Cloning Clyde
Posted July 21, 2006
From the team at Ninja Bee, the group who brought intergalactic lemonade sales in Outpost Kaloki X to the Xbox Live Arcade comes an entirely new hybrid game, Cloning Clyde. You see, Clyde is a poor chump who seemingly does anything for a quick buck, including allowing himself to be a test subject at a shady research facility, Dupliclone.
Clyde then becomes trapped in the facility and it's up to him and him and him to get out. With liberal doses of quirky humor, some puzzling action, and some sweet kung-fu moves; Clyde and his clones do just that.
Gameplay:
It's quite simple really, you play as Clyde a hospital gown wearing dufus and your only goal is to get out of the Dupliclone lab by any means necessary; Even if that means kicking chickens, riding sheep and beating down robotic cameras. Along the way you may run into some machinery that the lab employees have left on allowing you to clone Clyde, or even combine his DNA with another object. Yes I said object; even some inanimate items can be combined into some unholy hybrid Clyde. Each item you mutate yourself into has a different set of characteristics that represent the form quite nicely. Frog-Clyde can swim and jump like a hot damn, Ape-Clyde can hang from ceilings and Chicken-Clyde can fly and peck a mean peck.
The game controls in a remarkable simple fashion with buttons for attacking, jumping, and even executing a super attack once enough strands of DNA are collected. Some of the mutations of Clyde are a little trickier to control, but that adds to the feel of the title and definitely does not detract from it.
The game can be described as inspired by The Lost Vikings; the comparison is deserved as you'll find yourself using different sets of clones to perform a specific action to allow another Clyde to gain access to a different section of the level to accomplish goals. Once all goals are complete, and prior to exiting the level with your main Clyde you can liberate the rest of your clones via ventilation shafts.
Some of the numerous levels will be completed quite quickly while others will take near 15 minutes to complete; thankfully all levels are selectable so if you want a quick game fix this title offers a quick turnaround if you wish.
The game offers some good multiplayer fun both online and off. Both versus and co-op modes are available in both states of multiplayer. Versus mode has you and your team out to destroy the other teams robots before they do the same to you. Being able to pick up and move any placed clones makes for some fun as time you'll find a clone that you needed to be holding a button down dead, thanks to the wily play of your opponent. Co-op too is fun, as it's always nice to solve a puzzle with friends.
The 200 gamer points are almost all allocated to the single player mode, with a dozen points given to the gamer when they play their first online versus game. The points are all fairly easy to obtain with a minimum of time needed to get them all. When I first downloaded the title, there already were people with all 200 points. This was a mere 16 hours after the game appeared on the Marketplace.
Graphics:
While Cloning Clyde is a two dimensional title, the graphics take on a slightly 3D approach thanks to a slight perspective shift. The game utilizes a fairly light color palette, high on solid colors that pack a dramatic punch. The animations themselves seem hand drawn which reminded me of older claymation shows like the California Raisins, and it worked extremely well here.
The eccentric graphics opened the floodgates for some great visual gags. For example the default Clyde you use runs around with his posterior in full view thanks to his hospital gown, while unlockable variations of Clyde run the gamut of Devil-Clyde to Lab-rat Clyde.
If this is the level of graphics that we get in early content on the Live Arcade, then I think that moving forward as the developers get more comfortable with the architecture we're going to be in for a treat.
Audio:
The biggest thing I want to make note of with the audio is the excellent use of the subwoofer channel. The room would actually shake when I destroyed a surveillance robot and a group of chickens with a super move, all this in an 800 point Arcade title. Simply awesome.
Other than that the game sports fairly well in the audio department, with an adequate soundtrack and sound effects. Clyde is well voiced for his brief moments of "duh" and the assortments of mammals that you can clone are also well "voiced".
Conclusion:
The biggest question is, is this worth the 800 points. Tough call to make but my personal opinion is yes. It's extremely refreshing to see a developer make an original game for the Live Arcade, and if all new titles can perform at the standard set with this title then I think that the arcade will attract even more people to its flashy self.
