Based on a review originally published on Flickering Myth:
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2019/03/video-game-review-claybook/
Product was received for free
Many of us who couldn’t afford to buy video games back in the day found escapism through other venues: there were those who played sports, those who read, and those who fantasized about being in a fictional world. And then there were those of us who had access to Play-Doh, using it and other forms of modeling clay for all kinds of imaginative hijinx.
Developed and published by Second Order, Claybook aims to bring back that old-school wonder for kids who had fun making crazy things from such mushy compounds. Question is, how well does it do it? The short answer is not the best due to an entirely different gameplan from the developers, though that doesn’t make it bad.
See, contrary to what it looks like, Claybook isn’t interested in occupying the sandbox (err claybox?) genre, its contents more akin to a Monkey Ball-esque platformer wherein players are tasked with guiding shapes through various courses for the sake of an extraneous objective. I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed by the choice (after all, it would’ve been cool to have a platformer built around manually designing items ala Green Lantern); however, in reviewing what Claybook is actually about, I can’t say its a bad concept, so much as it lacks proper execution. See, there’s no story to speak of, so it really needed solid gameplay to succeed, and that just wasn’t the case here. You move around with the joystick and have several options: drill forward or underneath, transfer control over to an adjacent piece, and rewind time with the intent of creating a doppelganger to help subvert obstacles.
It’s relatively barebones compared to the many power-ups of say the Mario games, and unfortunately, even the “unique” endgoals aren’t exactly fleshed out by the devs. Most levels entail you having to fill up pits with liquid, hit random checkpoints, absorb certain materials, or leave behind shadow clones in specially-marked areas; and while some of these can make for some cool challenges, the tasks do eventually get repetitive. There was also this annoying hitch that happened frequently wherein a ball-shaped figure I was operating would go into an arc rotation whenever I tried to dig forward through a wall, the resistance propping up as though I was on an invisible ramp; however, I am willing to accept possible user error for that mishap.
Claybook’s main saving grace is its art style and physics engine. No matter their design intent, the team at Second Order was evidently fascinated by the texture, look, and feel of Play-Doh, and so they’ve managed to develop a beautiful-looking material that somehow feels as soft, malleable, and playful as its real-life counterpart. But it’s not just the movement: one of the game’s biggest accomplishments is how colors daub over each other whenever you move through areas with different hues, making the endeavor feel realistic in its composition and mobility.
Sadly, those compliments don’t extend to the kid in the background. To elucidate, Second Order made the strange decision to add this child character who you’re technically playing as- he has a controller with a joystick that moves when you move yours (although he doesn’t press any buttons when you do). I say it’s strange because it was truly unnecessary: the kid has no impact on the title and the lack of a narrative means there’s no meta-commentary here the way The LEGO Movies had with their live action portions.
Regardless, I would’ve had no problem with him existing were it not for the fact that he seems to be made of the same doughy-material that the putty board is, this facet ultimately rendering him as very uncanny-looking. Combine this with those scarily large eyes, and you can be sure I worked hard to avoid him throughout my gametime.
He doesn’t speak either due to Claybook's lack of voice acting, leaving the audio design to fall into two categories: sound effects and music. The SFX was minimal given the conservative gameplay, but what is there is appropriate enough. Your churning has a nice squish to it, and classic platforming noises hit your ears a-dozen whenever you do something progressive like completing a mini-objective or beating an entire level. Second Order could have added some naturalism to the soundscape, like a waterfall tone whenever you cause a leak in a liquid cylinder, but that definitely would’ve been at odds with the graphics.
Music, on the other hand, is severely lacking. I heard the same three or so tunes on repeat, no matter what world I was on; a big disappointment from whoever the composer was.
Having reviewed Claybook for the Nintendo Switch, there is an important caveat worth mentioning, and that is that the game is surprisingly better played when handheld than docked, at least for me. My theory is this has to do with it not having to render as big a space as possible while portable, though I understand the experience could’ve been subjective.
It took me about 3-4 hours to complete all of Claybook’s stars/worlds, and at $15.00 MSRP, that falls significantly under my $1.00: 30 minute gameplay ratio. That being said, Claybook offers a mode where you can create your own courses, giving it a bit of Mario Maker or Minecraft’s replayability. Because of this, you also have the option to play other users’ levels, so that can definitely bump up your time with it depending on each person’s individual interest in doing so.
As such, make the decision to purchase Claybook on your own. It’s a platformer that doesn’t quite live up to its potential; however, it’s also gorgeous and feels like you’re using real plasticine. Quid pro quo Clarice.
