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REVIEW | PLAYSTATION 4
CLOUDPUNK (PS4)
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Publisher: Merge Games.
Developer: Ion Lands. Released: October 2020. Genre: Sandbox. Other versions: PS5; XONE; SWI; PC. Posted 9th November 2022. By Tom Clare © 2022 |
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By my reckoning, Cloudpunk is approximately two-thirds the way to a great sandbox game. With shades of G-Police, The Fifth Element and Minecraft glued together with giant dollops of cyberpunk and neon-noir, Cloudpunk offers a dense, sizeable and collectively impressive cityscape for open-world fans to lose themselves in. It’s buoyed by a really good storyline that’s populated with fun characters. It could have been a tremendous game, but without a more varied, more complete gameplay experience, it’s left feeling slightly incomplete.
The game follows Rania, a young woman who has fled her home to flee loan sharks. It’s a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire, however, as she ends up in the hostile super-city of Nivalis. Rania signs up to do deliveries for Cloudpunk, a shady, no-questions-asked business stationed near her new residence. A high-stakes, long night sees her splitting her work between piloting a HOVA car around the city and exploring places on foot. She’s given missions by an enigmatic, world-weary man known simply as ‘Control’. Also along for the ride is her robot dog companion, Camus, who in the absence of a body, has to make do with having his intellect uploaded to Rania’s car. He chimes in with little snippets of advice and humorous anecdotes as well as acting, in some surprisingly evocative moments, as Rania’s moral compass.
Cloudpunk HQ: here you'll be picking up a bunch of packages. Just don't ask what's in them and you'll be fine!
Along the way, Rania can engage with a glut of citizens in need of help, sample the various culinary delights of the many street vendors, buy items of clothing and accessories, and collect a host of sought-after valuables. You’ll meet lots of stand-out personalities along the way. The best is android detective Huxley, whose diction consists entirely of hard-boiled crime cliches. There’s also Mr Octavius-Butler, a socially-privileged android who expresses doubts as to the fairness of the social order, despite his human wife’s insistence that everyone has their place. You’ll meet Dolly: a human pop singer who discovers first-hand the brutal realities of a short commercial shelf life, having been ruthlessly cast aside and replaced by an android replica of herself, seemingly without anyone noticing. Last but not least, there’s Danya, a collector of old video games. For each floppy disk or cartridge Rania brings her, you’re treated to a uniquely enjoyable monologue on what a range of eighties genres might be seen to have been representative of, a long way into the future.
Missions are diverting enough, though as with the early Grand Theft Autos, it’s the sandbox exploration where most of the fun is derived. Whilst the HOVA driving aspect isn’t especially sophisticated, zooming around the billboards and buildings is really cool, as is discovering new places as you search for a parking bay. There are little joys, like stopping at the fuelling stations (each charges a different rate per litre) and fitting upgrades at the garages.
Missions are diverting enough, though as with the early Grand Theft Autos, it’s the sandbox exploration where most of the fun is derived. Whilst the HOVA driving aspect isn’t especially sophisticated, zooming around the billboards and buildings is really cool, as is discovering new places as you search for a parking bay. There are little joys, like stopping at the fuelling stations (each charges a different rate per litre) and fitting upgrades at the garages.
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Exploring Cloudpunk is a pleasure. It’s the kind of atmospheric experience that is easy to lose yourself in for hours on end. It’s also a rare example of game whose entirety is far better than its constituent parts. The visuals sum this up perfectly. Blocky, gaudy and simplistic up close, the city is architecturally expansive and beautiful from a distance. You’ll forgive the crudeness of the block-built locations because of what it all amounts to. Often, whilst riding an elevator, or manoeuvring the HOVA, you’ll be struck by the elaborate composition of each area.
There’s an assumed busyness to this bright, exciting cauldron that’s paradoxically quite calming to mill around in. You can take a moment from your deliveries to buy coffee from a vendor, and observe as sky trains, traffic and billboards fill the skies with activity. Evidently, Nivalis is a city that never sleeps. Losing yourself in this precarious, vast environment provides an alluring sense of escapism. Yes, the voxel characters look like the horror children of LEGO and Minecraft, but you’ll scarcely mind, for the immersion they help bring to Nivalis. It’s also worth noting that an update significantly smoothens Cloudpunk’s frame rate and general performance, so despite some risidual pop-in, it’s much more convincing on the technical front.
There’s an assumed busyness to this bright, exciting cauldron that’s paradoxically quite calming to mill around in. You can take a moment from your deliveries to buy coffee from a vendor, and observe as sky trains, traffic and billboards fill the skies with activity. Evidently, Nivalis is a city that never sleeps. Losing yourself in this precarious, vast environment provides an alluring sense of escapism. Yes, the voxel characters look like the horror children of LEGO and Minecraft, but you’ll scarcely mind, for the immersion they help bring to Nivalis. It’s also worth noting that an update significantly smoothens Cloudpunk’s frame rate and general performance, so despite some risidual pop-in, it’s much more convincing on the technical front.
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So. Many. Bright. Lights.
Cloudpunk stalls in good-not-great territory, however, and I rather fear that it misses a couple of open goals. For all the atmosphere and urgency, Rania rarely engages in any actual action. There are only four time limits to brave and they’re all late on in the game. There’s no combat and, despite the huge number of vendors, no health or stats to manage, meaning the marvellous variety of snacks feels oddly superfluous. Likewise the code-activated safes; they’re dotted all over the city, yet you only get to use them a couple of times. Whilst at one stage Rania lends a hand to a street racer, the player never gets to partake in any such high-octane thrills. You can traverse a fair bit of ground, but beyond picking up items and interacting with key figures, the level of interaction amounts to less than you’re initially expecting. This doesn’t stop Cloudpunk from being a superbly addictive adventure, but it can’t help but make you wonder what might have been.
There’s a little over 10 hours worth of play. Lots and lots of missions, but the replay value is relatively limited, with only some awkward, missable trophies and the good and bad endings to warrant a return. A chapter or mission select might have been nice too, to save you having to start from scratch. Whilst it’s a genuine shame Cloudpunk couldn’t deliver a couple more arrows for its metaphorical gaming bow, it’s a prime piece of cyberpunk escapism and comes recommended.
There’s a little over 10 hours worth of play. Lots and lots of missions, but the replay value is relatively limited, with only some awkward, missable trophies and the good and bad endings to warrant a return. A chapter or mission select might have been nice too, to save you having to start from scratch. Whilst it’s a genuine shame Cloudpunk couldn’t deliver a couple more arrows for its metaphorical gaming bow, it’s a prime piece of cyberpunk escapism and comes recommended.
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VERDICT
"Cloudpunk is the kind of atmospheric endeavour that is easy to lose yourself in for hours on end. However, without a more varied gameplay experience, it’s left feeling slightly incomplete." OVERALL: 7/10 |
OTHER CYBERPUNK AND STEAMPUNK INSPIRED GAMES REVIEWED
Empire of Steel (1992, Mega Drive)
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Born Punk (2022, PC)
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