Tag Archives: Clodhopppers

Clodhoppers: First Impressions

Following on from my initial discovery of this game back in early 2020, I decided to write about my first impressions of this insanely unique-looking and promising title. Clodhoppers, under development at Claymatic Games and led by Platypus creator Anthony Flack, is a free–for all fighting game similar to Super Smash Bros whereby quirky and uncouth characters fight each other with fists, guns, bombs, and bails of hay (among other things) across traversable stages, with the game making use of the claymation visuals synonymous with Anthony Flack’s games. The spiritual successor to Flack’s canceled game Cletus Clay, the current build was recently added to Steam and is now free to play whilst the game remains under development. Eager to find out how this game now plays out after having briefly played the original prototype, I downloaded it and played a few rounds, and I was impressed, to say the least, with the title shaping up to be what Flack is promising fans.

 

Graphics

Like Platypus, the game makes use of visuals made entirely of clay and set in rural countryside areas throughout. Each stage that has been designed so far has been very well executed, giving it the clear impression that this game is a labor of love, even at this early stage in development. What tracks compose the game’s soundtrack at this point also fit in perfectly well with the game’s tableau, and the game already has the sense of humor attached to it that any player can come to expect from the first glance.

 

Gameplay

Playing out very similarly to Super Smash Bros, the game revolves around being the last man standing by either depleting the health of the other players by attacking them or knocking them off the stage. It works differently to Smash in that players don’t become more liable to fly off the stage the more damage they take, and they instead have a certain amount of hit points to be depleted. In addition, there also weapon drops available for players to take advantage of, but at this point in development, there is only a certain amount of them, and the quantity of which would most likely have to be increased before the game goes out to keep it as wonderfully varied as possible. 

 

Controls

It took a bit of control mapping on Steam to get the keyboard to correspond with the controller, but once this is sorted out, the game poses no problems; I certainly couldn’t cope with playing the game on a mouse and keyboard in any case, this is a game made for a controller. Maybe more elements can be added to the control scheme before release, such as activating additional moves, maybe reminiscent of final smash moves in the Smash Bros series, but for the most part, the control scheme is fine. 

 

Lifespan

If executed correctly, and if perhaps more game modes are added before it goes out, then this game can potentially be made to last as long as the player’s interest is held; especially as the game is specifically marketed as an online game. I think the main thing is that the developers focus primarily on adding more variety in gameplay than what there already is; if that happens, I think this will end up becoming an insanely popular title. 

 

Storyline

There is certainly scope to add a story mode to Clodhoppers, with so many eccentric characters and its unique settings and premise.; It could function in a similar way to Super Smash Bros Brawl, whereby players will be forced to take different paths with different characters in the lead-up to the ending, and have everything come full circle by centering around a specific endgame enemy or location where things come to the fore. Whether or not there will be a story mode added remains to be seen, but the potential for which is quite exciting to think about. 

 

Originality

Though this game is clearly influenced by a specific gaming series, everything about Anthony Flack’s games has always had uniqueness attached to them, and Clodhoppers looks to be no different. Before I played Platypus, there were very few games around that used this visuals style, except the likes of ClayFighter. But it will be a welcome addition to the indie community to once again see this graphical style once again perpetuated, and in a new type of game to match.

 

 

Overall, Clodhoppers does extremely well to show off what I think the game will eventually go on to become; a very enjoyable and addicting brawler with plenty of variety and plenty of potential to take the indie games community by surprise. If you like the look of Clodhoppers and would like to try the current build out for yourself, you can do so via the link below, and I highly recommend you do:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1066420/Clodhoppers/

 

You can also click the following link to read my prior interview with Anthony Flack back in 2020:

https://scousegamer88.com/2020/01/23/qa-with-claymatic-games-anthony-flack-clodhoppers/

 

But in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed learning more about this game or experiencing it even in its preliminary stages of development as much as I certainly did.

Game on,

Scouse Gamer 88