[Review] Clan N – Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Creamative
Published By: Creamative
Category: Arcade Beat’em Up
Release Date: 08.06.20

Clan N is an up to four player couch co-op indie Arcade style Beat’em up game that combines the classic arcade game with today’s modern fighters. With a fast-paced nature, you must dodge, block, and use your light, heavy, and special attacks wisely to progress. With an ancient Far East theme, you will be challenged in 7 different levels with many different enemies, mid / end level bosses, and casual mini games built into the main game. This is how the studio has wanted to define this entertaining title which has managed to pleasantly surprise me, and even more knowing the gigantic effort that has been put into its creation.

Clan N has been developed by the Turkish company Creamative, founded more than ten years ago, in 2009, in the city of Istanbul, this studio debuted independently in August 6 with this enjoyable Clan N. Until 2014 they worked in partnership with Klik! Games in works intended for mobile phones or tablets such as FastBall or Bird Tale.

This game has involved a great effort by its creator, and yes, by a single person, the founder of the studio, who together with the help of two others have launched Clan N. The title, like all of its levels, has its shortcomings, but these are understood by the size of the development team, and even go unnoticed due to the quality that many other details of the game located in the mythical Japanese lands give off.

Story

The story is carried out in a fluid way through its four protagonists, which make up Clan N: Akira, a ninja with swords and knives, Reina, the melee specialist, Daiki, a swordsman with two swords, and Tarou, a monk capable of cutting his enemies with his sickle.

Clan N is an ancient group of samurai in the “Far East” region, who have sworn to protect the kingdom from all who seek its destruction. After years of training and dedication to their respective craft, each character has discovered their own unique magical abilities. Akira fires pulse-filled lightning bolts, Reina controls the ground with vicious earthquakes, Daiki shakes up brutal tornado waves, and Tarou can enlist the help of Dragons.

I’m not going to recount the story to avoid spoilers, but this one focuses on the path that our four main characters must take to stop the evil plans of Akuji, a former member of Clan N who was expelled for trying to take advantage of the powers of the “Spiritual imbalance”, although this meant entering the dark side of life.

Gameplay

The best word to define this title would be: fun. But this does not suffice, since it is much more than that. It is enjoyable, pleasant to watch, and extremely entertaining if we decide to play it cooperatively with up to 4 players, which from what I have played, is the most recommended way. Seriously, there is a far difference between playing it alone or with some friends during one of these hot summer afternoons.

Clan N has 7 missions or main stages that are developed along various maps of considerable size, going from green forests and eastern temples to a ship. This shows the variety that this title offers us in terms of mapping depth, making the journey of our heroes more bearable, without falling into monotony.

Creamative defines its gameplay as a beat’em up game that combines the classic arcade game with the modern titles of today. This is because it mixes different mechanics such as dodging, jumping and blocking, and other forms of attack through light and heavy attacks, of which each of the four characters at our disposal have their own.

As we advance through the territories we enter sections of the stage in which we are. In these sections we will have to fight to the end, as if it were waves, and this is a detail that makes me a bit repetitive, but that together with its battles against medium or large final bosses and the minigame that we find at end of the stage, get us to want to continue to surprise us with their territories and the wide variety of enemies that we can find.

Speaking of the enemies, these are divided by colors and even animals like spiders. Humans are mainly samurai and ninjas, how could it be otherwise in this eastern world, divided into color patterns to indicate if they are more or less strong (green, blue, orange, red …) In this section the game is very well served, because some of these opponents will make things quite complicated for us, dying an immense majority of times, as has been my case, almost always happening when I played individually, so it is recommended to play it cooperatively. As in any video game, the difficulty can be increased and decreased to your liking and at any time during the adventure.

Not only do you have to be aware of ninja and samurai but the terrain as well, because in our path we will run into natural obstacles such as a volcano that throws fireballs, stones that roll across the area or debris that falls from the heights of the caves.

In certain areas of stages we find some large red temples in which if we enter we can improve both the attributes of our character and their abilities. The attributes are divided into speed, strength, endurance, charge, and special attack. On the other hand, the equipment is made up of potions and shurikens that we can throw at our enemies.

Graphics and Sound

Clan N’s graphics are of a high standard for the genre. It has some of the clearest and cleanest pixels that manage to create an incredible atmosphere, giving dynamism and color to battles, to the movement of clouds and the leaves of the trees in the wind.

Sacred temples, farm fields, caves, ships and mountains are some of the places that can be visited in this adventure, and all are modeled and detailed in a good way, making the gameplay flow in perfect unison.

All this accompanied by high-caliber visual and sound effects, such as the blows and clash of swords, the throwing of objects, the jumps … The soundtrack is composed of few songs, but of good quality and adapted to the location and the plot of the game.

Verdict

We can say that Clan N has been a pleasant surprise for everything it brings to the genre: freshness, quality, charisma and personality. To add to this the gameplay and graphics, which, although not at the top of the class, it’s quite close to it. Clan N is a game which we highly recommend, even more so when playing with friends.