Destructoid is a gaming discussion community updated nearly every 20 minutes by a tight-knit group of independent dirty uncles. Get involved by creating an avatar to post comments, upload videos, create your own blog, and meet new people that love gaming.   Returning Dtoider? login!
latest posts daily recapnew releases deals features reviews podcasts videos contests  
 previews
Retro Game Challenge, Big Bang Mini, and more
Stoked
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
The Godfather II multiplayer
The Godfather II
more previews


 reviews
Word Soup
Crayon Physics Deluxe
KamiCrazy
Tatsunoko Vs Capcom
Crystal Defenders (iPhone)
more reviews


 podcasts

Podtoid 82: The Internet: making cannibalism easier with Rev Anthony

RetroforceGO! 74 tonight: Greatest retro boss battles with Chad Concelmo

The Podcastle 25: I can't remember what we talked about with Jim Sterling

More shows from the Gamercast Network

back episodes & iTunes info




 team
Nick Chester
Editor-in-Chief
Dale North
News Editor
Anthony Burch
Features Editor
Jim Sterling
Reviews Editor
Hamza Aziz
Community Manager
Niero
Founder/Webmonkey
editors
Ashley Davis
Brad Nicholson
Brad Rice
Chad Concelmo
Colette Bennett
Conrad Zimmerman
Daniel Lingen
Dyson
Jonathan Holmes
Jonathan Ross
Jordan Devore
Joseph Leray
Tom Fronczak
Topher Cantler
Samit Sarkar
contributors
Adam Dork
Ben Perlee
Charlie Suh
Joe Burling
Justin Villasenor
Mike Ferry
Mikey
Will Maddock

Living the dream
ModernMethod


3:15 PM on 04.18.2008

26 comments

Indie Nation #15: Clean Asia!

Anthony Burch on Indie

erere

If you only download one free shmup this year, make it Clean Asia!.

Granted, it's a pretty good thing that you don't have to download just one shmup (were this the case, future Indie Nation articles might be horrendously disappointing), but even if you did I'd be tempted to say that cactus's Clean Asia! would still be satisfying enough to last you a whole twelve months.

Apart from having some slick, retro-but-not graphics (the phrase "cyberpunk" oddly comes to mind) and a great soundtrack, Clean Asia! takes the shmup conventions we're all familiar with and turns them on their heads through one stunningly simple design choice: the player uses the fragments of his defeated enemies as ammunition. 

The player can pilot two ships: one which only uses enemy corpse-ammo, and the other which uses corpse-ammo to fuel its powerups. The latter ship provides an entertaining, if familiar shmup experience; the former makes for one of the most challenging, original, entertaining shmups I've ever played. And that's including Ikaruga.

That's all you really need to know to enjoy the thing, so download it here and enjoy. But be warned: it's really hard. But in a good way.

As always, you can hit the jump as I give a further explanation of what makes the game so great.  

As mentioned above the fold, there are two ships in Clean Asia! -- the attractor, and the reflector. The reflector is decently fun on his own, I guess: he uses enemy parts to upgrade his main cannon and special attacks, as well as his little defensive move that reflects all enemy bullets. The game is a lot easier as the reflector, and a lot more familiar. Personally, I consider the reflector a great ship to use if you've never played the game before; you can learn the enemy patterns while playing as him, and get a general feel for the controls. After you get decently good with him, though, it'd be in your best interest to ditch him for the attractor.

ERE

The attractor initially seems like a pretty useless ship. He has no projectile attacks of his own at first, outside of a sort of thrust move which can be activated in any direction, and even that's hard to master. When using the thrust, the player has to learn exactly how far the ship will move, so as to not accidentally run into an enemy segment before the thrust is complete. The player subliminally figures out how fast the thrust is, and when to use it, and once you've got that down, then, and only then, can you begin to start really kicking ass and understand just how fun Clean Asia! can be.

As the attractor, you've gotta thrust into one bad guy segment to send its corpse-ammo flying everywhere. After that, you attract the corpse-ammo with the X key. Once you've got the corpse-ammo flying around your little white ship, you can either release the X key and launch it all in a shotgun blast of ironic death, or you can hold z and shoot the pieces out individually like a sort of makeshift machine gun. 

