User talk:TrademarkedTWOrantula/Clustertruck

Nintendo World Report (done)

 * Gameplay:
 * ✅ "The least expensive upgrade, the double jump, was honestly good for most of the game, and I felt like I wasted my points when I bought the ability to freeze trucks."
 * ✅ Hated level 3-10 for realistic ice physics: "One particularly nasty level, 3-10 (the last level of the winter-themed world) has a sadly realistic treatment of 18-wheelers on sheets of ice. [...] But 3-10, with its trucks skidding off the road and simple wooden obstacles placed just so, broke me."
 * ✅ "And I had plenty of occasions in which I nailed a tricky series of jumps or managed to overcome a tough level and felt amazing."
 * Music:
 * ✅ "The music isn’t all that memorable though, with the constant restarting, I did appreciate that the music didn’t also restart at the same time."
 * Performance:
 * ✅ "I ran into a solitary crash while flipping through the menus, but for the most part the game ran fine."

Nintendo Life (done)

 * Gameplay:
 * ✅ "The Matrix: Reloaded will forever live in the shadow of its predecessor, but it did give us a few unforgettable moments, namely Morpheus fighting an Agent on top of a truck while trying to rescue The Keymaker. Imagine thus a video game where you are Morpheus; you can still do all those fancy gravity-defying jumps but there are no Agents to fight. Instead of only a single truck you have hundreds of them, all going about their regular everyday truck life. Add a sprinkle of ‘the floor is lava’ and voilá: Clustertruck was born."
 * ✅ "We have rarely ever seen such a tight blend of casual and hardcore gameplay experience so masterfully implemented..."
 * ✅ "...plus good fortune factoring in due to the fact that the same level won’t ever run the same twice because of real-time physics."
 * ✅ "Mix in the factor of the randomised nature of collisions within every level and you have a successful recipe for a delicious dose of player freedom regarding ways to tackle each stage." — Powerups + randomly generated truck positions = Fun gameplay
 * ✅ "You are already helplessly hooked into this unique package and eagerly waiting to see what the game throws at you in the next stage..."
 * ✅ "An exquisite balance of arcade first-person action and physics puzzle that leaves little but one single course of action when faced with a glimpse of its pure brilliant absurdity..."
 * Music:
 * ✅ "...these are some really catchy tunes to be found here and they perfectly blend with the whole absurdity going on-screen all the time."
 * Performance:
 * ✅ "The entire three-dimensional world of Clustertruck is made up of flat, shaded polygons so even during the most insane levels (with a ton of physics engine magic delightfully showcasing the chaos from a dozen trucks head-on collision) everything satisfyingly shifts around as expected."

Pocket Gamer (done)

 * Gameplay:
 * ✅ "This game is brutal, unfair at times, and frustrating, but it's so, so addictive once you get over the need to scream."
 * ✅ "Clustertruck nature means it's super simple to pick up and play regardless of your skill level."
 * ✅ "When you just can't seem to get the right rhythm or the right speed it can be quite disheartening, especially if you're barely out the gate. The difficulty curve definitely steepens quickly."
 * Performance:
 * ✅ "Its controls may be nice and simple, but when using the right analogue stick to look around it's way too sensitive. Any point the track curves around a corner, looking in the correct direction is a real chore and incredibly frustrating in such a fast-paced game."

PC Games (done)

 * Gameplay:
 * ✅ "This simple premise is enhanced by all kinds of obstacles along the way and a few cool tricks, but basically remains the same in all nine game worlds."
 * ✅ "However, high score lists entice you to play through again, especially since you unlock rewards such as jetpacks or slow motion mode with your points as you play."
 * ✅ "The hair-raising obstacle courses regularly drive you to the brink of despair."
 * ✅ "Only a few extremely tricky passages towards the end will make you curse because they require almost inhuman precision."
 * Music:
 * ✅ "The driving, excellent soundtrack but motivates you to keep playing."
 * Performance:
 * ✅ [NS version]: "The small Switch controllers exacerbate the problem of the non-assignable controls, especially since the A button reserved for jumping is on the right hand, making it almost impossible to use the right analog stick at the same time to look around."

Destructoid (done)

 * Gameplay:
 * ✅ "Developer Landfall Games definitely had joyous memories of “the floor is lava,” or it wanted to make Mirror's Edge with autonomous, suicidal trucks."
 * ✅ "The opening world is, honestly, disappointing. From those first ten levels, I thought Clustertruck was just a weird gimmick that would grow tiring quickly."
 * ✅ "Certain levels will become temporary roadblocks for up to 10 minutes, but with the longest level being the very final one at two whole minutes, nothing is really that difficult."
 * ✅ "You end on a level that takes far too long to finish, breaks the game’s own simple rules, and just sucks the fun out of the whole ordeal."
 * Graphics:
 * ✅ "The amount of creativity in the course design cannot be understated. I went from being mildly entertained to flat-out impressed with how such a simple idea kept finding new ways to stay fun."

HobbyConsolas (done)
TWOrantula TM (enter the web) 16:01, 19 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Gameplay:
 * ✅ "It may sound ridiculous, but Clustertruck knows how to pace itself and introduce new features so that the gameplay always remains fresh throughout its more than 100 levels."
 * ✅ "And it is precisely this variety that makes a seemingly ridiculous idea like Clustertruck work so well, because it always has a challenge to catch you, that "I'll just go one more level and that's it."
 * ✅ "Its short levels mean that a playthrough can last a minute or more, and you can easily put it down and pick it up again thanks to the Nintendo Switch's portable nature."
 * Graphics:
 * ✅ "Similarly, the graphics are pretty flat and simple. They were already that way on PC, which was very reminiscent of Mirror's Edge Catalyst. On Switch they follow that same line, although both models and textures have lost a bit of detail in order to maintain the frenetic pace and constant 60 fps."
 * Performance:
 * ✅ "The first, and perhaps most serious, is that the Joy-Con does not offer all the precise control that it should. Of course, it can be played and completed without problems, but compared to the PC version, some functions do not respond as well as they should."
 * ✅ "For example, with the right stick we can look around us, but even by modifying the sensitivity of the sticks, it is almost better not to touch it too much, because refocusing our view where we are interested will make us lose precious moments."