CLARC Preview

It seems as though puzzle games have been eclipsed by other game genres in recent years and have found it difficult to appeal to gamers who crave instant gratification. Many gamers have seemed to forget what it’s like to finally be able to solve that tough puzzle and the sense of self-satisfaction which comes with the achievement. CLARC, a game which originated from the OUYA and mobile gaming, features in Steam’s Green Light program and is looking to be released via Steam. From what I’ve played of the game so far this title could be worth a great deal of your time.

CLARC has been developed by Golden Tricycle and is on the verge of being published on Steam thanks to the digital distributors Green Light feature. In addition to this, CLARC has already been released for the OUYA and is in BETA testing for iOS and Android. The game has already seen great success as it had been nominated for the ‘Best Mobile Game’ and ‘Best Youth Game’ in Germany last year. With the game receiving a largely positive reception, Golden Tricycle had decided to take the game to the next level and try to share it via Steam.

In CLARC you play a simple, hard-working maintenance robot named CLARC #37 who lives in a rotting nuclear missile factory on Mars. The discovery that diesel has crazy effects on the robots leads to a change in power for these advanced machines. Intoxicated dancing to crazy music make it seem as though everyone in this factory has lost their mind, everyone apart from our hero of course. Every robot has changed their priorities from creating missiles to partying and when an overpowering spaceship appears to take control of the factory, it’s up to CLARC to save the facility. As well as saving the factory, CLARC will have to look out for the wellbeing of his fellow robots and his new “friend” Clara, the atomic bomb.

The unique title has been described as an action-puzzle game and it certainly provides plenty of both from what I’ve played. The controls are easy to master which is probably attributed to the game being on mobiles as well as the OUYA. CLARC is able to lift boxes which are directly next to him and rotate them round the sometimes tight and intricate environment. The gameplay is very simple and this allows the puzzles to shine through and most of them are great fun to solve. Whenever I had solved a puzzle, the sense of achievement was glowing within me and I experienced this with every puzzle I played through.

When looking at screenshots, many people may be wondering how there can be action in this game. When you are not moving boxes around to try and progress you are avoiding lasers, enemies and entering doors at the correct time. There is a few times where you must look out for smaller fellow robots that can’t do much and you begin to develop feelings of responsibility and emotion for these helpless robots.

The game is a charming and colourful experience with a wonderful feel to it. The idea of a robot factory on Mars throws up so many ideas in your head and what is seen on the screen looks wonderful. While I haven’t experienced much of the story, the dialogue between characters is laugh-out-loud funny and brings a human side to these otherwise metal beings. With robots constantly being drunk from diesel and always on the dance floor, the music accompanying the game is very appropriate and helps promote the fun and warm tone of the game.

With a lack of innovative and well-paced puzzle-action games available, I believe that CLARC would be a brilliant game to have available on Steam. Golden Tricycle have done an excellent job in creating a unique and interesting puzzle game which offers far more reward than any other puzzle game I’ve played recently. The sense of self-satisfaction never gets old and hopefully the development team behind CLARC can feel the same if the game progresses past the Green Light stage. With over 100 spatial puzzles over 25 levels and 12 hours of story-driven gameplay, CLARC offers a great amount of challenging content suitable for gamers of all ages.

CLARC is currently available for the OUYA and is in BETA for Android and iOS.