Sokoban games are often built around the idea of pushing boxes around a level, and they are often grid-based by design. Park It! replaces boxes with cars, tasking the player to use the limited turns available to park their car in the right spot and with the right orientation to clear the level. It is a simple premise that works well because of its tight level design.
The first thing to highlight is the unique control scheme. You move forward or reverse your vehicle using the left analogue stick, but turn your wheels left or right using the right analogue stick. It takes a while to get used to the tank twin-stick controls, but they start to make sense quickly, as it helps you plan out your next move. Park It! features a grid-based level design, and as you turn your wheels, it highlights the two potential finishing positions for your vehicle. Then you move forward or backwards to trigger the move. Hitting a wall, or in later levels, another vehicle, and it’s game over. Thankfully, undo is fast and efficient, and a restart button is available too.
The beauty of Park It! is found in its level design. There are 78 levels across 6 worlds, and each world brings at least one new game mechanic to play with. After initially getting used to the controls and the fact that your turns move you two squares on the grid, and not one, you’ll start to get other mechanics thrown in. Oil slicks slide you on an additional square. Breakable floors take away future options. Rotating car plates will rotate your car 90 degrees on the spot, and are often combined with bouncy tyre stacks that rebound your car back into the same square. Traffic lights may need switching from red to green by landing on or hitting triggers to allow you to pass by them. Then there are wormholes, and levels that have a car and a van to park into different slots, needing you to edge each forward and not smash into each other. All of these gameplay mechanics work well on their own, but Park It! starts to combine them together at the end of each world to make some tricky puzzles. Is it hardcore? No, but it does require a bit of spatial brain power to plan ahead. Levels are never too long or too large to overwhelm, and sometimes you need to ignore elements of the level to reach your goal.
All of this plays out in a well-crafted budget puzzle game that will give you 2-3 hours of puzzling game time. It is well designed, runs smoothly, doesn’t contain bugs, but does have some good visual cues to help with visual accessibility. Park It! is a good example of a smaller game that focuses on a strong theme and delivers a well-rounded game to tackle. Sokoban fans will especially enjoy this one, but I think anyone looking for breezy puzzling under £3 will enjoy themselves with Park It!
Higher Plain Games is part of the Higher Plain Network. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me via Patreon for as little as $1/£1 a month. There are additional perks for supporting me, such as behind-the-scenes content and downloads. You can also share the website or use the affiliate buy now links on reviews. Buying credit from CD Keys using my affiliate link means I get a couple of pence per sale. All your support will enable me to produce better content, more often. Thank you.
