Clustertruck

Editor's Notes

Digital Xbox One version reviewed. Review code was provided by the publisher.

Introduction

The cleverly named 'Clustertruck' comes to us from Swedish-based Landfall Games as their first release. They describe it simply as "a chaotic game about not falling off trucks", which is very true. It is available now for PC, XB1, and PS4.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

I started up 'Clustertruck' with absolutely no idea what I was getting into (in my defense, this is not usually how it works for us at HDD). The first level started with little warning and my first-person guy was unceremoniously dumped to the ground from atop a semi-truck. The level immediately restarted and again the same result. It turns out there are many semi-trucks all driving on top of each other (hence the name), and the whole game is basically an advanced version of "the floor is lava" that we all played as kids and our parents hated. The only objective is to jump from truck to truck to make it to the goal line. Touching the ground or any other surface is an instant restart. It is technically possible to ride on trucks for some time, but eventually the horrible drivers are going to crash, sometimes all at once. That's when the jumping comes in.

Jumping is more horizontal than vertical in 'Clustertruck', but huge leaps are possible after a few warm-up hops. It is rather difficult to control the player in mid-air, at least at first. Pulling off slick maneuvers awarded me with style points that can purchase special abilities. These include most things we've seen in many other platform games: slo-mo, double jumps, grappling hooks, and so on. Then there are things that are probably unique to 'Clustertruck', like being able to spawn a single truck below my guy so we have a chance at preserving the level by not hitting the ground. One jump ability and one utility ability can be slotted at a time, so players can swap out tricks based on a particular level's features or just to fit a preferred playstyle.

This is platforming on speed. Imagine the highway scene in 'Hardcore Henry' but less cheesy and more superhuman, mixed with video game tractor trailer hopscotch, and you'll have an idea of the kind of adrenaline in store during these massive jumps. Some of the levels are very small and narrow, with terrain features like boulders rolling down a hill towards the hapless trucks. Others are huge sprawling monstrosities with things to jump through and over and under in a kind of puzzley maze of jumping goodness. Every runthrough of every level is procedural to a certain extent. The trucks start out in the same position and arrangement every time, but how they drive can change depending on the grade of road and what they hit along the way, including each other. They will happily drive off hills or cliffs, putting the physics engine to good work as I try to bounce my way across a temporary bridge of falling trucks.

'Clustertruck' varies wildly in difficulty from level to level. Some can be quickly completed on the first try in less than a minute, while others are more demanding and require many, many restarts to accomplish. It doesn't go strictly by level number, either - some of the earliest levels in a world are the most difficult and vice versa. Occasionally this gets frustrating, but once the abilities start to unlock, most levels are manageable and I can busy myself more with unorthodox jumps than with achieving a flawless line.