izigame.me

Clive 'N' Wrench is down there with Sonic Superstars and Master Detective Archives: Rain Code as the biggest disappointments I've played this year. While I had more fun with this one, its technical issues are so numerous that I wonder how the developer thought it was okay to be released in this state.
At its core, it's a solid collectathon platformer, inspired by the greats, like Banjo Kazooie, Spyro The Dragon and Jak & Daxter. The level design and treasure-hunting gameplay are what save the experience. The controls take some getting used to, but it's clear the developer found the fun early on, and scouring every level in search of treasure was more rewarding and worthwhile here than it ever was in Yooka-Laylee. There are even a few quality-of-life features, like a radar that points out any missing watches in a level.
One of the games' greatest strengths is its commitment to 3D platforming and collecting. Rather than a bunch of half-baked genre-bending minigames that run the risk of hurting the 100% completion experience, the dev focused on the core gameplay and exhausted every possible idea, Various different levels with vertical design and side-objectives that award Ancient Stones (this game's equivalent to Jiggies or Power Stones).
Unfortunately, it's everything else surrounding the game that holds it back from reaching its potential. It has the inverse problem to Rain Code, a game where everything but the gameplay was great.
First of all, this game's graphics are dull. While some areas look nice, there's no solid art direction, and the lighting is too artificial to mask its visual shortcomings. 3D models vary between decent and ungodly, and the overall game looks more like a beta still in development. An impressive beta for sure, but not finished. It's clear the devs didn't work within their means, and considering this was largely a one-man project, it makes me wonder if he should've reached out to other individuals for areas he's clearly lacking in. It's impressive what one person managed to accomplish, until you realise this game was in development for 12 whole years.
Cutscenes are also incredibly awkward. They try to go for a Saturday-morning-cartoon comedy approach, but the characters rarely move with the energy and speed of said cartoons. There's no squash & stretch, and characters aren't as expressive as they should be. The character models just aren't as versatile as their creator seems to think.
The biggest knock against the game is by far the amount of game-breaking glitches that impede progress. Clive will sometimes get stuck in mid-air if he falls short of grabbing a climbable ledge, or suddenly moonjump in the pirate level with no way getting back down. Sometimes, the jump button won't even work for whatever reason, and it made time-based challenges very frustrating.
There's also the iconic amateur-level glitch where you can still get attacked by an enemy and take damage in real time while you remain stationary during a conversation with another character. Or how about when you solve a puzzle, and the camera cuts to the part of the level that's been changed while you're still vulnerable to getting attacked or even walking off a cliff? I don't know why the devs didn't pause the gameplay, including enemies and hazards, during these sequences, but there you go. I know game development is tough first-hand, especially when you're one person making a 3D game of this size. To some degree, I can understand why this game took so many years to make, but when I see amateurish, obvious mistakes like this, I have to question how well that time was actually spent.
Combat is as clunky and unpolished as the rest of the game. Clive can do a spin-attack with his soulless, seemingly-robotic monkey partner Wrench, to repel nearby enemies, and it works 60% of the time. If you're unlucky, the attack won't connect until after you take damage from the enemy despite reacting in time. The attack also lacks oomph and impact, so it's like you're vaguely suggesting hostility toward the enemy, and hoping something comes of it.
Worse yet are the bossfights, where the awful combat is brought to the forefront. Not all of them are bad, I actually like the slasher bossfight that throws knives at the player, mainly because it focuses on the game's strengths; platforming and positioning. The most merciful ones are the preying-mantis and minotaur, where you just walk up to the boss and it defeats itself. Many of them are reminiscent of Spyro, where you actually run through an obstacle course and collect watches on your way. But the worst ones have the player fighting off minions while dodging unfair attacks that are poorly telegraphed and difficult to read without trial-and-error. The worst bosses, by far, are the final three. One's an awful Spyro parody who rains down fire and enemies (and there's an achievement for not taking damage, which I simply refuse to get, with the game in its current state), while the other one decides to suddenly shoehorn a drastic gameplay change at the last minute; a dogfight boss. The plane controls awfully, and it takes forever to finally line myself up with my targets. While the final boss is relatively painless when you know what you're doing, it still relies on tedious trial & error as you try to survive for the allotted time.
Lastly, the game lacks basic clarity. How do I progress through the game? Clive's sister doesn't go into much detail about that. Why are the portals locked? I cleared the levels currently available, so why aren't the other portals unlocking? When do I fight the bosses? Unless you're told about these things beforehand, you're gonna thumble through the dark for a bit, because the game can't be bothered to clearly show how one gets from the first level of the hubworld to the very last. Turns out, each new area unlocked, based on different eras in time, has a level, AND a boss. And you have to beat the bosses to unlock the next area. Bosses can't be fought until you have enough collectibles. Typical collectathon stuff, and I have nothing wrong with it in theory, but there's nothing in the game to tell you this without you wasting time fumbling around in the dark like a lost puppy. Turns out, the faces on each portal corelate to a boss, and beating that boss unlocks the next area. Would've been nice if the game bothered explaining that somehow. Also, I wish the game actually gave me more freedom with what order I tackle these areas, rather than a linear treck to the finish, forcing the player to engage in every single sub-par bossfight. There's no universal tell for which objects can be pushed, either, so some puzzles are incredibly vague and cryptic for no good reason unless you look up someone else's playthrough.
All in all, Clive 'N' Wrench is a great game in theory, and the core gameplay is solid. But the overall lack of quality-control and polish drags the entire experience down. I can't honestly say this game was worth the 8 years I waited for it, let alone 12, and it's a shame to say that. The lead developer of this game is clearly talented, and has a knack for collectathon gameplay, but it seems to me like he took on more than he could handle, and didn't take the necessary steps to iron out the various kinks, or find other people who could complete the tasks he struggled with. He definitely put out demos for people to play, but if he took feedback from people's experiences with said demos, then he clearly didn't learn enough of the right lessons.
This game is definitely not worth its full asking price, and I'm glad I got it on-sale, but even then, I've played much better games for less. Clive 'N' Wrench needs a lot more work done on it, before it can be worth anything more than £6. Wait for a sale, and DEFINITELY wait for more patches to fix the game, because it's still a ways off from its ideal condition.