Clockwerx review

Game: Clockwerx
Platform: PC
Genre: Unknown
Developer: Unknown

Reader review by karpah

May 14, 2004

Sammy spins left, Sammy spins right. Sammy sees the green rod coming! Sammy tries to duck and weave and avoid a collision, but the green rod is too clever for Sammy. The two collide in a fiery explosion that totally decimates poor Sammy.

The above is an example of how NOT to play ClockWerx.

Today, I've decided to review the beautiful Windows re-release of my favoritest Mac game ever. (Okay, like the only Mac game I ever played, but one I love to death.) ClockWerx is an awesome puzzle game of the best type - one that makes little to no sense at all. You are Sammy, a little golden clock hand spinning around a small dot on the grid-like playing field. (Note: I just named him Sammy, he doesn't actually have a name.) Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to successfully navigate Sammy across the board to the goal dot, wherever it may be.

As Sammy rotates, he will pass close to other dots in the grid. When he's next to them, he can switch to them, and this is how he transfers from dot to dot, to make his way around. Sounds easy enough, right? Of course, life for Sammy is not this simple.

There's other clock hands swinging around the place too, enemy hands. If an enemy hand, be it green, red, blue, or pink with purple polka dots, comes in contact with our hero Sammy rod, say bye bye, start the level again. And it's not just other rods that are out to get Sammy. There's spikes, both stationary and moving, disappearing dots, oil slicks, doorways, and other such calamities that our little yellow friend must deal with on his epic trek around the playing field.

The best bit about this game is, it's easy to learn how to play. You just have to know how to control Sammy. Sammy rotates. Make Sammy change direction. Make Sammy switch dots. And the levels start off easy. The first ten levels are an introduction to the game, leading you through learning about all the things you have to avoid. After that, it's on for young and old.

ClockWerx is a great challenge. But it's also a lot of fun. The 100 levels will keep you confuzzled and entertained for hours upon hours. It requires a great strategic mind to complete, yet is fun for people of all ages. If that's not enough, you can choose your difficulty! Higher difficulty means all the hands spin faster, there are more enemy hands patrolling their particular territory, more pitfalls to avoid, and you get a smaller time allowance for each level. Eek. Skeery. Hard mode is tough!

Okay, enough about Sammy and the gameplay. Although that's basically the whole game, there's other stuff to consider here too. Graphics are important to note, but there's not a lot of noteworthy stuff about them. Sammy is an ornate little yellow clock hand, spinning around a light grey dot in a dark grey background. Little enemy clock hands come in all different colours, and their dotty territory (the only dots they can swing around) are marked with their particular colour. Spikes are little red balls, either sitting still staring at you, or drifting around the place. Bonus dots are shiny. That's about it, really, in terms of graphics. Boring, I know.

Sound isn't much better. You get a nice little piano tune that sounds like it wouldn't be out of place in a hotel foyer or something like that, repeating over and over (if you set it to do so.) I wouldn't even bother with that, just turn it off. Sound effects are pretty standard - Sammy makes a bouncing sound when he changes directions, and a clicking sound when he switches dots. And there's the little fiery explosion, should he touch anything he's not supposed to. Eh. Not anything special, I had hoped for more from the Windows re-release, as we all know PCs are far superior to Macs. I'm not disappointed, as I always turn the sound effects off anyways, but I had expected more.

But in all seriousness, it's an addictive little puzzle game. Ignore the fact that the sound sucks, throw on some of your own CDs to listen to instead. Graphics are pretty standard for an older puzzle game, and gameplay rocks. If you can find this game anywhere (like, on the web for example...) check it out, because it's well worth a look.

Rating: 9/10

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