In Besiege Console the objective is to build a siege machine from scratch, using an extensive selection of parts. The parts department includes things like beams, wheels, cogs and various weapons.
There are 54 solo campaign levels set over 3 abstract sandbox environments. The odd thing about Besiege is that these levels are small areas that are detailed and contain the target (probably a building or structure of some sort), some enemies and that's it–the rest of the play area is completely blank.
Besiege Console is one of those PC games that actually works on a console because the devs actually played it with a controller and optimised the controls and sensitivity. It certainly has a few sticky moments where you think "this would be so much easier with a mouse & keyboard" but nothing is too fiddly.
Making wacky siege machines that fall apart, set fire to or blow themselves up has never been so much fun, but the construction process is so complicated that it may be just too much for the average gamer. Stick with it and it's undoubtedly rewarding, learning how to propel, guide and make your siege machines strong enough to complete the task required is frustrating but fun, it's a lot like a bridge-building game in that respect.
The various levels have differing goals; one may be a simple task of destroying crops, while another may be retrieving an object and placing it in a particular area. Learning from downloaded creations or simply by using the cheat menu may also help you on your way, but as inoffensive and innocent as it looks Besiege is anything but easy, and some levels are devilishly hard. The human enemies are sometimes ridiculously resilient to things like saw blades and flamethrowers! Just building a steerable, controllable flying machine is a major, time-consuming head scratcher.
There is a cheat mode but using cheats disables level progression! I'd love someone at Spiderling Studios to explain the point of having a cheat mode that works this way–cheats are supposed to help you get past difficult levels, sticking points or just make the game easier for you, aren't they? Besiege also has a silly recurring glitch that means no matter which part you select when you press 'A' to install it a wooden panel gets fixed instead! I'm sure this'll get patched but it really should have been picked up in testing.
Anyway, for the price of £16.99 Besiege Console has tons of depth, challenge and some interesting physics, but may be just too complex and quirky for most console gamers.
Many thanks to Spiderling Studios and Ultimate Games S.A. for the review code.