⇒ Review Serial Cleaner ⇐
Cleanliness is next to godliness as the saying goes. Well, serial cleaner lets you clean up to your heart’s content. Cleaning crime scenes. For the mob. While evading the cops. Yeah, I’m not sure our protagonist has the godliness part squared away, but at least he’s making money.
“Ever enjoyed watching seventies crime shows? You’ll probably want to try this game out.”
THE GOOD
- The soundtrack alone makes for a great seventies feel. If you are, or ever were into seventies crime shows than this will probably speak to your nostalgia.
- The little interactions you have with the TV, radio and on the phone are funny at times with some nicely done references from time to time.
- The core gameplay is challenging but enjoyable. While some levels are straightforward enough, others had me doing more puzzling and experimenting to beat the scenario.
MIXED FEELINGS
- I enjoy a classic stealth puzzle game from time to time, but the way the AI can be fooled is too ridicules. You can be chased by a cop who has a clear line of sight and when you step into a closet right in front of him, he’ll have no idea where you went to. I don’t remember old school stealth games letting you get away with that.
THE BAD
- The levels all look very much the same. Even an out of the way swamp looks very much like a busy harbor dock as the exact same colors keep being used for everything.
- The difficulty is all over the place. One level can be a challenging puzzle on how to bypass the guards while the one immediately after is dead simple.
- Not much replay value, if you figure out how to beat a level, there’s not much point in playing it again.
Serial Cleaner is a fun little stealth game with an old school feeling, both through its theme and the game mechanics. The lack of variety and silly AI mechanics hold it back a bit. Depending on your view, some levels can either be frustrating or challenging. If you ever enjoyed watching seventies crime shows, you’ll probably want to try this game out.