Despite my love for the sleek, white monolith that is the Xbox 360, I'm not as enamoured of Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade as some of my 360-owning friends and colleagues.
Sure, it's cool that casual gamers can play souped-up versions of Web-based puzzlers like Zuma on their TVs, I guess. If that's your thang. (And I'll admit I had a hardcore Hexic addiction that took months to break).
And yeah, it's nifty that we can enjoy classic arcade games on our widescreen TVs without worrying about fiddling with emulators or buying retro-gaming anthologies, 80% of which tend to be crap.
Because who doesn't love Frogger, Galaga or the just-released Xbox Live Arcade title Pac-Man? Well, me for one. All those games cost me piles of quarters in my misspent childhood, but I'm bored to tears after five minutes of playing them now. Nostalgia only goes so far.
Enter Cloning Clyde. Developed by Ninja Bee, the same folks who did the Xbox Live Arcade space tycoon title Outpost Kaloki X, Cloning Clyde is a side-scrolling puzzle-platformer that's reminiscent of those great 2-D Oddworld games.
As the dim-witted lab subject Clyde, your goal in each of the game's 35 levels is to destroy sentry robots that spit out exploding chickens, and then escape through a teleporter. Wait, it gets weirder.
Each level gives you anywhere from three to 20 or more other Clydes to team up with and/or rescue. You'll need several Clydes to solve some puzzles, like standing on a row of buttons to open a door, or using a clone-flinging catapult that requires a separate pair of hands to pull the launch lever.
The concept is simple, but the game is rife with personality, and the puzzles' difficulty level ramps up slowly but never gets frustrating.
HYBRID HIJINX
Navigating the levels will frequently require the Clydes to mix their DNA with a critter's to produce half-man, half-animal hybrids with special powers. For instance, Chicken Clyde can fly, Frog Clyde can hold his breath underwater and Exploding Barrel of Dynamite Clyde can obliterate rock barriers. Who knew barrels had DNA?
Riding sheep, kicking chickens, getting sucked down drains and pinned to rockets also factor into the gameplay, which is divided into nice, bite-sized chunks that last from about five to 20 minutes per level.
Casual gamers might buy an Xbox 360 solely to play Zuma or Bejewelled II or Uno on their TV, but I get far more excited about Xbox Live Arcade's potential as a distribution method for indie studios doing small but original work like this.
Give the free demo a try, and if you find it to your liking, the full version will cost you 800 Microsoft Points, which is roughly $13 in Canuck-bucks. For me it was cyber-money well spent.
BOTTOM LINE
It's not particularly deep or innovative, but Cloning Clyde is cute and fun and very slick. I've spent $60 on far worse games than this little $13 gem, and it's easily one of the best offerings on Xbox Live Arcade.
Sun Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5
CLONING CLYDE
Xbox 360
Ninja Bee/ Wahoo Studios
Rating: Teen
