Random Encounters Ep. 1: Operation Cleaner Series
May 13th 2008 20:39
A Feature Series Draws Near!
(Fight, Magic, Item, or Run?)
Now, the other half of MWG comes to the fore. More than just digging into the depths of games you already know well, I will also cover more obscure games, that most mainstream, and even some hardcore, gamers may not have heard of.
Enter the Cleaner
Operation Cleaner - and it's sequel, Operation Cleaner 2, are games by a nice chap from Helsinki by the name of Jan Nyman. What do you do in these games, you ask? You blow things up. Yes. That's the entire point of the game, to blow things up.
...But wait, there's more! It's not just any random destruction, but rather, the series portrays you as the head of a demolitions firm, who sets out to blow crap up for money. This being a simulation, you have access to a number of explosives, ranging from dynamite to C4, all of varying power. And you still have to contend with paying for blasting caps, the detonator, your wiring, and even buying packs of sandbags to keep things from getting damaged. You can also adjust the amount of explosives in each packet, and of course can place them anywhere in the building.
Destroying a building needs finesse, as you have to not only put out enough blasting power to turn the thing into undifferentiated rubble, but keep the surrounding objects from being destroyed by either your explosives or the debris from the building. Also, the game can follow a career mode, where you have to watch your cash flow over multiple jobs. So the trick often becomes a game of efficiency - using the least explosives and causing the least collateral damage. But you also must contend with physics - preventing debris from sliding onto nearby objects, knowing what materials absorb the shock and to what extent, so that you can understand how your explosives affect the structure.
Cleaner, at least the original, is unfortunately DOS-only, so you might have problems playing it on a modern Windows platform. And... quite honestly, the sequel is better - as you shall find out.
Son of the Cleaner
Cleaner 2 is, in essence, everything about Cleaner except better.
Not only does Cleaner 2 have obviously improved graphics, but the gameplay is more detailed. As you can see from the image, there's a number of extra buttons, more types of explosives, and other gadgets. Now you can...
1) Use new types of explosives - like different ratios of dynamite, and RDX, an explosive chemical used in C4 (suggesting that the "RDX" menu option refers to a more powerful composition).
2) Make your packages into directional charges, and add delay to the charges for more complicated detonations.
3) Make more detailed financial decisions, ranging from how you invest in your accounting division, to messing with your competitors.
4) Use a rather nice randomized-level system.
5) And enjoy better physics - both structural (in the newest version), and demolitions, with such neat things as ejected airborne debris particles.
With all of these features, Cleaner 2 becomes a rather neat simulation of blowing things up, something of a thinking man's game. Even with adjustments to the difficulty level, the game can still be pretty hard when you're trying to make a good profit, and someone not versed in demolitions is going to have to learn the rules of how to destroy things carefully before they can really get into the game. However, at least in my opinion, I think that the learning curve is part of the fun of discovering how best to destroy buildings.
Oh. And you can build your own levels, too!
(Fight, Magic, Item, or Run?)
Now, the other half of MWG comes to the fore. More than just digging into the depths of games you already know well, I will also cover more obscure games, that most mainstream, and even some hardcore, gamers may not have heard of.
Enter the Cleaner
Operation Cleaner - and it's sequel, Operation Cleaner 2, are games by a nice chap from Helsinki by the name of Jan Nyman. What do you do in these games, you ask? You blow things up. Yes. That's the entire point of the game, to blow things up.
Cleaner 1 in action.
...But wait, there's more! It's not just any random destruction, but rather, the series portrays you as the head of a demolitions firm, who sets out to blow crap up for money. This being a simulation, you have access to a number of explosives, ranging from dynamite to C4, all of varying power. And you still have to contend with paying for blasting caps, the detonator, your wiring, and even buying packs of sandbags to keep things from getting damaged. You can also adjust the amount of explosives in each packet, and of course can place them anywhere in the building.
Destroying a building needs finesse, as you have to not only put out enough blasting power to turn the thing into undifferentiated rubble, but keep the surrounding objects from being destroyed by either your explosives or the debris from the building. Also, the game can follow a career mode, where you have to watch your cash flow over multiple jobs. So the trick often becomes a game of efficiency - using the least explosives and causing the least collateral damage. But you also must contend with physics - preventing debris from sliding onto nearby objects, knowing what materials absorb the shock and to what extent, so that you can understand how your explosives affect the structure.
Cleaner, at least the original, is unfortunately DOS-only, so you might have problems playing it on a modern Windows platform. And... quite honestly, the sequel is better - as you shall find out.
Son of the Cleaner
Cleaner 2 is, in essence, everything about Cleaner except better.
See? Better!
Not only does Cleaner 2 have obviously improved graphics, but the gameplay is more detailed. As you can see from the image, there's a number of extra buttons, more types of explosives, and other gadgets. Now you can...
1) Use new types of explosives - like different ratios of dynamite, and RDX, an explosive chemical used in C4 (suggesting that the "RDX" menu option refers to a more powerful composition).
2) Make your packages into directional charges, and add delay to the charges for more complicated detonations.
3) Make more detailed financial decisions, ranging from how you invest in your accounting division, to messing with your competitors.
4) Use a rather nice randomized-level system.
5) And enjoy better physics - both structural (in the newest version), and demolitions, with such neat things as ejected airborne debris particles.
With all of these features, Cleaner 2 becomes a rather neat simulation of blowing things up, something of a thinking man's game. Even with adjustments to the difficulty level, the game can still be pretty hard when you're trying to make a good profit, and someone not versed in demolitions is going to have to learn the rules of how to destroy things carefully before they can really get into the game. However, at least in my opinion, I think that the learning curve is part of the fun of discovering how best to destroy buildings.
Oh. And you can build your own levels, too!
It's an editor!
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