Clive ‘n’ Wrench [Switch]
Developed by Dinosaur Bytes Studio, Clive ‘n’ Wrench is a classic collectathon platformer that is absolutely filled to the brim with references, and clear inspiration from 90s platformers such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon and much more. You’ll play as Clive the Rabbit, who has his best Monkey-friend Wrench with him in his backpack at all times - a nod to the likes of Banjo-Kazooie - who has been called in to save the day, preventing the evil Dr. Daucus from finding all of the Ancient Stones and succeeding in his quest for world domination.
There’s a hub world with access to all of the different themed areas, ranging from Ancient Greece and Egypt to the Wild West and more, with Ancient Stones to find to unlock the Boss Fight for the region - and upon defeating the boss, you’ll then be able to access the next world. Crossing over the boundary into each region of the hub world changes the look of Clive and Wrench, with different hats to represent each area, which was a nice little inclusion. As well as an absolute butt-load of references, ranging from game-cases and VHS tapes within levels that have titles such as Plonker’s Bad Breath Day and The Dogfather; there’s also tonnes of slightly more obscure nods to pop culture, as well as a surprising cameo from Yooka-Laylee’s resident snake, Trowser; and all of these are fun to come across.
The gameplay falls down in some areas, such as awkward hitboxes that cause a lot of unnecessary damage to be taken, and boss fights that are interesting in concept, but sadly lacklustre in practice. It’s something that you’ll notice more and more while playing - the first few times that you take damage doesn’t seem too bad: shrug it off and keep going. And then you’ll start to doubt yourself a bit, before you realise it is significantly off. Same with the bosses, the first boss isn’t too bad - though if you die, you’ll just immediately restart, which can feel awkwardly jarring; and upon defeating the boss, it’ll almost seem like the same has happened, quickly going to a loading screen again.
The visuals are very reminiscent of the games that inspired it, though it does at times suffer for it. Cutscenes are frequently quite poorly rendered, with strange, uncanny-valley-like character models and stiff animations; the levels themselves do appear to be better, with decently sized environments filled with collectibles to find and interesting stuff to look at, though there’s a lot of pop-in issues, both with textures and full models. Loading times are one of the more frustrating elements at play here, with long loading screens in between levels and cutscenes, as well as quick black transition screens between areas within a single level - which sadly interrupts things somewhat. Similarly, the camera is downright infuriating at times, often getting stuck on walls, obscuring your vision in the worst moments, and it’s insanely slow for a fast-paced platformer, with even the simplest of movements being stiff and awkward.
The sound design is a little bit mixed, with a fairly decent soundtrack and environmental sounds, as well as loads of very nostalgic sound effects that had our ears pricking up due to how much they reminded us of older titles - for instance, I could swear the loading screen noise is the exact noise from Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time, and it makes me relive my memories of that game every time I hear it.
As much as we both love the collectathon style of games, searching high and low for everything - it feels a little bit bland here, with pocket watches strewn across levels in a very basic way, and other collectibles being extremely easy to come across, too. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of challenge, or puzzle-styled gameplay in order to find things, which seems like a bit of a missed trick. I’d have loved to have seen things require a little more brainpower, instead of simply being sent on a number of fetch quests in each world as this quickly becomes tiresome.
As a solo developer though, Rob Wass has managed to create an interesting, inviting world - and one that we’ve both had a lot of fun exploring; it just falls a little flat in a lot of areas, feeling like it could have done with a bit more polishing. It’s still worth a go if you’re a fan of the genre, and we’re all for supporting indie developers - especially if it leads to the possibility of improvements down the line. Priced at £24.99 on the Switch eShop, with a physical release available for those (like us) that love to have something to put on the shelf, with a Standard Edition (with a little mini-manual included) for £34.99 that you can check out here, and a Collector’s Edition for £49.99, with additional content such as a magnet, soundtrack CD and art cards, as well as a manual.
In the end, we decided to give Clive ‘n’ Wrench the Collecting Asylum rating of 5.5/10.
Are you interested in Clive ‘n’ Wrench? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Numskull Games for the Clive ‘n’ Wrench Switch review copy!
