Clockworks

Clockworks begins with a beautiful claymation intro that sets the humourous tone of the game. It is a puzzle game from Alex Pajitnov, the genius behind Tetris. Don't worry it's not a "Tetris Clone". ;-) The game is kind of hard to explain so bear with me(wow, I say this alot...).

Anyway, here is the gist of it. You play as a small guy inside a clock(I assume), anyway, you have to swing from the gears avoiding obstacles, such as spikes and clock hands. The point of the game is to simply swing to the exit. Sounds simplistice but it can get quite hectic. You don't have "full" control over your character, he is constantly swinging on the gears. You can change the direction is swings but you cannot "stop" him. As his feet or hands touch another gear pressing the button makes him grab onto that gear and then he starts swinging from there. this is how movement is accomplished. Thats pretty much it, simply transfer from each gear to reach the exit. Like I said, sounds simplistic, but can get insane. The graphics are nothing to write home about, small clay character against a back ground pretty much sums it up. Check the screen shots for an idea. The control is pretty responsive, thankfully. After beating a stage a video of Alex Pajitnov pops up and he says something, only it is dubbed in Japanese so I have no clue what it is he says. Which brings me to my next point....

Language barrier. There is a bit of Japanese(such as the title screen), But there is an equal amount of English(such as the level select screen). If you have a basic understanding of Katakana you will have no problems. Otherwise it may take a little trial and error but I wouldn't worry about it. It's a puzzle game, so replay value depends on you. there is a multitude of stages each with different obstacles than the last. However, since it uses the stage formula rather than an endless cycle, such as Tetris, it hurts the replay value a bit as you are bound to run out of stages. Personnally, I recommend this game. If it sounds like your thing, it probably is. If you aren't a fan of puzzle games, this won't convert you. Shame it was left in Japan, may have been mildly popular if released here....

Screenshots!

©2001 Ed Finnegan

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