Clive 'N' Wrench

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 t...

At the core of Clive ‘N’ Wrench, there’s a clear love of platforming that translates into the game. It’s fun to jump around in this engine, despite the bugs. But it’s hard to recommend a game that has terrible combat and is such a technical mess, even though it has some good parts.

I’ve said it time and time again that 3D platformers, namely collectathons, are some of my favorite games of all time. I can play the entirety of Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie nearly blindfolded, and will never, ever complain about the sheer amount of collectibles featured in Donkey Kong 64. For a time, it seemed like we were living in a collectathon revival, back when games like Super Mario Odyssey, A Hat in Time, and Yooka-Laylee (don’t at me haters, I love that game) all came out to satiate ...

While largely enjoyable, there are too many technical issues to be ignored on its quest to become the quintessential 90s 3D platformer.

A very enjoyable 3D platformer let down by a host of technical issues. Clive 'N' Wrench is well worth playing, but you may want to wait for some patches.

So many games these days are working to tap into our nostalgia. With remake after remake, it’s always nice to see a completely new IP attempting to capture that same magic without the benefit of having an older game to lean back on. Clive ‘N’ Wrench is one such game, and while it wears its inspirations on its sleeve, it was built from the ground up by the dedicated team at Dinosaur Bytes and tries to capture the feeling of those old-school games all on its own.