Dustforce Review

No game I've played since 'Splosion Man has infuriated me like Dustforce. But along with that wave of rage I feel when I fail comes the eventual elation of finally getting a perfect rating on a level. I hold my head a bit higher, feeling like my gaming prowess won the day and proved to the world that I am a bit more awesome than those below me on the leaderboards.

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Dustforce essentially shows what would happen if a Jedi Academy washout decided to be janitor. You play as one of four badass cleaners, using their ninja-like agility to pounce around the environment and save it from dirt and grime. You live to do two things: maintain your combo score by constantly cleaning and avoiding damage, as well as get through the levels as fast as possible. Earning a coveted S rating for both Completion and Finesse is the only way to open the many locked stages, so, if you want to play more than the first few levels of any area, failure isn't really an option. Hell, a single screw-up isn't an option. Dustforce demands perfection, and will kick your ego in the face with bad letter grades until you master a stage.

You'll be seeing a lot of lower grades if you don't suck it up and plug in a control pad. The keyboard controls just don't allow the same fluidity of motion as an analog stick. I know, I know, it's a PC game, but trust me, Dustforce works and feels like it was designed for a gamepad.

I don't know what it says about me, but I like the punishment. Sure, I may have almost smashed something while playing Dustforce, but the moment where everything comes together and I nail the level pushes my buttons in ways I have a hard time explaining. I want that endorphin release so badly that I willingly play a level over and over, failing and restarting until, sweating and anxious, I force myself to take a break. A misstep only moments away from the end of a level is infuriating, but the platforming is just so much fun, the levels created in such a way that they feel like a playground, that I can't help but come back for more.

With the exception of the occasional straight-forward level, the key to cleaning like a pro comes down to figuring out the best route. Levels often offer up multiple paths, so deciding when to use your charged up ultra attack (which clears an area immediately), or what's the best way to circle through the environment in a whirlwind of feather dusters or brooms is paramount. To this end Dustforce lets you watch the replays of the current top 10 players in the world. They're not only awesome and humbling to watch, but great instructional videos that show ideas you may not have thought of, or ways to combine moves that open up new options.

The replays also show you which character has the best chance at getting the perfect rating. You'd think Dustforce would explain to you that the four characters play slightly differently from one another, with varying hit boxes for their attacks, speed, etc., but I had to do additional research to make sure. That's the most egregious example of omission in Dustforce, but you also have to deal with never being told how to launch multiplayer, how it works, or how to get to new sets of levels. I like it when games make me figure things out for myself, but usually they also put just enough of a lure to make you head in the right direction to begin with. Take the camera angles in Uncharted, for instance, which direct you towards a ledge you can grab with subtle nudges. Dustforce doesn't give you a nudge, a poke, or anything to help you figure out how to best use the content provided.


The multiplayer in Dustforce is like getting a brand new car with a giant scratch in the paint. I had a blast swatting away my foes in Survival or King of the Hill, but the fact that its local only means I'll probably never use it. I can't remember one time I've ever gathered my friends around my PC to play a game, and I don't think Dustforce will be the game to change that.

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