Do you enjoy cleaning? What about being involved in major crimes? Perhaps you enjoy nothing more than wading waist-deep in human remains and discreetly cleaning major crime scenes. If you are inclined to any of the aforementioned activities, then look no further as Crime Scene Cleaner has got you covered! It combines all of the above and more to create a simulator like no other. The question is, does it come off squeaky clean or does it leave blood on your hands? Read on to find out!
Scrubbing Down the Details
Crime Scene Cleaner puts you in the shoes of a man tasked with cleaning up grizzly crime scenes. The gameplay revolves around typical everyday chores that we all find tedious, such as cleaning up blood, disposing of bodies, and removing incriminating evidence(!)
The man in question is a widower and the reason he does this job is to accumulate money to pay for his sick daughter’s medical bills.
Using a variety of tools, like mops, buckets, and biohazard bags, you’ll have to carefully clean each area, avoiding raising suspicion from the mob boss who pays your bills. You have to be incredibly thorough in carrying out the tasks you have been assigned because there is often so much to keep track of. There is also plenty to do, of which all the tasks seem legitimately plausible in such scenarios. As such, you will rarely find yourself feeling bored or running out of things to keep you busy.
The Art of the Clean
The core mechanic of Crime Scene Cleaner is, unsurprisingly, the cleaning itself. It uses realistic physics to simulate the spread of blood and other contaminants. You’ll need to carefully mop up blood spatter, bag and dispose of bodies, and neutralise lingering odours with air fresheners. Failure to properly clean a scene will result in the mob boss becoming unhappy, which can lead to negative consequences.
Despite seeming linear, there are actually several ways to achieve your goals in each level. For example, the first level (mission) sees you cleaning a flat (UK) / an apartment (US) a few floors up in a large building complex. When removing the bodies and rubbish bags from the premises, I realised that it wasn’t possible to carry multiple objects at once, such as more than one rubbish bag. As such, I discovered a quicker way to complete this specific task. I found that it was much easier to throw the items into my truck from the window in the hallway than to take the stairs each time. As such, I stepped out onto the window ledge with a dead body over one shoulder, aimed my cursor roughly where my truck was, then proceeded to throw the body at my truck. I missed the first time, getting the person’s body impaled on a fence below. I got closer with the second body and almost nailed it with the third one! (The rubbish bags all made it first time, though!) This was actually great fun and I enjoyed it probably more than I should have.
There is an extremely helpful feature that you can use when cleaning to ensure that you haven’t missed anything – the aptly named Cleaner Sense. This ability highlights any outstanding grime or areas that are still in need of attention in a brilliant blue-pink gradient of varying brightness. The darker the gradient, the harder the stain is to remove. Makes sense, right? There is also an awesome sound effect that briefly plays each time Cleaner Sense is activated, making it sound like you have levelled up your cleaning!
Washing Away the Grim
Crime Scene Cleaner features highly detailed, extremely realistic and frequently disturbing visuals. Blood splatter and other crime scene detritus are depicted in grave detail, and the game does not shy away from the gruesome realities of its subject matter.
Levels have been designed with immense care and great attention to detail. Each location represents its real-life counterpart in the most exquisite detail and locations are large with several areas of interest to explore.
The sound design is equally immersive, with the sounds of cleaning supplies and dripping blood creating a tense (and unsettling) atmosphere. The characters are expertly voiced by actors, which is a great thing for the main aim of this game: immersion. The more believable the simulation, the deeper (and better) the immersion.
Second Helpings?
Crime Scene Cleaner features multiple levels and procedurally generated elements, meaning that it is unlikely that you will see and do everything the first time around. There is also the fact that the core gameplay loop of cleaning up crime scenes can become repetitive after a while. With that said, however, Crime Scene Cleaner is a fun game to return to.
Conclusion
For those of you who enjoy playing games where you take on the role of a cleaner, you will probably come close to falling in love with Crime Scene Cleaner. Not only does it look stunning, but the implementation of the cleaning mechanics along with a decent story to keep things moving is done extremely well. The fact that it is rather easy to smash items whilst cleaning is an absolute pain, but that just means that you’re probably being a klutz and that you should pay more attention. After a while, the gameplay loop can become slightly repetitive, but the vibrant level design and attention to detail make this a highly immersive and fun simulator!
Pros
- Spectacularly-designed, incredibly detailed levels.
- Realistic and immersive cleaning mechanics.
- Disturbingly accurate depiction of crime scenes.
- Tense and atmospheric sound design.
- Cleaning things with a variety of tools and utensils feels amazing!
- Cleaner Sense feels great to use.
- Your character has a pet dog!
Cons
- Moderate replay value.
- Pixel art may not appeal to some players.