I'd like to thank Ultimate Games for the review key to this title. Many mundane things in the real world may not be the most exciting things to transfer to video game format. Regardless, they can be instructive and entertaining, especially if they cover a real-world topic vital to a career path. Car Mechanic Simulator Pocket Edition 2 is an attempt at this very type of simulator, only for handheld play as the title suggests. Car Mechanic Simulator Pocket Edition 2 is a port of Car Mechanic Simulator 2018, though as a "Pocket Edition", strips out some eye-candy and car models to make for a smaller purchase and game fit for more portable play, like on a handheld Switch. The premise in both is straightforward. You are placed in the shoes of a car mechanic, and by taking on repair jobs, fixing cars, and trading up car models for more funds to expand, you are trying to make a lucrative business of car repair and maintenance.

The gameplay is generally centered in a garage with various tools for fixing vehicles and driving areas for testing performance and doing races. The garage will be where most time is spent examining, repairing, and replacing car parts, buying new ones, and making sure customer orders are fulfilled. The driving areas will be used to evaluate cars for their performance and handling and doing races. Graphics-wise, this title is the same as its more full-featured console cousin, just with a reduced resolution for the hardware of the Nintendo Switch. There is a bit of aliasing and much simpler detail work on vehicles, though all the essential details look good. Otherwise, the graphics are distinct and colorful enough there is little trouble identifying parts and car models. The sound and music are decent, with a radio with several different background ambiance soundtracks you can have play while you work. Sound effects are nothing special but are all authentic to what you would hear in a real car repair garage. I played this on a handheld Switch and found the controls were easy to adjust to. While there is a lack of instruction that makes getting anything done difficult, what I was able to figure out works well. The game does load a bit slow at first but otherwise runs and loads fine after the initial startup.

The one big complaint that drags down what is otherwise a technically sound game is that it gives the player almost no instruction whatsoever. If you never played any of the other games in the series, they provide so little help to new players I had to look up how to do anything by searching the internet for help beyond the thimbleful of advice they give at the start of the game. Given this title is a very complex simulation game with many, many things to do, this makes it unacceptably tedious if you've never touched this series. Morally, this is pretty stainless. It has no violence, foul language, sexual content, occult/supernatural content, or ethical issues. It would be useful as an educational tool to teach many concepts involved in a useful real-world profession. Technically speaking, this is a sound car mechanic simulator, even with the compromises for the Switch hardware. Morally, there is nothing wrong with it. Regardless, I only recommend it if you've played the others in the series, as this title is not very accessible to new gamers.