Clue Cracker: Diamond Dogs

There are many things to love about Clue Cracker’s heist game Diamond Dogs, but I can’t deny that what really made it for me was the opening sequence. Immersive, playful and gloriously silly, it’s a fantastic start to an excellent game.

There are tentative narrative links between this game and the venue’s original Jailbreak, though to most intents and purposes they’re entirely separate games. Your mission in this one is to rob a jewellery shop, with rules that enthusiasts may have seen in similar games elsewhere: there’s a specific diamond that you must grab for a successful game, plus a variable quantity of other loot to get. However, in this room the score element is fairly minor. Most of the game involves solving your way to the valuables though a semi-linear sequence of puzzles, and the frantic ‘grab what you can’ section is the finale not the entire game.

By the nature of the theme, the decor is a little more down to earth than in the venue’s other games, though gains realism as a result; but then the game layers on excitement with effects and maybe a surprise here and there. Having extra hands certainly helps, but since Diamond Dogs isn’t massively parallel in the way that some heist games are, this game is entirely suitable for a team of two.

A certain physical challenge seemed sensitive to the point of being near-impossible when we attempted it – maybe we just weren’t very good at it. However, it was also open to blatant cheating, which we took advantage of. That seemed a little odd, though was certainly better than it turning into a frustrating blocker.

Clue Cracker continue to deliver consistently creative and enjoyable games.
For me Temple Quest is the stand-out game of the three they’ve opened so far; but Diamond Dogs is definitely one to include in your visit.