters are no match for the fat shirtless guy with a mask. However, a cop can apprehend them with little difficulty. With luck, they will serve out a 1000 day sentence in a maximum security jail you just built, and not get paroled in a week.
29	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The opposing teams: Green, Red, Yellow and Blue.
30	* ComplexityAddiction: The boss in "Street Wars" has some very overly complicated orders, wanting you to cause damage to enemy gangs in creative ways, while specifically ordering you '''not''' to attack them yet, in fact punishing you if you do so, even though you will eventually be allowed to wipe out the enemy later.
31	* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard:
32	** In the first level, all gangsters start with shotguns. you are informed that, in future levels, gangsters start with knives. They do, provided they are your gangsters - the computer's still start with shotguns.
33	** In the sequel, all AI opponents' Undesirables inexplicably have access to twice as many abilities as your own - your own Ghosts can't even haunt houses!
34	* ConcealmentEqualsCover: When being pursued by opposing units, fleeing into a subway entrance will cut the chase short. This gets pretty irritating when the computer does it.
35	* CrapsackWorld: You wouldn't want to live next to any of the hideously grotesque caricatures in this game. And the maximum life expectancy is only about 10 years!
36	* DamageIsFire: Damaged houses produce more and more flames, before finally exploding. Unless their plumbing has been sabotaged, in which case, they'll produce jets of water.
37	* DelayedExplosion: The sad fate of many a unit. It's an easy mistake to destroy an opponent's building before your units have gotten clear of the site, wiping them out in one fell swoop. Similarly, it's common to run away too soon, leaving the building with a small sliver of health. Then, inevitably, you send in a single unit to finish it off, and -- [[TheLastStraw yeah]].
38	* DemonicPossession: Ghosts have the option of possessing [=NPC=]s, turning them gray and rendering them uncontrollable for a short period.
39	* DirtyCop: Useful for protecting neighborhoods. While they don't qualify as melee units, they're the best method of ridding your place of psychos (short of just blowing up the biker bar, of course).
40	* DisposingOfABody: Required when you kill someone to avoid attracting the police. You can throw them in a cemetery, or alternatively you can throw them into a rival's property and attract the police to them, possibly causing a raid that shuts down their businesses.
41	* DominoMask: Thieves wear these.
42	* EvilVersusEvil: When you come into conflict with rival gangs.
43	* GangsterLand: Mob Rule/Street Wars' setting - its entire economy is run by feuding gangsters.
44	* GrumpyOldMan: The Major, the hardest tenant to please. He hates barking dogs, insects, garden gnomes, public buildings, undesirables, gangsters, factories, and evergreen trees - and, if you build the wrong fence around his property, he'll demand a series of replacements, finding fault in each.
45	* HauntedHouse: Produces ghosts to scare off tenants. These are less useful in and of themselves, but become an annoyance when opponents sic them on your estates.
46	* HaveANiceDeath: Failing the game results in a scene of pallbearers lowering your casket into an open grave. But -- what's ''this''? The inscription on the coffin reads "[[PunnyName A. LOSER]]"? Cut to inside the coffin, showing the player [[BuriedAlive still alive]] and struggling for air. You're fired, indeed.
47	* HouseSquatting: The hippie from the commune that you can build can squat enemy houses, and sometimes if you try to throw some tenants out, they'll become squatters.
48	* InstantWinCondition: In the original, destroying an enemy headquarters wipes out the enemy instantly, no matter how many properties they own.
49	* InUniverseGameClock: Days translate to about one real-time second. A speedy playthrough generally takes about 30 in-game years.
50	* {{Invisibility}}: Essentially what happens when a player's ghost possesses one of their own [=NPCs=]. An invisible unit can't be detected by enemies.
51	* LoadBearingBoss: Wiping out an enemy gang's HQ instantly puts up all of their buildings for sale. Right before every single. building EXPLODES.
52	* LoanShark: It gets ''really'' bad when the Mob Boss ''sends a helicopter to demolish your houses'' if you piss him off.
