Kings Can Fly Review

What happens when a king gets bored with ruling his kingdom? He takes to the skies of course. In Kings Can Fly, gamers help a king guide airships to reach exit points in over 60 levels. It may sound odd on the surface, but it’s actually quite fun.

A tutorial helps gamers through the first few levels, but then they are on their own. At the start of a level, players are in full control of the 3D top-down view. Simply slide a finger back and forth to scroll, pinch to zoom or rotate the level with two fingers.

In order to guide the airships, gamers must place fans strategically to move them from the red entry point safely to the exit. The fans are located at the bottom of the screen and the arrows indicate which direction they blow. Fans are often times unlimited unless there are numbers indicating otherwise. Tap the desired fan and then tap on the map to place it. Fans can only be placed on the grass or on mountains.

There’s an undo button at the top of the screen if gamers make a mistake as well as a hint button to provide guidance on the more difficult levels. The hint system is kind of like a cheat as it indicates where fans need to be placed, but it doesn’t tell gamers exactly what directional fans they need.

When all the fans are placed, tap on the red gunship button to release them. If a mistake is made, the airship crashes. The level isn’t over though because gamers can go back into building mode to try and figure it out. As the levels progress, the game becomes more challenging due to the introduction of new obstacles and size of the puzzles.

The graphics look well-polished in this game and the cheerful bagpipe style music helps set the tone. Kings Can Fly has an adorable style to it, but it’s not overly cutesy.

The gameplay has a heavy focus on trial and error. There’s no time to race against, stars to earn, Game Center integration or objectives to complete. Once a level is over, gamers move on to the next one. This diminishes the replay value of the game. However, the upside is that there aren’t any in-app purchases.

Kings Can Fly is a refreshing puzzler. I wasn’t sure if I would like it at first, but I enjoyed the game the more I played it due to the increasingly difficult puzzles. The impressive graphics combined with the logical gameplay make this indie title perfect for gamers of all ages and types.