With the quirky humor, the pseudo-three dimensional graphics and a unique breathe into this genre of quick downloads (around 25Mb) I fully recommend this title. From what I understand, the demo offers a great view into the world of Clyde and at a bare minimum that should be played. I have a prediction that many who play the demo will be drawn into the peculiar world of Clyde, bare assed and all. Highly Recommended.
Clyde then becomes trapped in the facility and it's up to him and him and him to get out. With liberal doses of quirky humor, some puzzling action, and some sweet kung-fu moves; Clyde and his clones do just that.
Gameplay:
It's quite simple really, you play as Clyde a hospital gown wearing dufus and your only goal is to get out of the Dupliclone lab by any means necessary; Even if that means kicking chickens, riding sheep and beating down robotic cameras. Along the way you may run into some machinery that the lab employees have left on allowing you to clone Clyde, or even combine his DNA with another object. Yes I said object; even some inanimate items can be combined into some unholy hybrid Clyde. Each item you mutate yourself into has a different set of characteristics that represent the form quite nicely. Frog-Clyde can swim and jump like a hot damn, Ape-Clyde can hang from ceilings and Chicken-Clyde can fly and peck a mean peck.
The game controls in a remarkable simple fashion with buttons for attacking, jumping, and even executing a super attack once enough strands of DNA are collected. Some of the mutations of Clyde are a little trickier to control, but that adds to the feel of the title and definitely does not detract from it.
The game can be described as inspired by The Lost Vikings; the comparison is deserved as you'll find yourself using different sets of clones to perform a specific action to allow another Clyde to gain access to a different section of the level to accomplish goals. Once all goals are complete, and prior to exiting the level with your main Clyde you can liberate the rest of your clones via ventilation shafts.
Some of the numerous levels will be completed quite quickly while others will take near 15 minutes to complete; thankfully all levels are selectable so if you want a quick game fix this title offers a quick turnaround if you wish.
The game offers some good multiplayer fun both online and off. Both versus and co-op modes are available in both states of multiplayer. Versus mode has you and your team out to destroy the other teams robots before they do the same to you. Being able to pick up and move any placed clones makes for some fun as time you'll find a clone that you needed to be holding a button down dead, thanks to the wily play of your opponent. Co-op too is fun, as it's always nice to solve a puzzle with friends.
The 200 gamer points are almost all allocated to the single player mode, with a dozen points given to the gamer when they play their first online versus game. The points are all fairly easy to obtain with a minimum of time needed to get them all. When I first downloaded the title, there already were people with all 200 points. This was a mere 16 hours after the game appeared on the Marketplace.
Graphics:
While Cloning Clyde is a two dimensional title, the graphics take on a slightly 3D approach thanks to a slight perspective shift. The game utilizes a fairly light color palette, high on solid colors that pack a dramatic punch. The animations themselves seem hand drawn which reminded me of older claymation shows like the California Raisins, and it worked extremely well here.
The eccentric graphics opened the floodgates for some great visual gags. For example the default Clyde you use runs around with his posterior in full view thanks to his hospital gown, while unlockable variations of Clyde run the gamut of Devil-Clyde to Lab-rat Clyde.
If this is the level of graphics that we get in early content on the Live Arcade, then I think that moving forward as the developers get more comfortable with the architecture we're going to be in for a treat.
Audio:
The biggest thing I want to make note of with the audio is the excellent use of the subwoofer channel. The room would actually shake when I destroyed a surveillance robot and a group of chickens with a super move, all this in an 800 point Arcade title. Simply awesome.
Other than that the game sports fairly well in the audio department, with an adequate soundtrack and sound effects. Clyde is well voiced for his brief moments of "duh" and the assortments of mammals that you can clone are also well "voiced".
Conclusion:
The biggest question is, is this worth the 800 points. Tough call to make but my personal opinion is yes. It's extremely refreshing to see a developer make an original game for the Live Arcade, and if all new titles can perform at the standard set with this title then I think that the arcade will attract even more people to its flashy self.
With the quirky humor, the pseudo-three dimensional graphics and a unique breathe into this genre of quick downloads (around 25Mb) I fully recommend this title. From what I understand, the demo offers a great view into the world of Clyde and at a bare minimum that should be played. I have a prediction that many who play the demo will be drawn into the peculiar world of Clyde, bare assed and all. Highly Recommended.