How to Play Tools Up: The Ultimate Guide
We’ve played a lot of Tools Up on our Nintendo Switch and recently completed every level. So the idea of a walkthrough for this game came up. Because who doesn’t like playing a game where you remodel virtual homes?
Construction doesn’t sound like much fun, but Tools Up does a good job of making mundane tasks entertaining in my experience. There’s something satisfying about remodeling floors or painting walls with the push of a button that appeals to the sloth in all of us.
If you already have Tools Up or are wanting to learn more about it then this guide covers the nitty gritty about how to play. In Tools Up the House has 30 levels. Garden Party is an add on with 45 levels.
Getting Started in Tools Up
You begin by selecting whether you want to play a campaign or party mode. Both modes use the exact same 30 levels.
Campaign mode is where you progressively work from level 1 to 30 unlocking levels and characters as you go. I found the last level is harder due to a ghost undoing all your hard work. But there is no narrative, or story progression.
In campaign mode you simply remodel 30 rooms. There isn’t a time limit, instead you earn points. However, the longer you take the less points you earn.
Party mode gives you two options:
- Standard
- Time Attack
Both use the same 30 levels. but unlike campaign mode all 30 levels are available from the start.
In standard party mode you complete the level as fast as you can. There are good, better, and best times.
In time attack a clock shows up and you fight it off with hammers and shovels. Kidding. Time attack is where a clock is ticking down. If the clock runs out of time before you finish you lose. When they say it’s hard they aren’t kidding.
In time attack every task you do adds time. Paint a section of wall, it adds 5 seconds. Rip up a section of old flooring, it adds 5 seconds. Basically as long as we kept busy we didn’t run out of time.
After selecting the mode you want to play in you pick a character. In my opinion, there aren’t many to choose from initially. We did unlock more as we played. But for starters, I just picked a character and modified the colors.
The House
For the party modes we scrolled through each level of the house to choose a level. In campaign mode we started at the ground floor. Each door is labeled from 1 to 30. There are 2 or 3 doors on each floor.
We had to complete one level to unlock the next level. Plus we needed 6 stars to move to the next floor. It seemed to me moving around in campaign mode is odd due to the front facing camera angle. Depth perception is not easy.
After completing the first three levels, we earned enough stars to use the elevator. We went to the next floor, and did the same. Then rinse and repeat until we completed all 30 levels.
On the 5th floor there’s an arrow to the left. Due to the camera angle we couldn’t see the ramp but we walked towards ourselves to get up the ramp. Which leads to level 13.
On the 10th floor we had to use a ladder to get to level 25. The elevator only goes up so far. After that we used ladders to reach the last 5 levels.
The final level has a ghost. Plus its very dark. The darkness is harder to deal with than the ghost in my experience. But once we completed this level we were finished!
Game Mechanics How To
Throughout the game we primarily used the pick-up/put down button and the use item button. Throw is occasionally used. If you throw most items they leave a mess behind where they land. But throw is good for getting rid of tools, plants, trees, and decorations.
There’s a blueprint for every level. We found some levels have two blueprints. The blueprint reveals which rooms need remodeled, what specifically needs remodeled, and the completion percentage.
You start with some buckets of paint or flooring supplies. Supplies are also delivered. We always leave a strategically placed pile of rubbish in the delivery guys path. He slips and falls, causing him to drops his delivery. We never miss a delivery or have to stop what you’re doing to get it with this method.
As you paint or strip walls pay attention to walls you can’t see. Sections of wall behind doors or on walls parallel to the camera view are easy to miss in my experience.
Flooring sometimes has an extra section leading in or out of the room which is also easy to miss. We use the blueprint to determine if we’ve missed anything, such as a hidden paint spill.
One thing I noticed is putting down recycled items. I occasionally had to hit the drop button twice to get rid of trash.
Keep buckets of paint or flooring supplies nearby where you’re working. You can push flooring but not paint.
Summary
I found the same basic skills are necessary for playing all the levels in Tools Up. Whether it’s the campaign or party mode. We removed the old stuff on the walls or floor. Then placed the new stuff on the walls or floor.
In my experience the most important factor was learning which tool does what. I found using the blueprint frequently got us quicker times.
It takes some practice but once we got more proficient we had no issues completing everything in the game.
FAQ
How to play Tools Up brought to you by David M.
I’m David M. I’ve been playing video games a long time, my pong game was fire. Now, my kids run circles around me but we always have a good time. We mostly play party and family games. Strategy and battle games are still among my favorites. I like writing about games almost as much as I do playing them. My favorite games are: Moving Out 2, Out of Space, and Overcooked All You Can Eat.