The kick behind the corpse-ammo mechanic, the idea that the attractor needs to use the pieces of its enemies to get stronger, gives the game a really cool rhythm: essentially, the more you kill, the more powerful you can become. Let's say you thrust into one segment of a five-segmented enemy, and get a few dozen bits of corpse-ammo. You then launch that ammo all at once at the four other pieces, and two are destroyed while the others are weakened. Now you've got two segments worth of corpse-ammo orbiting around your ship, which can then be used to destroy more enemy segments, which then gets you more corpse-ammo, which can then be used to destroy more enemies...and so on and so forth. A really great Clean Asia! player can continually string together huge combos by destroying enemies in chains and using their corpse-ammo against them.

ERERE

It occurs to me know that this may be one of the most ridiculous articles I've ever written, if only because of how poorly I'm describing the gameplay, and how many times I've used the pseudo-word "corpse-ammo." Lemme start over.

There are three levels in Clean Asia!: the first two take on a Warning Forever-esque format as they're made up entirely of minibosses who must be fought in order. The last, China, is more like a proper shmup level with multiple enemies and a huge, final boss. It is unlike a proper shmup level, however, in that the player is simultaneously forced to defend corpse-ammo cannons* which constantly spew helpful ammo at the player.

You know what? My explanation isn't getting any less weird. Just play the game. The graphics are groovy (as hideous as these screenshots look, trust me -- it's much sexier in action), the music is great, and once you get a hang of the attractor ship, you'll get downright addicted by the game's innovative charm. Given the game's immense difficulty I really wish there were a quick way to restart the level you're on (as it stands, you've gotta hit Escape, then hammer Enter over and over until you get back where you were), but you can't have everything.

erer

Just ignore everything I said, download Clean Asia!, try both ships, and enjoy it. Maybe once you've gotten used to the game, a few of the things I've rambled about in this article may make sense.

Then again, maybe not.

Just play it. 

*Nobody in the human race, in the history of time, had ever typed out "corpse-ammo cannons" until this very moment in time. Think about that.


26 comments   |   latest by Jonathan Kerr
This game is excellent.... read more


 

RELATED ARTICLES

Indie developer completely loses the plot, goes all Time Cube on us
51 comments

Nicalis announces Cave Story DLC, possible extras
21 comments

A reason to care about WiiWare again: Eduardo and the Samurai Toaster
13 comments

Modern day Mega Drive game could come to XBLA
11 comments

The 2009 Independent Games Festival finalists have been announced
10 comments



 community blogs  (32178 Dtoiders!)
post a community blog
Game with us: Friday Night Fights
Meet-ups: Dtoiders in your city
New to Dtoid? Read the survival guide



 features next 20 features





 new videos next 20 videos
CES 2009: Prototype is 'all crunch, but no munch'
CES 2009: Digital Experience! overview video
CES 2009: Sixense one-ups the Wii remote
EA anounces four MySims games, we report
Someone hasn't learned: Cooper Lawrence talks videogames on FOX again



 popular stories last month's picks
HD DVDMod your useless HD DVD Drive to BURN PEOPLE'S FACES OFF!
21 comments + 95764 views
A boot to the headEconomics or stupidity: 1UP podcast firings to save UGO $2.5 million annually?
75 comments + 22348 views
Mortal KombatMortal Kombat vs. DC Universe: More fatalities revealed
70 comments + 18826 views
Also, bewbsDirty Lara Croft gets clothes off, this is videogame news
54 comments + 14632 views
ReviewsDestructoid Review: Crayon Physics Deluxe
24 comments + 13144 views
AliensA brief and bloody history of Aliens videogames
32 comments + 12904 views
AdsPenny Arcade promotes their game with flamebait from their biggest critic
79 comments + 12880 views
Halt, criminal scum!Left 4 Dead star suspected of robbery, shot by cops
47 comments + 10966 views
Street fighterCammy screens are not intellectually stimulating
30 comments + 10960 views
Featured articlesPlaying With Others: The act of betrayal
26 comments + 10438 views



 game figures & toys  via Tomopop

more video game toys




get involved

register or login
post a blog
post a forum
enter a contest
discuss a review
contribute a news tip
write a guest editorial
support

new member's guide
login assistance
tech support
report abuse
email our editors
read our dev blog
nuclear crisis?
keep in touch

RSS feed
Twitter
Facebook
Myspace
Flickr
Game nights
Meet-ups
seriously

about us
advertising
terms of use
privacy policy
jobs at MM
buy our crap
our network

Tomopop
Japanator


Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming industry's need of accountable enthusiast press
Living the dream since March 16, 2006