Flick Knights Review
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPhone 4S
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Flick Knights is an arena-based multiplayer game in which two teams of knights duke it out on a sports field complete with a pinball bumper, obstacles, and opposing bases. With a wacky sense of humor and a solid gameplay concept, Flick Knights is a very intriguing game - in concept. In practice, it's interesting enough for some quick multiplayer action but certain design choices make it less fun than it could be.
The basic controls in Flick Knights couldn't be simpler: players move their team of knights around the play field by flicking a finger across the screen in the direction they'd like to go. The object is to take out the opposing team's base, and this can be done either by hitting a bullseye target on said base or by defeating ("flicking out") enemy knights. Once a player base's life bar has emptied, the match is over, and experience points and currency are rewarded appropriately.
Conceptually, Flick Knights seems like it'd be a home run. It has a goofy, cartoony aesthetic set inside a bizarre bloodsport framework, which is completely in-line with the local or online multiplayer-only focus. On top of this, the cast of knights is unique and interesting, with each one having its own special powers, base attributes, and personality. As players progress, they can earn the ability to purchase even more knights to customize their army. As interesting and promising as all of this sounds though, Flick Knights doesn't quite click for me.My biggest issue with Flick Knights is the completely unforgiving and unnecessarily demanding attitude. There's no ability to retry a flick or to take back the activation of a special ability, so any erroneous screen touches could irreversibly change the match. This is especially problematic considering the game isn't particularly helpful when players are still learning character-specific movement styles and their special abilities, since none of that information is surfaced in the heat of a match. These decisions make Flick Knights feel punishingly unfair at times, which can cause frustration.
I do understand to a certain extend why Flick Knights is designed in this infuriating way. As a physics-based game, part of its challenge is mastering each knight. In addition, it boasts a mode in which players face-off in a live match with timed turns, which may not be conducive to players trying to re-flick knights repeatedly. However, the decision to remove any ability to confirm movements or retry turns can make playing Flick Knights feel pretty random, and not in a good way.Overall, Flick Knights is a very intriguing game. On the one hand, it has a solid set of mechanics and a charming sense of personality. On the other, it's pretty frustrating to play in its current form. As time goes on, it may even get updates that remove some of its more annoying design choices.