Knights and Bikes: Review

Children’s imagination works to its fullest – they can see a friend or a dangerous enemy in any object, and a simple walk for them turns into an eventful adventure. Main heroines Knights and Bikes Demelzia and Nessa are having fun – the girls, who met under strange circumstances, quickly became friends and decided to go in search of treasure. On the way, as usual, they encountered many dangers and obstacles, some of which they invented for themselves.

Wrapped in paper

Studio’s debut project Foam Sword reminds me of an undeservedly forgotten Tearaway both its mood and unusual visual style. This is not surprising – both team members previously worked in Media Molecule, one of them was the creative director of a paper adventure that was once exclusive to the PlayStation Vita. IN Knights and Bikes The themes of strong friendship between two dreamers and the life problems that they and their families face are very elegantly combined. But the atmosphere always remains cheerful and cheerful, albeit with hints of melancholy.

The developers do not say directly which of what they see is fiction and what is actually happening around the girls, and this can be called one of the strengths of the story. Another advantage is the difference in the characters of the main characters. Demelzia is a naive dreamer who is immersed in her fantasies due to the loss of her mother at an early age and lives with her father, exhausted due to lack of money. Nothing really is said about Nessa for quite a long time, but from the first minutes she gives the impression of a mischievous and brave girl, ready to rush ahead, even if in front of the door it is written that it is forbidden to go further.

The gameplay for each of them is also different. Demelcia has boots that allow her to kick opponents and breakable objects, as well as splash water from puddles and flop onto the ground. Nessa is armed with a flying disc – you can throw either one or several at once by holding down the same button. Over time, characters acquire new abilities that are also unique to them, such as a boombox to disperse poisonous clouds and mines that explode a few seconds after being placed.

They will have to use all https://bet-casino-online.co.uk/mobile-app/ this constantly: to defeat opponents, to solve simple riddles, and simply to gain access to new locations – either because of the smoke they cannot get somewhere, or the passage is blocked with burning objects. A constant feeling of progress makes the passage exciting, and in general the levels here are filled with surprises and interesting events. And sometimes you get to chat with funny minor characters or listen to Demelzia’s stories about the culture of this fictional island.

However, sometimes you get the feeling that the authors got carried away and didn’t know when to stop. Almost every episode begins to tire ten minutes before it ends, and the levels last quite a long time. You get especially tired of the combat system, which doesn’t receive any development until the end. In boss battles, combining attacks and using special techniques is useful, but if the game asks you to fight with a dozen opponents, then non-stop pressing the strike button will be the best solution. And such episodes occur here more often than we would like. Even with opponents armed with shields, the process doesn’t change much.

Riding bicycles sometimes also takes a lot of time, and constantly pressing X gets boring. Over time, you will unlock the ability for your vehicle to accelerate by holding the button, but then you will simply get ahead, and then you will still have to press the button. The speed of transport leaves much to be desired, the bikes do not move much faster than the heroines running without them, and among the numerous improvements in the store there is nothing that would affect the parameters. All goods are cosmetic items like paints and decorations, which are fun to tinker with when you first visit the merchant, but after that there will be nothing to spend the collected currency on.

Happy together

Some of these shortcomings will not be so noticeable when playing in co-op, and Knights and Bikes – one of the few games of this type that not only has a split-screen mode, but also the ability to play together online. Creation Foam Sword clearly created specifically for those who are going to play with a friend or family member – this is noticeable at least in the episodes when the heroines compete with each other in who will collect the most treasures in 30 seconds or reach a given point faster. It’s not so fun to do this alone, but in a co-op such scenes look much more appropriate.

At the same time, going through the game solo is not difficult – you can freely switch between characters at any time, choose their abilities and decorate their bikes yourself. The computer partner actively fights with opponents, does not take too much damage and always helps with puzzles. Sometimes he starts solving puzzles before you even see them – Demelzia instantly runs towards the targets lying on the floor, since only she can interact with them. Puzzles sometimes have invisible timers, but each time there is more than enough time to complete everything on time.

Even taking into account the sometimes drawn-out episodes, spending time in Knights and Bikes Nice. The atmosphere here is so cozy that you want to explore every corner of the new location in search of secrets – they are absolutely useless and are needed only for achievements, but that doesn’t matter. The action takes place in the 80s, but there is a strong emphasis on nostalgia and style of the time, as in Crossing Souls, there’s no trace of it here. Such a story could easily take place today in some outback, where everyone knows everyone by name, and the main characters would just become friends and together they would come up with an adventure with treasures and curses.

The visual style matches the story wonderfully. Everything around seems to be cut out of colored paper and colored with pencils. Funny character animation, comical camera switches in videos – everything is somehow naive, but not too childish, so the appearance can attract the attention of both young audiences and adults. The music can also be praised, but it comes on too rarely – there are times when you walk or ride a bike for quite a long time in deathly silence. The heroines make strange sounds while running, as if they were depicting airplanes, and without music you don’t really want to listen to this for a long time.

Even when Knights and Bikes was just announced, it immediately gave the impression of a pleasant adventure with unusual graphics and a heartfelt plot. That’s why she raised the required amount on Kickstarter – if you fall in love with the game from the first frames, the result is unlikely to disappoint. There are problems – the combat system remains monotonous for too long (the passage takes about eight hours, and willy-nilly you notice its imperfections), and the episodes are often drawn out. However, this does not make the game bad – a charming story about sorrows and joys gives a lot of positive emotions, especially if you play it in co-op.

Pros: excellent visual style reminiscent of Tearaway; charming characters, funny dialogues and a sweet story; fun entertainment designed for sharing; support for online co-op, not just local co-op.

Cons: episodes sometimes seem drawn out; The combat system is too simple, and there are a lot of fights here.