A satirical magazine comes to the game developer and says: "Make us a really stupid game at Berlin Airport". The story of BER – The construction simulator began. The satirical magazine Der Postillon is now launching a mobile game in which you should build the airport yourself. And it is terrible.
"Surprise": The game is extremely frustrating
The Postillon explains in the absolutely serious and by no means exaggerated announcement: The game has been planned since 1996 and has been under development since 2006. The fact that it now came out before a single airplane took to the skies at BER is probably due to an old Indian curse:
Once you get that free app opens, you are greeted by a familiar face: Karl Klammer is at the start! If you do not know who Karl Klammer is – enjoy your naive youth, this gag is not for you.
A… tutorial follows, you could say. The bad-tempered paper clip explains (not really) how it works with the airport construction. The screen fills up with confusing displays faster th an vomit bags in turbulence. By the way, it looks similar to the content. We are finally released into the game.
The subsequent experience is an excellent summary of this 5-star review on Google Play:
"Very frustrating game result (sic). Crashes, annoying assistant, always the same advertisement and you are constantly distracted from the actual task by unnecessary information. All in all, a very authentic implementation. Because the simulator is so time-consuming, it is still an obligatory" A reader less ". If the bugs are still fixed, there is a star deduction."
The advertisements are a central feature of the BER construction simulator. They let the fun of playing fall completely into the negative. Another user appreciates this and writes:
"An advertising banner blocks the top bar, so that I can neither see how long it takes the airport to complete nor how much money I have available. So everything is very authentic. I did not expect so much realism. TOP!"
If you don't fail because of bad problems like finances, then the third world war breaks outbefore the BER opens its terminals. No joke. In hundreds of player reviews, we couldn't find anyone who would have succeeded.
Most have fun failing: there is an average of 4 stars for the app, which constantly cuts the nerves of the user. If she's not making him laugh:
Postillon-style satire
Of course it is Intent that the app is so bad. Anyone who expects anything other than satire at the Postillon is likely to fall for messages such as "Skeleton found by God". The BER construction simulator is not very good as a real game, but much more fun as a casual activity in between.
And who knows, maybe someone will still be able to open the airport. The real one is expected to open on October 31, 2020 after 14 years of construction. Really this time.
You can download the BER construction simulator here: There is a version for Android on Google Play. iOS users can find the game on the App Store.
