Clockwork Review – A Disappointing Puzzle Experience

<p>Time Travel and Time-Manipulation are always popular premises for games&period; From games like <em>Braid<&sol;em> to more widely branching things like <em>Life is Strange<&sol;em> Time Travel remains a popular and interesting sort of mechanic in both gaming and entertainment media&period; Gamesoft is an indie developer that aims to take this a step further with <em>Clockwork<&sol;em>&comma; a game that blends both Time Manipulation and steampunk elements into a puzzle platforming adventure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After a deadly plague began to destroy human civilization&comma; humans made metal bodies for themselves that would never age and die&period; Soon after&comma; the plague took hold of the world&comma; leaving nothing but the mechanical city of Watchtower in its wake&period; You are put in the shoes of Atto&comma; a mechanical boy that fixes the machines and people of Watchtower&period; One day&comma; Atto’s pocket watch wakes up&comma; introducing herself as Milli and telling Atto that she knows how to fix the city and people for good&semi; this sends Atto on a journey through the districts of Watchtower while avoiding a mechanical monster known only as The Hour&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114103" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114103" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114103 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;08032148&sol;Clockwork-4-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Clockwork&comma; Gamesoft&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114103" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Clockwork<&sol;em>&comma; Gamesoft&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The main portions of the puzzles in <em>Clockwork<&sol;em> involve gates&comma; switches and utilizing Milli’s powers to enable Atto to create duplicates of himself&period; By flipping switches and interacting with the environment&comma; Atto can set up a sequence of events that duplicates will follow&period; Once the duplicates have their routine&comma; Atto is then free to exploit the changes the duplicates have made&comma; progressing through the level&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Clockwork<&sol;em> is split into acts&comma; with over 60 levels in total&period; Some levels are short&comma; or room puzzles&comma; while others are longer and more complex&period; Milli can project herself through the level&comma; allowing you to get a lay of the land beforehand&period; This can help you plan out how you aim to solve the puzzles and progress to the next level&period; At the end of each act&comma; there is a boss fight&period; Boss fights are intended to be a test of what the player has learned through playing the levels&period; However&comma; the boss fights in <em>Clockwork<&sol;em> are less challenging in terms of utilizing mechanics&comma; and more frustrating tests of how quickly you can complete them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114104" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114104" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114104 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;08032231&sol;Clockwork-10-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Clockwork&comma; Gamesoft&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114104" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Clockwork<&sol;em>&comma; Gamesoft&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>I found myself greatly disappointed by the boss fights in <em>Clockwork<&sol;em> compared to the puzzles in the game&period; The boss fights seemed to be more focused on precision platforming than the puzzle elements in the game&period; For a game that had such meticulous world building and such gorgeous detail to it&comma; tossing in boss fights that were more trial than error than actual puzzling just seems sloppy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Clockwork<&sol;em> is a gorgeous game&comma; and the puzzles are interesting&period; The music is also somewhat peaceful and calm&comma; but the voice acting &lpar;done in gibberish to give it a unique feel&rpar; gets old very quickly&period; I found myself annoyed with the strange gibberish&comma; and only endured it so that I could hear the soundtrack&period; Truthfully&comma; <em>Clockwork<&sol;em> seems like a great premise&comma; but it doesn’t feel fun&period; It feels as though the developers were missing a crucial part of the game development formula in order to really sell the experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114105" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114105" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114105 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;08032310&sol;Clockwork-17-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Clockwork&comma; Gamesoft&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114105" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Clockwork<&sol;em>&comma; Gamesoft&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>In playing through the levels&comma; I found myself losing the curiosity about the world and its inhabitants because the gameplay seemed bland and uninspired&period; The premise was solid&comma; the controls and mechanics were smooth&comma; the puzzles evolved and changed&comma; but it just lacked the spirit of an engrossing puzzle experience&period; Combining that with the frustrating boss fights that didn’t really relate to the game mechanics makes <em>Clockwork<&sol;em> a disappointing experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you like puzzle platformers and want to give <em>Clockwork<&sol;em> a try&comma; go for it&period; It isn’t the greatest&comma; but it isn’t the worst puzzle platformer I’ve played either&period; The visuals are stunning&comma; the game plays well&comma; but without substance to back it up&comma; <em>Clockwork<&sol;em> just feels hollow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A Steam Key for <em>Clockwork<&sol;em> was provided by Gamesoft for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;