Is your biggest dream to work at a factory loading boxes? Well, today is your lucky day, you can do that and so much more in Ready, Steady, Ship! So grab your hard hats and let’s get shipping.
In a world where people are too lazy to even step outside of their homes to go to the store, the game’s words, not mine, you have decided to join the growing industry of shipping. Keep the conveyors moving and the trucks shipping. Ready, Steady, Ship! is a frenetic puzzle adventure game brought to you by developers Martynas Cibulis and Jolly Bits Games and published by Jolly Bits Games and Untold Tales.
Ready, Steady, Ship! challenges players to manage a bustling factory’s conveyor belts efficiently. Your task is to keep the goods flowing smoothly by assembling conveyor belts amidst the chaos of the factory floor. Whether you’re playing solo or with a friend in 2-player couch co-op, the game offers a thrilling experience packed with ever-increasing challenges.
In Ready, Steady, Ship! You’ll dive into the heart of industrial mayhem, using a variety of tools and equipment to navigate the factory’s obstacles. From forklifts and cranes to springboard conveyor belts and packing foam dispensers, you’ll have a plethora of resources at your disposal. Each level presents new challenges and puzzles to solve, requiring quick thinking and strategic placement of conveyor parts to keep production running smoothly.
The factory’s designs would not be up to standard if a safety officer came to visit, with hazards like acid pools, space vacuums, rooftop gaps, and general chaos littering the environment, you’ll have to watch your step. As you progress through the game, the challenges become increasingly complex, testing your ability to adapt and use the conveyor belt layouts for maximum efficiency.
The game’s 2-player couch co-op mode adds an extra layer of excitement as you and your partner work together to tackle the factory’s relentless demands. Communication and coordination are key as you strategize and execute conveyor belt designs to meet production goals. When you launch Ready, Steady, Ship!, the game strongly recommends connecting a controller for the optimal gaming experience, aligning with the game’s style and mechanics. Using a controller enhances the gameplay, making the overall experience more enjoyable.
Right from the initial stage, players are plunged into the deep end of the factory frenzy. Each stage consists of three levels, with each level presenting progressively tougher challenges. Players are pitted against the clock, racing to load all trucks before time runs out. Unlike some games that ease you in gently, Ready, Steady, Ship! thrusts you into chaotic scenarios right from the start, immersing you in the fast-paced world of factory logistics. The ticking clock adds a constant sense of urgency, heightening the gameplay experience.
While Ready, Steady, Ship! provides a basic tutorial to get you started, but it falls short of fully preparing you for the intricacies of managing the factory. Some equipment and mechanics require learning on the fly, leading to you potentially wasting a large amount of time figuring it out.
Navigating the factory floor can be tricky, with conveyor belt parts often misplaced or facing the wrong direction. Pressing the A button allows you to drag these parts around the factory, positioning them where they’re needed. Once placed, you can rotate them to align correctly for smooth box movement. Misplacing the parts can result in boxes falling off or getting stuck. However, pressing the B button allows you to freely move and readjust parts if they’re placed incorrectly.
In Ready, Steady, Ship!, players will encounter scattered boxes across the factory floor that need to be collected and sorted onto the correct conveyor belts, each designated for a specific colored truck. Pressing the A button allows you to pick up a box, and your character can move around while holding it. To release the box, simply press the B button, dropping it in place. Holding down B triggers a launch animation, enabling you to throw the box to a desired location.
There are times in Ready, Steady, Ship! where you’ll need to throw a box to land it on a button on the floor so that, for example, a platform will raise up or down. This can be frustratingly tricky; the controls are so sensitive, and even moving in the slightest can cause the box to land in the wrong place. This particular part of the game requires quite a bit of patience
Controlling vehicles brings with it the same frustration and annoyance. Your goal will be to lift a crate with your forklift, but one slightly incorrect adjustment will send the crate with the boxes sliding across the floor. This was a point in the game where I had to take a break to not let my frustrations get the better of me.
Like most of these games in this style and genre, Ready, Steady, Ship! is the most entertaining and enjoyable when played as a couch co-op. Having played Overcooked, which, mind you, I still have horrible flashbacks of the utter chaos, and Manic Mechanics, I do have a special place in my heart for this style of game. While Ready, Steady, Ship! may not quite be on the same level as the two previously mentioned games, it still has its unique twist and mechanics to contribute.
Co-op mode is just as fast-paced and chaotic as you would imagine it to be. The most important factor in this mode is having great communication skills. Without that, you will quickly find yourself running into each other, getting into each other’s way, and wasting valuable time. A good approach is to play to your strengths. I was not good at controlling the vehicles, but my partner was, so they took over that job while I fixed the conveyor belts. The result was less frustration, and the level ran a lot smoother.
There are 30 stages in Ready, Steady, Ship!, with each stage having 3 different factory floors to work through. That is a whopping 90 factory floors to complete. Completing stages will earn you stars; there are 9 stars up for grabs, 3 stars per factory floor. You’ll have to have the required number of stars to unlock the next stage.
Ready, Steady, Ship! Keeps their character design and colors very simple, with characters looking very old school without much detail. Truthfully, though, you don’t need a character that looks like it just stepped out of Dragon’s Dogma 2 to play and enjoy a game like this. The use of mostly primary colors helps to keep the visual clutter at a minimum. There’s background music that plays throughout the stages, and as your time starts to run out, the music will become more frantic, but you can turn off the music and sound effects if you find it distracting.
At first, I played Ready, Steady, Ship! by myself to get a feel of the game, its mechanics, and look; however, Ready, Steady, Ship! is one of those couch games that you’ll want to play with a friend. While it is not the most graphically pretty game, it still provides a few hours of fun. Working your way through the different stages and figuring out how to get your boxes from point A to point B without falling into a tank of nuclear waste is a fun challenge.
While Ready, Steady, Ship! offers a thrilling and challenging experience, but it does have its shortcomings, notably the absence of a comprehensive tutorial. The initial lack of detailed guidance can leave players feeling somewhat lost and unsure of how to navigate the game’s controls and mechanics effectively.
Spending more time at the beginning of the game to explain these aspects would have been a great help, as it would have provided players with a clearer understanding of how to approach the challenges presented on the factory floor. This would have helped to cut down the need for players to wander around the factory, experimenting to figure out their next move.
The controls in Ready, Steady, Ship! are relatively straightforward to learn; they have a high level of sensitivity, though, and that can be a very frustrating aspect of the game. Tasks such as aiming, maneuvering a forklift, or lowering the arm of a crane to pick up items require delicate handling, often leading to moments of frustration when you can’t get it to work. This sensitivity can sometimes leave players feeling aggravated, especially when repeated attempts fail.
The main concern with such sensitive controls is the chance that players will want to give up. The more one struggles and becomes frustrated with the controls, the greater the likelihood of giving up on the game prematurely. This would be a disservice to Ready, Steady, Ship! as it is a genuinely enjoyable experience.
Finding the right balance between responsiveness and user-friendly controls is essential, and it’s crucial for games like Ready, Steady, Ship! to have this balance effectively to ensure that players can fully appreciate and enjoy the game without being hindered by overly finicky controls. I enjoyed my time playing Ready, Steady Ship! and might revisit it at some point to collect more stars, but as of right now, I’m putting my hard hat down and ordering some food so I don’t have to leave my house.
