Every year, a game seems to pop up in my line of sight that I had no particular interest in, but wound up enjoying. Last year it was Runbow, this year it’s Clustertruck.
The premise of Clustertruck is simple: get to the finish line by utilizing a massive herd of semi-trucks. You’re not driving any of them, however, you’re using them as jumping platforms to avoid hitting the ground. A ridiculous idea that this game pulled off perfectly.
You, the player, are extremely aerobic and must use your acrobatic skills to get to the finish line, which the trucks are heading toward… most of the time. There is a campaign containing a number of worlds with 10 different levels. Worlds vary from a desert, a forest, a frozen landscape, and an area with deadly lasers. Graphically, it’s nothing to write home about, but when your game features a large number of trucks as a means to progress, compromise has to be made. Fortunately, this means you can run this game on a large range of PCs.
Most levels have the trucks go towards the finish lines, but more complex levels change the direction they go midway or include a new herd of trucks going a different way either to cut off the original herd or make a new path to the end. Many of the levels feature hazards in the form of traps or immobile obstacles that they will crash into. This will either complicate the pathway, or make it easier thanks to the hilariously unpredictable physics engine. “Unpredictable” may be a scary word to some people when it comes to games, but it was never once hindered by a physics malfunction, rather assisted.
There are golden moments where I was propelled so high into the sky that it only made it easier to complete the level by flying over all the obstacles and trucks. Every time that happened, I received a huge burst in adrenaline and was pumped to keep playing whether I made the jump or fell to the ground. Player movement is slightly more complex than just jumping on trucks; depending on how you stick a landing, you can wall run to the side of trucks or even grab on the back ledges to propel yourself off. It’s surprisingly smooth and half the time I did them by accident.
Clustertruck in general is a smooth game that’s easy to control and at the same time easy to mess up, but since it’s so fast in nature, you can easily respawn in milliseconds and not lose your flow. Even the menus load fast (at least on PC), so you can quickly exit a game if you want to equip a new ability.
The abilities range from the likes of a jetpack, double-jump, a clock that slows down time, a grappling hook, etc.. You can only equip one item at a time, but they can really help in the more difficult levels. A double-jump has saved my life plenty of times and the grappling hook came in handy once I kept missing trucks on a certain level.
Community support is one of the best things about Clustertruck as players can create their own levels for everyone to try out. The in-game software to make these levels has a learning curve, but once you get past it, the possibilities are endless. The developers just recently released a Halloween-themed world featuring exclusive levels designed in the spirit of the holiday. Best part is that everyone can access the Halloween assets in the level-creator.
Final Reaction
Clustertruck is a cluster of fun! The fast-paced, truck-jumping, parkour action makes for one of 2016’s most unique experiences. I can’t name one time when my blood wasn’t pumping from the adrenaline rush this game gives me. It’s definitely worth the $15 price tag!
Rating: 5/5 Atoms
*This game was reviewed using a retail code provided by tinyBuild.
from Nerd Reactor
0 comments: