There is a danger when playing games like House Flipper that my partner will ask what I am doing. The obvious reply is that I am cleaning up a room so that I can decorate it later. But then she looks at me, scans the state of my living room in the real world, sighs heavily and leaves.
More to the point though, why do sim games like this become so addictive. Why does the player begin to obsess in creating the perfect in-game environment and tasks, whilst the real life work is a bit too hard? But hey, here I am back in House Flipper with its sequel – the imaginatively named House Flipper 2. And once again, I’m trying to avoid being thrown out of my real house.
The first House Flipper became one of those games that people seemed drawn to; a bit of a surprise, breakaway hit. A game that is capable of delivering a sort of zen-like state, where cleanliness and feng shui practices might all come into play. It’s similar in House Flipper 2, with two modes to enjoy – campaign or sandbox. We’ll start with the former.
At the beginning of House Flipper 2 you get to choose as to whether you want to be Dave or Hannah in your handy-person career. There is a basic story here where you come to your hometown in mid-west America, left to clean up your parent’s old house. Here you start to renovate, get jobs from other locals, doing up their places. I quite liked this simple premise and the missions give you a slow build into the creative process and tools that House Flipper 2 has to offer.
Gameplay-wise the controls take a short while to get used to, and once again, we have the age-old problem of things not quite being as intuitive with controller as it would be with a mouse. But the menus in House Flipper 2 are clean and concise; it won’t be long before you’ll be fast flicking through them.
But what do you do in House Flipper 2? Well, an early job may consist of clearing things up. Here you walk about the property, picking up bits of rubbish and junk. And some of those bits will be sellable. Others – read: most – will be destined for the bin or chucked in recycling units. And when you’ve done that you can mop up, cleaning stains from the floor, surfaces and windows. There is a handy little menu that gives you a rundown of the percentage of stuff you need to complete job-wise. Then the creative stuff begins.
It’s here in House Flipper 2 where you get to paint, put up wallpaper, do the electrics, take down and rebuild walls. You can then access the shop and start to buy items of furniture, fixtures and fittings, to put around the place. And as you progress through the campaign you get XP which can be used to get perks. For example, these will give you the opportunity to collect rubbish quicker, or paint walls across a larger area, making things much quicker. Obviously there will be some out there who like the slow pace and love watching paint dry…
Aside from that campaign is the Sandbox mode – it’s here where you can just let loose without worry, forgetting about constrictions or objectives and just letting the house designer in you run free.
House Flipper 2 does a great job visually, especially in the range of interiors and exteriors. The stuff you can buy to decorate and furnish your home is pleasing to the eye, but there is some fun stuff in there as well. And whilst the audio is fairly limited, there is some voice acting included across telephone calls. Mostly though, expect chirpy music playing, going along with your cleaning and decorating. You should however know that when you play a game like House Flipper 2 you’ll be best to stick on your own playlist or podcast, beavering away to familiar tunes.
Let’s not beat around the bush – if you didn’t get on with the first House Flipper, failing to understand the beauty of cleaning up a place, rebuilding it into a palace, then House Flipper 2 is not going to be for you. But if you did like things first time around, then this is an improvement, thanks to a fun campaign and various environments, areas and items. The only real criticism is that with an Xbox controller in hand, House Flipper 2 does take a bit of time to get used to.
Ultimately, for me, House Flipper 2 is the best excuse for not doing any real housework. And that makes it a win.
