While playing Cloning Clyde, a new game on Xbox Live Arcade, I can�"t help but wonder what would happen if I was cloned. As it turns out, in this game, you get to find out. After a freak accident you are cloned and now have to escape a disturbing laboratory. With millions of, “you” out there, your clones will leave you notes, transform, and do just about anything else to help you escape. While strange, this game brings a unique twist to the platform/puzzle genre.

With all of the clones around this game, to say the least, has a very distinctive gameplay element. At first glance it seems there is not much to do in the levels, but after awhile you will be blowing up robots, transforming Clyde, and riding different animals to get yourself through some crazy puzzles. Some puzzles require you change to different Clydes to push multiple levers or to stand on different triggers to open up new areas. This actually gives the game some depth and shows off some great level design in the process. Along with killing robots you will be collecting DNA strands and action figures. DNA strands charge up your special attack which is really just a glorified one hit kill. Action figures are basically just secrets to find. Some great gameplay elements I love are the use of clones to make the puzzles seem fresh.

Now with all these clones you might be wondering how you control them all. Luckily it doesn�"t take more than five minutes to understand this game�"s controls. Use your left thumbstick to move Clyde while your right thumbstick is for zooming the camera in and out. When it comes to fighting all you need to know is X attacks, right bumper activates Clyde�"s supper attack, and you can avoid enemies either by jumping with A or by blocking with left bumper. To switch the Clydes you press the Y button which freezes the action and lets you move a cursor to the Clyde you would like to control. The B button allows you to perform actions like pulling levers or getting on top of sheep to ride (which I�"m not kidding about either). Although simplistic and not giving you too much to control, this game handles well.

The sound effects of this game are a little weak to say the least. Explosions sound diluted to almost nothing and Clyde can only look at you and make a weird sound. With almost no background music and nothing worth noting other than almost everything has a noise, this game�"s sound falls short.

Graphics for this game work well but are still nothing impressive. While there are no frame rate issues, this game has weak backgrounds that all look the same aside from some even weaker weather effects. Nothing special, but they hold up well for what is in the game.

Help and Options on this game are somewhat helpful. The help section only tells you the main point of the game. Luckily you shouldn�"t need any help on this game. There are the usual music and sound volume sliders. The game will not allow you to change any of the actual controls. Besides that, you can turn on the family friendly settings and view the credits of the game.

Unfortunately, I wasn�"t able to play any multiplayer because I couldn�"t get anyone into my room and there were no rooms open to join, so for this review�"s purposes it won�"t be a factor in its rating.

Graphics:
No problems with the graphics but they don�"t push for anything impressive.

Sound:
We can be happy. Everything has a sound, unfortunately it�"s diluted.

Controls
Easy to use and work well for the game.

Gameplay:
Shallow but a fun game none the less.

Options:
Shows you everything but you can�"t change anything besides volume.

Overall:
Overall a fun game that will have you playing for days.