While certainly not the first spiritual sequel to the ‘Strike’ series, Cleared Hot excels in capturing the feeling of the classics, while also bringing in more than enough modern conveniences and features to make it feel like its own thing.
One thing that the games industry, and humans, struggle with is time. This is especially the case with games because while there were technical restrictions in place through its ages, culturally we’re still doing the same things. The same can definitely be said of books and films, because sometimes we will create something that specifically calls back to an earlier era, either narratively, mechanically or visually. Anyway, Desert Strike came out over thirty years ago and Cleared Hot launched into Early Access this year. If you love one you’ll love the other, if you can play one then you can play the other.
Cleared Hot‘s story makes it more than just a series of sorties into risky battlefields. You’ll corral animals, clear roads for authorities and blow up local warlords as you gradually earn more and more money to buy bigger and better equipment as you solver larger and larger problems with violence. However, it’s tongue-in-cheek and self-aware and — while the stakes get higher and higher — it never takes itself too seriously; It’s this that gives it its real charm… well, that and its underlying physics.
Even before you unlock — post tutorial — weapons, you’ll be using the rope and magnet system to move items around the battlefield and think outside the box to solve problems. Those early tricks aren’t simply replaced by missiles and machine gun rounds, in fact, Cleared Hot constantly reminds you of your ability to sling explosives and containers into enemies. It means that battlefields feel like playgrounds rather than targets to be shot, and I often found myself ‘switch hooking’ enemies into the air, or tossing vehicles into water, rather than blasting them with my limited rocket rounds.
It’s not just the hook that innovates, of course — it’s just a fun, compelling feature. For a start, you can swap out your vehicle and loadout between missions. There’s already a decent selection of vehicles available, however it’s more than possible to fully unlock everything before you’re 2/3rds of the way through the currently included first chapter. I do hope that more ways to spend money become available, even if it comes down to chaff (as in, missile deterrents) or chaff (as in, vehicle skins). That said, there are two more campaigns (Jungle and Urban, as with the Strike series) due to be added before Cleared Hot leaves Early Access, so more vehicles could become available as that comes into play.
Showing my age, I would add that the fact you can’t chose or rescue co-pilots and that you don’t have to refuel does take something away from the Strike games it otherwise emulates and exceeds. Of course, not having a co-pilot is fine because there’s a fully voiced story and a very different setting than in its influences, and not having to refuel plays well into the ‘short mission’ structure although it does feel like an extra layer of resource management could add to later, larger missions, especially when you’re protecting a convoy or on a time limit.
For now though, Cleared Hot is already a fantastic purchase — even while it only has one of the three planned campaigns — and not exclusively for fans of its influences.
Cleared Hot is available now, through Early Access, on PC.
