Clive 'N' Wrench
5 / 10

Clive 'N' Wrench might take inspiration from classic 3D platformers, but it doesn't take the best practices, resulting in a dated and at times frustrating gameplay experience.

Pros
  • A decent variety of levels and tasks
  • Definitely captures the "old school" feel of 3D platformers, for better and for worse
Cons
  • Controls don't feel as responsive as they need to be
  • Boss levels are downright awful
  • Feels quite dated and not up to modern standards in all departments

A good 3D platformer only needs a few key ingredients to almost guarantee success. A lovable hero, a nice variety of levels to wander around and collect stuff in, and simple gameplay with frequent breakaway refreshments to keep players on their toes.

Sadly, Clive 'N' Wrench is missing some key ingredients that stop it from bouncing to the dizzying heights of those that came before, but it's not a total wash out and there is some fun to be had.

Clive 'N' Wrench takes players on a time-hopping adventure after the big bad guy, Dr. Daucus, and his sidekick, Olga Chestycough, rob off with the time-travel blueprints. It's up to Clive the rabbit and Wrench the monkey to track them down and put an end to their mischief. It's standard silly stuff and it's not winning any writing awards, that's for sure, but it serves the game by allowing players to explore levels set in different time periods and locations, ranging from old-timey London, ancient Egypt, a mob-run casino town, and more. It's a good concept though the story leaves a lot to be desired.

The heroic titular duo are a fine pairing with Clive the rabbit being the main character tasked with running, jumping, and spin-attacking enemies, while Wrench dutifully sits on his buddy's back waiting to be slung around like helicopter rotors to give Clive a gliding ability. Poor Wrench actually doesn't do much more than that, and neither character is given much actual characterization outside of their nightmare fuel cut-scenes. It's a missed opportunity to turn the characters from being pawns in the player's game to being fun critters worth knowing and caring about. It doesn't help that all dialogue in the game is presented in text with that annoying "meep meep meep" vocalization made popular by Banjo-Kazooi and later, Yooka-Laylee.

The modern player is a visual being. We notice graphics first and gameplay later. Clive 'N' Wrench doesn't impress on the visual front, sadly, and the dated visual makeup sets the tone for the rest of the adventure. It doesn't look bad, per se, but it doesn't do much to set itself apart from its peers.

clive n wrench gliding

The characters and the worlds look decent enough, but there's an air of PS3-era around it all with flat lighting, inconsistent world interactions, and some downright awful cinematics with animation pulled from a cheap Russian kids' cartoon.

The levels are hit-and-miss, though, with some being genuinely good-looking and fun to move around in. Others, however, and I'm pointing directly at the mob town level, are an eyesore and a bore. I couldn't wait to be done with that one and once I left the level, I vowed never to return. Sadly, I had to in order to make progress...

There are 11 levels in total and progression is locked behind collectibles. Within each level there are hundreds of colored pocket watches to collect as well as ten magic stones. It's the stones that dictate the progression, as you can only move from one world to the next by beating the previous world's boss. However, while you're free to explore each level, the boss for that level is in a separate area that is locked unless you have a set amount of stones. This means you really do have to get to work in each level and have a good mooch around to find as many stones as possible.

clive n wrench bad animation

For the most part, it's fairly simple, and each level follows a similar structure. For example, each level will have you needing to find five lost characters for a reward, five keys to open a safe, and so on. Other levels lean heavily into the platforming and reward players for their patience (and you'll need a lot for some particular levels) by granting a stone for jumping and gliding to the top of a hard-to-reach location.

I can't say that the platforming did much for me, though, and I came close to turning my DualSense controller into a permanent fixture of my wall decor on a few occasions. It doesn't help that the controls are a little iffy and I never really felt that I had that player-character connection. Jumps would register late, grabs onto ledges would fail, and sometimes I would sprint with Clive only to hit a small obstacle that sent him bounding through the air.

What may have been a good idea long ago no longer fits the current landscape, especially with the likes of Mario Odyssey and the recent(ish) Spyro and Crash remakes.

The boss levels are particularly poor. They could have been cut entirely from the game, in my opinion. They range from being annoyingly difficult to ridiculously easy. For instance, one early boss had me running around a massive casino roulette table while the boss threw waves of enemies at me. Defeating the enemies took off a third of her health. The final wave of baddies, though, had old-school gangster guns which are hard to avoid, and given that Clive's only offensive move is a spin attack which means getting close, getting smacked around is inevitable. I had to go through this boss level a dozen times before I finally got lucky and beat it. Getting lucky shouldn't be the way to get ahead, right?

On the other hand, the Egypt level's boss, Cleocatra, was a cakewalk. All I had to was run and jump my way through a fairly basic platforming section to the top of her pyramid which then transitioned to a cutscene of the boss lady walking backward until she walked off the edge of the pyramid. And that was it. No spectacular battle and no real challenge.

clive n wrench tomb raider

Clive 'N' Wrench is inconsistent from start to finish, with some levels being good fun and others being poor chores. Combat is lackluster and the platforming can be very annoying, though Clive's limited abilities serve their purpose in the wider levels without the need for pinpoint precision. It's important to remember, however, that this is a solo effort from a one-man development team and it's been in the works for over a decade. Unfortunately, that decade has caught up with Clive 'N' Wrench, and what may have been a good idea years ago no longer fits the current landscape, especially with the likes of Mario Odyssey and the recent(ish) Spyro and Crash remakes.