Clustertruck is one of the oddest games I’ve ever played. However, it’s also one of the most fun. It’s a platformer which basically revolves around jumping from truck to truck in order to reach the goal. The faster you do that with the most style, the more points you get. However, the game isn’t that simple. If you fall on the ground or bang into objects forcefully, you lose and have to start from the beginning of the level. While the levels are small, it’s best to be cautious than reckless.
As the game progresses, the levels get more and more complex. There are lasers and other obstacles that block your path so you have to be careful and utilize the sides of trucks and hoods to avoid devious traps. Clustertruck is chaotic but there’s beauty among the chaos. The mechanics are tight along with the controls. The visuals might be basic but the performance runs at a smooth 60 FPS so playing the game is an absolute treat.
Looking either left or right to jump can be a little awkward and sometimes feels like you’re controlling Leon in Resident Evil 4. I’m sure the developers designed it as a mechanic to make the game challenging but it just feels a little clunky. I would’ve preferred traditional first-person controls which allow you to look wherever you want instead of feeling as if you have to align every jump. This has to be my only complaint.
The environments the truck-jumping takes place in are varied. You start off in a desert but throughout the experience traverse mountainous regions, gravity-defying snowy tracks and even forests. The Tron-like cities are the most impressive in my opinion. The visuals feature a pastel look which we have seen in many games now like Virginia, The Witness and others. The graphics might be basic when you compare it to a game like…let’s say…Gears of War 4 but they’re still attractive. Clustertruck does have a severe problem with aliasing though. I could probably measure the jaggies with a ruler if I wanted to on Xbox One.
Summary
Overall, Clustertruck is a simple game which requires a lot of concentration and timing due to the fast-paced nature of the jumping mechanics. Advanced elements like stamina and a grappling hook are also introduced later on. If you’re a fan of parkour in games, you’ll love this one. There are dozens of levels and each one gets progressively harder. It reminds me of the user-created Minecraft parkour maps the Yogscast always plays.
There is variety and immense replayability as you try to beat your previous score. Had the moving trucks not been a part of the core experience, Clustertruck would’ve been an average game but the fact that it incorporates such a unique element into the title elevates it considerably. If you’re looking for a quick game to play between though heavy hitters this month, Clustertruck is the way to go. I definitely recommend it because it’s just mindless fun.
Asher is a games journalist, former News Writer (Gaming) at Windows Central. They contributed 1110 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: wrote over 1,100 ICXM pieces on Xbox news, hardware reviews, and platform commentary before joining Future plc’s Windows Central in 2017.