53	* LowerClassLout: Level 1 tenants; the Greasers and the Slobs (who can breed faster than any other group of tenant). Also the builders who answer their phones with a loud burp.
54	* MadeOfExplodium: Destroying a building causes not just it, but ''the entire lot'', to explode, causing fiery debris to rain down on the surrounding lots and damage them.
55	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: "Mr. Fixit", the (alleged) repairman, whose "repairs" coincide with gas explosions and block-levelling plumbing failures.
56	* MissionPackSequel: ''Constructor Plus'' is merely the HD remake with a few extra features added. This was apparently result of the contract with Deep Silver preventing System 3 from adding these features to the original game or removing it from sale.
57	* MobWar: The setting and plot of the second game.
58	* MonsterClown: One of the Undesirables. Runs an AmusementParkOfDoom, and sidelines in arson and exorcisms.
59	* NewAgeRetroHippie: There's the Hippie Undesirables who live in Communes and can be sent to picket, squat or party in enemy territory and the hippie 'Student' tenants who insist on having hedgerows on their properties.
60	* NotInMyBackyard: Tenants richer than Punks and Greasers will object to living near factories. Those richer than Nerds will object to Police and other public buildings. All breeding tenants will complain about nearby Undesirables, Mafia headquarters, and 8-foot-tall cockroaches living in nearby houses.
61	* OopNorth: Handymen are Scousers.
62	---> "All right, calm down!"
63	%%* OurGhostsAreDifferent
64	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Ghosts spawn these by polluting the soil of an estate, causing graves to erupt. These living dead will terrorize the local residents and keep the police distracted dealing with them.
65	* PaletteSwap: Many of the Street Wars/Mob Rule's units, tenants and Undesirables are remodeled versions of the original game's.
66	* PoliceAreUseless: The police are corrupt and will run protection criminal gangs, along with the enemies if they pay them. The radio broadcast to the end of the first map in "Street Wars" reveals the entire town's police force was arrested by the FBI.
67	* PsychoForHire: The undesirables fall under this, mostly the aptly-named [[ShapedLikeItself Psychos]].
68	* SequelGoesForeign: Constructor is very, very English. Street Wars/Mob Rule takes things American, and visits a few other mob towns across the world, though some of the Cockney voice resources still appear.
69	* ToiletHumour: The little video animations that play when you click on the sprites show workers burping into their phones, fat babies pooing themselves, and dogs scooting along the ground on their bottoms next to steaming piles of dog dirt.
70	* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Tenants and the council make increasingly particular demands of your planning and hiring, and you'll only learn of them after they've sent you a StronglyWordedLetter which may be the warning of an imminent GameOver.
71	* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: The world you are in may operate on [[BlackComedy a dark]] RuleOfFunny, but '''always''' be sure to pay your taxes and pay back loans to the bank. If you don't pay taxes, then the city will refuse to sell land to you. If you don't pay loans you can end up in serious debt.
72	* UpperClassTwit: Level 5 tenants (the highest level), particularly the horse-faced, buck-teethed, boater hat-wearing Sloanes.
73	* VideogameCrueltyPotential: Tenants are fair game. Flush them from the houses and gun them down in the street.
74	* WeaponBasedCharacterization: Gangsters upgrade their weapons by killing opposing units. The hierarchy depending on their weapons is as follows:
75	** [[StarterEquipment Knives]]: The starting weapon after the first level.
76	** {{Handguns}}: They are a big improvement over knives.
77	** ShotgunsAreJustBetter: The starting weapon in the first level. They do far more damage than handguns.
78	** GatlingGood: Machine guns are the best weapon the gangster gets access to. Shotguns deal more damage per hit, but the machine guns' multiple hits mean they do more damage overall. ''Plus'' adds an actual Gatling gun beyond that.
79	** DeathRay: The final weapon in ''Plus''. Can eliminate just about any foe in one or two shots.
80	* WildTeenParty: Sending Thugs to an enemy estate will result in them getting drunk and rowdy, vandalising property and stressing out tenants.

Context VideoGame / Constructor