Indie Pick: 'Clover: A Curious Tale'

Does anyone remember the Dizzy series on the Amiga? If you do, you know exactly what to expect with Clover: A Curious Tale. Inspired by Codemaster's classic puzzle-adventure series, this has you roam the landscape in search of items, juggling your inventory and opening up new pathways. It was so much so that the Oliver Twins, who created the original Dizzy games, took Clover under their wing as part of their Blitz 1Up scheme for re-release on PC.

Originally released on the Xbox Live Indie Games service, this version comes with a host of tweaks and additions. You play as Sam, a teenager recently orphaned after a foreign attack on his homeland, and it's your job to gradually reveal the mysterious circumstances behind it. The parallels with 9/11 and the Iraq War are obvious but nonetheless tastefully done, and hidden newspapers around the landscape drop hints to the wider ramifications of the King's new laws as a result of the attack.

The watercoloured visual style remains fully intact, and the transition to computer screens makes it look more clean and crisp, while it also comes with new visual effects such as floating butterflies and falling leaves. It's a style that will be a little contentious for some, but it has a slightly downtrodden feel that marries perfectly with the themes told throughout. A new addition is voice work for every character, which is largely excellent, as well as the bubbly animations that appear at the top of the screen.

While many will relish the opportunity to play another game in the Dizzy mould, many of the drawbacks in that genre of puzzle-solving crop up here. A single button handles both investigation and item management, causing you to often drop an object by accident when you simply want to look at something. Furthermore, the fact that you can only carry a limited amount of items means there's some laborious juggling throughout, requiring you to often walk back and forth to fetch previously discarded collectables. Fast travel alleviates this slightly, but it's still a problem with certain areas, and it's a pain when you forget where you last left that bucket or bottle of cider.

There is no doubt, however, that this version is a significant improvement over the Indie Games variant released last year. Item locations are generally housed in more logical positions, and while puzzle solutions are less far fetched, it still retains those magical 'Eureka!' moments. While the inventory system is by no means a deal breaker, it does often get in the way of what is otherwise a very pleasant and wonderfully taxing adventure. You can grab a demo and the full version of the game from the Blitz 1Up website for £5.99.

> Click here to read our interview with Binary Tweed

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