The Cleaner

The Good
There exists many videogames today, commercial titles produced by professional teams as well as freeware titles made by amateur-enthusiasts. Some of are bad, most are okay and many are good. However, very few games have that special something that makes them a truly wonderful experience which will touch you to the heart! But it just so happens that this modest freeware game is one of those select few! I have played many adventure games in my life, many good ones and way to many for me to count and by the time I'm writing this review no other game than this one have captivated me so much as to get 3 full playthroughs from me. Must count for something, huh?

This game sparks of life, from top to bottom. The graphics and animations have been drawn in a humble and cartoony style which reminds me quite a bit about the graphic style seen in many later NES-games. Although there are some bright outdoor locales most levels are dark and claustrophobic. There are lots of effective sounds in this game, many of them coming from enemies, varying from low, menacing growls to semi-robotic shouts. Some enemies also have somewhat odd but beautifully unique looks. And in fights the air will be ripe with zaps, explosions and buzzes from the shots exchanged between the cleaner and his adversaries. Great attention and care has gone into the small details, those very details which gives life to an image and makes us for forget that it is.... an image! Tress are color-sparkling and lush, machinery will glow and blink, snow will fall, water will flow and trickle, the cleaners cloak will even billow in the wind! And there is many cool special-effects too, such as explosions, smoke and lightning which also looks very nice. All of these things contribute to create a unique atmosphere which I would say is.... magic! Mystic but beautiful at the same time. And it is further enhanced by the amazing soundtrack. Imagine the music score from megaman, only better. Each track fits it's respective level like hand in glove, in some places it is subdued and brooding and in others suspenseful and thrilling.

The gameplay is superb, striking a great balance between fast-trigger reflexes and contemplative strategic thinking. You will encounter various enemies, each with different attacks and movement-patterns (and some with a not so trivial AI) and you will need to choose the right spells for the right enemies. The many spells you will fire all have a well defined purpose and characteristic looks and sounds. They include Speeding Bolts which are weak but fast and Mage-beam which are powerful but mana-hungry. Upgrading spells to higher levels are an important part of the gameplay but you can also downgrade them at any time to free up essence-points and spend on another spell or stat. Perhaps you want to try out the Energy-blade but haven,t got enough EP to ”buy” it? Then try downgrading the Mage-beam one notch and spend the refunded EP on Energy-blade. Didn't like it very much? Then by all means give the EP back to Mage-beam. Or perhaps you rather prefer improving mana regeneration so your mana supply won't run dry as quickly during particularly intense fights? This was a very good design-choice which effectively leaves you free to experiment with spells without you having to worry about wasting your hard-earned EP on spells which you will perhaps only use once or twice during the entire game. The fights themselves are fast-paced, fluid and exciting and defeating enemies will reward you with unique death-animations for each type of them, organic enemies will burst in a shower of meat, robots will be destroyed in loud explosions and soldiers will let out high-pitched death-yells. And of course there is also the useful telekinesis which allows you to move objects such as rocks and and branches and smack them into enemies. It can be a very effective alternative to spells but it takes some skill to use as you must get the objects moving with sufficient momentum to cause any significant damage.

As for the story it is a quite typical ”good versus evil”-tale at it's core but it is well told and makes you empathise with the protagonist and understand the importance of his mission, you will not just think of the plot as a lame excuse for you to shot everything in sight. Also, I like the unusual way it is told, in pictures and not in words. It works great and ties in with the ”show, don't tell” philosophy running throughout this game.

The Bad
A few tiny specks of dust smudges the surface on this otherwise perfectly polished gem. For the first, controls are a little clumsy. WASD-keys in conjunction with mouse works flawlessly for moving and shooting but when you want to switch spells you must do that by pressing the numerical keys meaning you must take your hand away from the directional buttons. The designer should have incorporated the option of switching spells with a mouse-wheel, that would have been terrific. Also the button for accessing the stats-screen could have been placed closer to the WASD-keys, perhaps ”g” instead of ”m” For the second, some exits are quite obscure and makes certain tasks harder than they should be.

The Bottom Line
The cleaner very clearly demonstrates that lack of access to advanced 3-D software and a multimillion-dollar budget doesn't have to be a hindrance to creating a great game. I sincerely hope that we will one day see a sequel to this marvellous action-adventure.