Review: Clover - A Curious Tale

When Clover first released as an Xbox Live indie game, it instantly became one of the top games on the service. A well written adventure game with a beautiful watercolor art style and smart social commentary? Sign me up! But alas, few people actually venture onto the Xbox indie game channel, and so to bring Clover to a wider audience developer Binary Tweed has released a PC version with Clover: A Curious Tale. But this isn't just a simple port, think of it more as the Director's Cut with a ton of extra content added in. Nearly double the content in fact. But do the additions blend well with the original game, or has Binary Tweed created the definitive version with Clover: A Curious Tale on PC?

I am told that a helpful comparison for Clover: A Curious Tale is to the Dizzy series of games. Hopefully that comparison means something to some of you, but having never played a Dizzy game myself, all I can draw from the comparison is that I must have missed out on something amazing. Clover: A Curious Tale is an adventure game in the classic sense. There are seemingly hundreds of items to use, combine, collect, and interact with to solve puzzles to advance the story. However, unlike the classic adventure games I'm more familiar with, Clover plays in the style of a sidescrolling platformer. This works very well since it alleviates the pixel hunting typically associated with adventure games. Just walk over an item and press down to pick it up.

Since it's fairly easy to find the objects you'll be using in Clover, the real challenge is figuring out how to use them. Puzzles are everywhere, and there are some real head scratchers that had me trying just about every item available to figure out what to do. This isn't helped by the fact that there are some extra items thrown into the world that, having completed the game multiple times, I have yet to find a use for (cuttlefish bone, what do you do?). It can get frustrating at times, but careful observation will always point you toward the right answer (even if you only realize it in hindsight), and when you do finally discover the solution it is followed by a satisfying "A-ha!" moment where you feel absolutely brilliant.

Perhaps it is because of the frustration of the puzzles that everything else about Clover is such a calming experience. Hauntingly beautifully piano music (which can be downloaded in free soundtrack form here) accompanies every handmade watercolor scene, painting the world of Clover with vibrant color and sound. It is also impossible to die or lose in Clover, with the worst punishment being sent to the jail and having to backtrack from there to wherever you were trying to go. And even this punishment is not necessarily always bad, since there will be times that the quickest way to relocate an item needed for a puzzle is to get yourself arrested.

As I said at the beginning of this review, Clover: A Curious Tale expands on the content of the original Xbox release in a huge way. There are tons of new items, areas, puzzles and characters that have been added to considerably lengthen the game. What works so well about these additions is that those who never played Clover on the Xbox 360 will never know what was originally there and what's new. All of the new content blends seamlessly into the story, including three new alternate endings depending on some of the choices you make throughout the game. And more than just new plot and puzzles, there are other additions like full voice acting - which, dare I say, is a cut above the voice acting found in most AAA games. New gamers should definitely go for the PC version if given the choice, and even Clover fans from the 360 will find that A Curious Tale offers enough new content to warrant a second look.

And though I don't want to delve too much into Clover's story, it is best discovered on your own as you play, it is worth noting that this is one of those rare politically and socially conscious games. I do not mean this in a derogatory way, far from it in fact. As much as Clover makes you think to solve the game's puzzles, it's also a game that you'll think about long after you've finished playing. The messages in the game can be a bit overbearing at times (though not quite to the degree of a game like, say, Eternal Sonata) but whether you agree with the messages or not you will at least be inspired to think about them. Too few games even attempt to bring out something introspective in the player, and the fact that Clover succeeds while wrapping its messages in satisfying puzzles makes it all the more refreshing.

In case you couldn't tell, I really enjoyed my time with Clover: A Curious Tale. It's an adventure game that will stick with you, and with enough replay value to warrant multiple playthroughs. Some of the puzzles are quite the challenge though, and that is a point that I can't emphasize enough. Unless you're a psychic, you will get stuck and you will get frustrated. It's inevitable. Even still, looking back at my time with Clover, the satisfaction from solving those particularly hard puzzles outweighs the frustration. For gamers who aren't afraid of some hard thinking with their games, Clover: A Curious Tale is a no-brainer.

8/10
Clover: A Curious Tale is available for download at Blitz 1Up, Direct2Drive, GamersGate, and GetGamesGo for $9.99 (£5.99).