Serial Cleaner [Xbox]
Serial Cleaner is a game that always intrigued me. I’d originally seen it way back on PC - somehow missing the fact it had also released on console - and in the days of having a severely broken laptop, I didn’t ever get round to playing. But with the release of it’s sequel, I discovered the Xbox release and just had to dive in.
You take on the role of Bob: a less-than-legal crime scene clean-up aficionado. Buried under a mountain of debt, and doing what he can to keep a roof over his and his mother’s heads, Bob deals with the disposal of bodies and the collection of evidence for various clients - including the elusive Echo Killer that is currently terrorising the streets of L.A. The story is progressed through short segments back home, chatting with Mom; watching TV, listening to the radio and reading newspapers to learn more about the world; and telephone calls from clients looking for your services - though things start to go downhill for our Serial Cleaner.
With twenty main story levels that increase in difficulty as you go, you’ll familiarise yourself with the behaviours of different enemies, the variety of hiding spots and shortcuts available, as well as the best use for distractions such as noisy stereos. You’ll see a myriad of locations that need cleaned, from a boxing gym, a scenic beach and a busy dock (to name a few), each with their own evidence to collect and bodies to dispose of. If you fail a level and need to try again, everything will be shaken up, retaining the same overall layout but with the bodies, blood and bevy of evidence (bevidence, if you will) having been rearranged - though this can sometimes work in your favour, with some placements feeling slightly less challenging than others.
Enemies have orange cones to determine their line of sight, with these darkening upon you being spotted. They are ever so slightly faster than you, so outrunning them is only possible for a short distance; you’ll need to be aware of any hiding spots and shortcuts located nearby as these are absolutely crucial for your survival in these moments. Even if you manage to successfully avoid detection around levels, the hiding spots are almost always beneficial to give you the edge of timing enemy routes, as well as to take shortcuts to access other areas quickly and easily, leaving the cops bewildered at your immediate disappearance. It does give things an air of disbelief when the cops just conveniently ignore the fact that they‘ve just watched you tumble into a cardboard box though!
With a minimalistic, almost papercraft-textured art style, Serial Cleaner is visually very pleasing. The 70s aesthetic works really well, and the selection of level designs are interesting, with plenty of stuff to check out as you explore. The soundtrack is perfectly suited, and whilst there’s not a massive variety of music available, it does manage well with what it has. There’s no voice acting as such, with all dialogue contained within speech bubbles - but you will on occasion hear cops chattering slightly on their radios, or making little grunts whenever they spot something unexpected.
It feels very satisfying stealthily exploring crime scenes and cleaning them up to the best of my abilities. Bagging bodies for disposal, and using what can only be described as the most magical vacuum cleaner in the world to suck up all of the blood strewn across the levels - maybe Bob could bring Justice Sucks’ Dusty McClean with him for a team up! Cleaning 100% of all blood in a level will get you a little “100%” badge on the level select screen, and getting 100% for all of the possible levels will also nab you an achievement, and having a percentage counter at the top left of the screen encourages you to get it all cleaned up before you go. The “Body Drops” in each level vary, with most having your car available as one option - but others available such as a piranha tank, open windows or even a giant love-bed in a motel keep your options open with a fun flair.
Hidden within each level is a magazine or film reel - with magazines unlocking new costumes for Bob, and fun side-levels via the film reels, that each are a play on different movies. The Bonus Contracts offer up an extra set of crime scenes for you to clean up, and with these all being rooted in popular movies, it’s a lot of fun to play out recognisable scenes. I especially liked the Star Wars and Alien inspired levels, as seeing the Cantina filled with familiar faces (or victims in these cases) and the white ‘blood’ surrounding a certain body on board the Nostromo was great - though it definitely had me wishing for even more of these kind of levels. There are also various challenge modifiers available for each level, each with their own leaderboards, to allow you to make a fresh attempt under new circumstances, such as removal of hiding places, time trials or even whilst being drunk on the job.
Overall, Serial Cleaner is a fantastically enjoyable time, offering up a decent level of challenge that hits that sweet spot between frustration and fun. After completing the entire game, I found myself clamouring for more - and thankfully, with the sequel out now, that’s exactly what I’ll move onto next. If this sounds right up your alley, then you can pick it up on Xbox for £11.99.
In the end, we decided to give Serial Cleaner the Collecting Asylum rating of 8.5/10.
Are you interested in Serial Cleaner? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
