Cloudbuilt Review
Cloudbuilt is a speed-run, parkour action game set in a desolate landscape. What that means is you are expected to run as fast as you can through ruins whilst blasting enemies. This is harder than it sounds. Each level plays the same with jumping between platforms, using your limited booster to wall-run, shoot the odd enemy which may-or-may-not shoot back, pass checkpoints and race to the finish. There is no clock on the HUD, but at the end you are shown your time - deaths add time - and a ranking. The levels often have two or more ways to get through them, so you can get a better time or remember them for the Fragile and Pathfinder runs.
The first thing you really notice about Cloudbuilt is the load times as they go on far too long. There doesn't appear to be any reason for it either, as the levels are not all that big and the graphics won't tax your system. It is a good looking game, but that might just be the slightly cartoony-feel of it, with heavily textured cell-shading. However the menus and even the opening screens are very badly distorted, as if a gif of a jpeg of a gif.
The game is very fast-paced and the music really ups the tempo; kind of a cross between 8-bit video game music and J-pop in levels, contrasted by a very bleak piano in the menus and hub. There is no slow-down, even when some of the more particle-based events are happening, with the levels so sparse and barely populated. The robotic enemies are well designed with very specific attacks. There are turrets, little drone things and static leaping mines that won’t let you jump over them. The turrets and leapers can be destroyed, but the drones will recover after being blasted several times. You are only able to shoot five homing bullets before reloading, so battling some enemies will require some thought. Reloading is automatic though, so the already-busy keyboard won’t require even more keys. I am fairly nimble on the keyboard, but found myself plummeting to my death several times due to jump and boost mistakes.
Luckily, death is fairly inexpensive in Cloudbuilt as you have unlimited lives and respawn as soon as you hit any key after death. The only major bug I noticed happened on one death, instead of falling to a set point and being told I had died, I just kept falling... for three minutes. Judging by the amount of times I died though, it is not a common bug. I’m pretty sure the majority of my deaths were not down to any sort of bug either, with missed jumps, boosting too far, running out of boost before double-jumping or being shot at the wrong moment, flinging me off of my current platform.
The levels themselves are pretty enough, but in a state of ruin. You learn why they look that way and what the story is after the first level, when you are introduced to the main hub. The hub takes the form of a bedroom; complete with desk, computer, bookcase and bed. The bed has your heavily bandaged body - with you as a ghost who can interact with either the computer to read the story logs, or your body to enter the level select.
The story unfolds after each level, with your ghost stood in your room through a voice actress who doesn’t give a convincing performance. She is simply reading the lines, not putting any emotion or conviction into it. The story remains vague for a long time too, with constant hints at what caused your current predicament - some ambush in which she was a soldier. Not that it plays into the game at all.
The different game modes are there to bulk up the slim story mode. The No Ammo option has you with, obviously, no ammo to fight back against enemies so it’s best to avoid combat. Super Charge means your boost recharges a lot faster: this allows you to speed through the levels - and die super quickly. Fragile mode means you will die in one shot, though you can still fight back against those who shoot at you. Beacon mode sets out several glowing orbs which you must collect and return to the start point. Finally, Pathfinder gives you very little boost and challenges you to find a path that requires jumping and very little wall-running.
Overall, the game is very challenging with a steep learning curve which hindered my enjoyment. There are a variety of modes to test yourself on, though it’s clear that the people who populate multiple leaderboards are very skilled and even when I tried to rush through levels on Super Charge, I found my rating was far below what the game expects of players. It’s very smooth and nice to look at, but loading times are quite long and made the wait for constant death quite boring. It seems unable to decide whether it is a parkour game or a third-person shooter, and that hampers what could be a much better game had it decided between the two.
Cloudbuilt (Reviewed on Windows)
Game is enjoyable, outweighing the issues there may be.
It’s very smooth and nice to look at, but loading times are quite long and made the wait for constant death quite boring. It seems unable to decide whether it is a parkour game or a third-person shooter, and that hampers what could be a much better game had it decided between the two.
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