I just thought I'd put in a good word for this game before it drowns in obscurity on the second page of the Electronic Games board.
As the
last German-made game recommended to me on these forums was really well made and hopelessly addicting, I gave it a download. I have to say it was well worth it; I plan to register it as soon as the funds become available.
The concept of the game is really intriguing - imagine a 2D, side-scrolling RTS incorporating elements of Lemmings and Civilization, with incredible amounts of content and opportunities to develop your own content thrown into the mix.
A typical scenario will have one or more of your Clonks building up an economy, usually to achieve a goal. For instance, one map has you build a hot air balloon to collect a crystal on the other side of a small sea. This requires the construction of a Workshop in which to build the balloon, and gold is required to buy a Construction Kit to start building the Workshop. To mine gold it is most convenient if you build an elevator, and use flint to blow apart the ore into portable chunks. The elevator itself requires power, so you need to build a power plant, which requires a steady stream of coal, which you get from mining, or an oil derrick, which you can use to tap into underground oil reserves... etc.
There's also what seems to be a fairly active competitive scene going on; updates to the game are frequent and development of a sequel, Clonk Extreme, is in the works.
The game is currently available in two versions - Clonk Rage, the shareware version which is better polished overall and has vastly improved controls, and Clonk Endeavor, the older shareware version that was recently released as freeware. Both games offer an immense amount of content and replayability. I highly recommend that anyone looking for a new experience in the strategy genre give it a shot.
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