Digital distribution for small arcade style titles is becoming more and more common. Developers love the low costs of developing and distributing these titles, and its an easy way for less known developers to get their name out their, ala Braid. Flock is no different in that a small relatively unknown studio known as Proper Games has jumped on the cutesy band-wagon to create a fun filled family gaming experience. Particularly for us Kiwis the sheep centred game-play surely will spread joy amongst our gaming ranks.
Flock immediately reminded us of titles like The Maw with its cute graphics style, appealing to a wide range of players and creating an absolutely stunning environment. But don’t be fooled, the puzzles in Flock are distinctly more complex than those in similar titles. Flock has the player commanding a UFO (The “Flocker”) sent to Earth to capture some of its life forms, in this case limited to barn-yard animals opposed to uncomfortable probing of humans.
The idea is that you use your UFO to shepherd the animals towards your mothership (The “Mother Flocker”), avoiding any obstacles and overcoming puzzles on the way. Sounds simple huh. The challenge is that this plays out on an island landscape, with sheer drops into the ocean where small somewhat stupid sheep easily fall off when pushed too hard by your persistent UFO. The levels are filled with ramps, catapults, other animals which will harm your precious barn-yard herd, as well as gates and water hazards for you to navigate.
The animals you herd range from sheep, to bulls with a tendency for stampeding when pushed too hard, chickens which are easily scared and fly over the edge, and of course pigs. Each animal has a distinct nature and you need to modify your UFO flying style to best herd them towards their goal. Fortunately the UFO for the most part is pretty nimble, and the addition of a tractor beam helps to get rid of some of the peskier obstacles. You’ll need to use it to create crop circles, lift objects amongst several other uses which we best let you discover to avoid giving away all the puzzles.
On top of what really is entertaining family game-play, is a fully fledged co-op mode where you can buddy up with a friend on one console and play through the levels. This was much more fun than playing it on our own, however we did find mid-air collisions somewhat difficult to avoid. But that’s all part of the challenge of capturing some of Earth’s treasures for our Alien rulers. Now if per change you play through the game, complete all the puzzles and extensive co-op and then still wonder what there is to do, there is an extensive level editor included with the game. In fact it is the same level editor that the dev’s used to create the levels included with the game. Here you can sculpt levels and share them with your online friends, but also download maps from other online users as well as download the top-ranked maps. The possibilities here are virtually endless and there is no doubt that this game can entertain you for a very long time.
Overall Flock is a very entertaining puzzle game. The cutesy graphics style will appeal to most players, and the unique game concept needs to be praised for some serious originality. The extensive level creator and access to online levels means you won’t run out of puzzles anytime soon, and the solid UFO controls make shepherding your animals relatively straight forward, though it constantly remains challenging due to some of the complex hurdles the levels throw at you. Proper Games have definitely created a winner, which is not so easy when gamers have digital distribution coming out of their ears. All the more reason to pick up Flock then, especially as a good family game if you can put the point scoring aside and focus solely on herding your animals for the fun.
