Gearhead Garage

Snap-On Gearhead Garage: The Virtual Mechanic is a PC game in which players repair and customize late model cars and trucks. It was created by Mekada, endorsed by Snap-on Tools, and published in 1999 by Head Games (subsequently acquired by Activision). There is no feature for driving the cars but Gearhead Garage introduced an entirely new "bolt-em up" paradigm. The appeal is reminiscent of taking things apart in real life—players can completely disassemble the engine, repair the individual parts, reassemble them, and then exhibit the completed result in their 3D "car lot". The game also features a series of "jobs", wherein the player fixes vehicles owned by fictional characters. This allows them to earn money to buy custom items from the catalog, auction, or junkyard.

Gearhead Garage
Developer(s)Mekada
Publisher(s)Activision
Platform(s)Windows
Release
Genre(s)Simulation, Business sim[1]

Popularity

Gearhead Garage sold well given its unusual design. It received generally excellent reviews, for example an average score of 4.5 out of 5 stars at Amazon.com and 9.5 out of 10 points at ReviewCentre.com. The GearheadGarage web site attracted a community of fans who eventually reverse-engineered the game file formats and began creating entirely new vehicles using tools such as 3D Studio Max. The community contributed over 30 complete car models that can be downloaded from various third-party websites dedicated to the game.

Gearhead Garage's constructive, non-violent gameplay made it popular with parents and educators as well. In 2002, it received an "All Star Award" from Children's Software Review magazine in the "Logic" category.

Sequel

Gearhead Garage 2 was discussed, but according to sources within the company, no publishers were willing to finance it. The developers considered self-publishing, however no information is currently available.

Nintendo Game Boy Advance

Mekada released a playable demo for what was going to be Gearhead Garage Adventure on the GBA, but due to the Nintendo DS coming out and pricing issues with Nintendo's cartridges, the port was later dropped.

References
  1. "Snap-on presents Gearhead Garage: The Virtual Mechanic for Windows (2000)". MobyGames. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
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