Pros:
+Magnificent physics
+Wonderful doughy tactility
+Bright colors
Cons:
-Not much platforming variety
-Creepy kid in the back
-Little music
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2019/03/video-game-review-claybook/
Product was received for free
Many of us who couldn’t afford to buy video games back in the day found escapism through other venues: there were those who played sports, those who read, and those who fantasized about being in a fictional world. And then there were those of us who had access to Play-Doh, using it and other forms of modeling clay for all kinds of imaginative hijinx.
Developed and published by Second Order, Claybook aims to bring back that old-school wonder for kids who had fun making crazy things from such mushy compounds. Question is, how well does it do it? The short answer is not the best due to an entirely different gameplan from the developers, though that doesn’t make it bad.
See, contrary to what it looks like, Claybook isn’t interested in occupying the sandbox (err claybox?) genre, its contents more akin to a Monkey Ball-esque platformer wherein players are tasked with guiding shapes through various courses for the sake of an extraneous objective. I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed by the choice (after all, it would’ve been cool to have a platformer built around manually designing items ala Green Lantern); however, in reviewing what Claybook is actually about, I can’t say its a bad concept, so much as it lacks proper execution. See, there’s no story to speak of, so it really needed solid gameplay to succeed, and that just wasn’t the case here. You move around with the joystick and have several options: drill forward or underneath, transfer control over to an adjacent piece, and rewind time with the intent of creating a doppelganger to help subvert obstacles.
It’s relatively barebones compared to the many power-ups of say the Mario games, and unfortunately, even the “unique” endgoals aren’t exactly fleshed out by the devs. Most levels entail you having to fill up pits with liquid, hit random checkpoints, absorb certain materials, or leave behind shadow clones in specially-marked areas; and while some of these can make for some cool challenges, the tasks do eventually get repetitive. There was also this annoying hitch that happened frequently wherein a ball-shaped figure I was operating would go into an arc rotation whenever I tried to dig forward through a wall, the resistance propping up as though I was on an invisible ramp; however, I am willing to accept possible user error for that mishap.
Claybook’s main saving grace is its art style and physics engine. No matter their design intent, the team at Second Order was evidently fascinated by the texture, look, and feel of Play-Doh, and so they’ve managed to develop a beautiful-looking material that somehow feels as soft, malleable, and playful as its real-life counterpart. But it’s not just the movement: one of the game’s biggest accomplishments is how colors daub over each other whenever you move through areas with different hues, making the endeavor feel realistic in its composition and mobility.
Sadly, those compliments don’t extend to the kid in the background. To elucidate, Second Order made the strange decision to add this child character who you’re technically playing as- he has a controller with a joystick that moves when you move yours (although he doesn’t press any buttons when you do). I say it’s strange because it was truly unnecessary: the kid has no impact on the title and the lack of a narrative means there’s no meta-commentary here the way The LEGO Movies had with their live action portions.
Regardless, I would’ve had no problem with him existing were it not for the fact that he seems to be made of the same doughy-material that the putty board is, this facet ultimately rendering him as very uncanny-looking. Combine this with those scarily large eyes, and you can be sure I worked hard to avoid him throughout my gametime.
He doesn’t speak either due to Claybook's lack of voice acting, leaving the audio design to fall into two categories: sound effects and music. The SFX was minimal given the conservative gameplay, but what is there is appropriate enough. Your churning has a nice squish to it, and classic platforming noises hit your ears a-dozen whenever you do something progressive like completing a mini-objective or beating an entire level. Second Order could have added some naturalism to the soundscape, like a waterfall tone whenever you cause a leak in a liquid cylinder, but that definitely would’ve been at odds with the graphics.
Music, on the other hand, is severely lacking. I heard the same three or so tunes on repeat, no matter what world I was on; a big disappointment from whoever the composer was.
Having reviewed Claybook for the Nintendo Switch, there is an important caveat worth mentioning, and that is that the game is surprisingly better played when handheld than docked, at least for me. My theory is this has to do with it not having to render as big a space as possible while portable, though I understand the experience could’ve been subjective.
It took me about 3-4 hours to complete all of Claybook’s stars/worlds, and at $15.00 MSRP, that falls significantly under my $1.00: 30 minute gameplay ratio. That being said, Claybook offers a mode where you can create your own courses, giving it a bit of Mario Maker or Minecraft’s replayability. Because of this, you also have the option to play other users’ levels, so that can definitely bump up your time with it depending on each person’s individual interest in doing so.
As such, make the decision to purchase Claybook on your own. It’s a platformer that doesn’t quite live up to its potential; however, it’s also gorgeous and feels like you’re using real plasticine. Quid pro quo Clarice.
Pros:
+Magnificent physics
+Wonderful doughy tactility
+Bright colors
Cons:
-Not much platforming variety
-Creepy kid in the back
-Little music