Clean Up Earth is a relaxing, enjoyable, and wholesome experience that isn’t without its faults. However, once the developer irons out every problem, this will be a fantastic game to play. Furthermore, the more rubbish you collect, the more money you make for real-world charities. Accordingly, by playing this game, you are helping improve the global environment.
Magic Pockets SAS published and developed this cosy adventure title. It is a single-player or up to 25+ player multiplayer game. You can drop in on your friends at any point and replay any of the levels to your heart’s content. Think of PowerWash Simulator, and you have the right idea. I tackled this alone as none of my friends has a copy. However, once it’s released, I look forward to playing it with them.
Clean Up Earth lets evolution tell the story.
Clean Up Earth refuses to follow the usual linear story pattern. Instead, it unleashes nuggets of information as you clean each stage. There are ancient monuments, weird alien markings, and plenty of strange and exciting things to discover. Yet, it is the feeling of success that takes centre stage.
Cleaning mountains of dirt and plastic was ridiculously rewarding. Additionally, finding new tools to pick up different types of filth was fantastic. There are 4 coloured attachments to find and ladders, bridges, and buildings to restore. Moreover, there are gadgets to unlock and plenty of things to upgrade. Thankfully, shifting dirt pays well, and you can upgrade your recycling tool and other bits as you explore each map.
The not so good.
Unfortunately, Clean Up Earth isn’t without its faults. I played this on the Xbox Series X, and I experienced repeated crashing to the dashboard. This wouldn’t be an issue, but there is no auto-save facility. Consequently, if it crashes, you lose your progress. This was extremely frustrating and something that needs to be resolved.
Alongside this, the latter stages are imbalanced. Sadly, you get to a point where your equipment isn’t strong enough to break down and suck up the bigger structures. This was annoying as you hit a brick wall and cannot move forward. I spent hours grinding the lower levels, but the money on offer isn’t enough to purchase the better equipment. Therefore, you’ll waste hours without much progress.
Clean Up Earth is colourful but refined.
Despite the crashing issues, Clean Up Earth has a pleasant and colourful finish. Each stage offers a blend of lush grass, sandy beaches, mountain ranges, rivers, lakes, and other weird and wonderful aspects. They are filled with rubbish, so to make the most of each level, you must get to work and make every location sparkle.
The audio is refined. There is a gadget to listen to music, but this runs out of battery pretty quickly. Therefore, you spend most of your time with the calm ambient sounds and the noise of your industrial, futuristic hoover at work. Although this could become annoying, I enjoyed the simplicity.
Excellent controls.
The control system and UI are well considered and perfectly ported from the PC build. Adjusting the tools and attaching the gadgets was a breeze, and collecting the dirt and rubbish was amazing as a consequence. The developer has included some nice tools to help you along your way. Unlike PowerWash and its magic highlighting vision, Clean Up Earth offers a radar gadget that bleeps when you are close to rubbish. This prevents you from aimlessly wandering around searching for specks of dirt.
I think the online mode will offer plenty of replay value. I regret that I wasn’t able to test this, but it should be great fun as you work in teams to clear large areas of filth. Additionally, it’ll take away the sense of grind from the larger and more complex stages.
Clean Up Earth is relaxing, but flawed.
I really want to rave about Clean Up Earth. I love the support it offers to real-world charities and the relaxing nature of each stage. Furthermore, it is exceptionally rewarding as you sweep up the dirt and rectify the hideous mess. Yet, I cannot overlook the crashing to dashboard and the imbalance. If the developer tweaks the latter and resolves the bugs, it’ll be an amazing experience. Accordingly, I like it, and I recommend buying it here! Can you work through the dirt and save the day? Grab your machine, find the right tools, and remove that filth.
