Knock the Monster challenges you to knock things over with a 16-ton weight. Doesn't sound hard, right? Except that the weight invariably begins at the upper right corner and will simply fall down, unless you use your mouse to draw a chain or chains onto which it hooks, thereafter swinging as you might expect in a game with a rudimentary physics engine. Of course, the placement of your target varies -- as does the placement of obstacles on which anvil and/or chains can get caught (the red stripy thingies in the screenshot).
That's about it, really; entertaining in a lightweight way, which is mostly what we expect from Petri Purho's monthly games (this one in collaboration with Erik Svedäng). Well, that plus swinging music, which this game has.
But there's one other bit I thought I'd point out, just to take another jab at those who think games are all about stories: here's Erik & Petri's "story" for this game:
- "Your girlfriend is dead and the Gods say that to bring her back you have to knock over dozens of Monsters."
Oh, yeah, right. Will your experience of the game be improved by knowing this? Actually, I think they came up with that line with perfect ironic insincerity; games gotta have stories, right? Poppycock.
I know this is part of a
I know this is part of a game-a-month thing, but it seems more like a concept than an actual game. It just makes me yearn for something with a little more depth, perhaps pre-designed levels instead of randomly created ones, or more obstacles and more limitations.
Still, it's kind of fun, but all I can think about is decking it out a bit more to make it something like a Fantastic Contraption spin-off.
Sounds Familiar
So it has the exact plot of Shadow of the Colossus?
I know it's a poor defense
I know it's a poor defense but Knock the Monster was mostly created in 28 hours. Those 28 hours included BBQ, beer drinking, sauna and sleeping for 8 hours. So the game was put together in quite a haste. That's the reason why there's a random level generator and why some parts of the game don't feel "polished" enough.
Anyway, I just wanted to say something about the story :) It's a joke, but also I'm trying to keep alive the tradition of Doom: that is write the story in the readme file. Because that's the perfect place for stories in games.
Actually its a very good defense
I sure as heck couldnt give ppl a game that cool in that amount of time. Heck, people would be lucky if I gave them a javascript version of tic tac toe...well actually I could probably do that in 10 or 15 minutes - But theyd be lucky if they got a *flash* version of tic tac toe in that timespan...well actually, I probably could do that in a day if I had to - but they'd be lucky if they got a *flash version of tic tac toe that had artificial intelligence that also insulted players for making poor moves* from me in that amount of time...so there!
Er what I mean to say is, good job!
Darn Straight it's a good defense
I apologize, as I didn't really word my comment very well. I didn't mean to criticize the game, but rather to talk about the possibilities it lays open.
Alright, that was a bit too diplomatic, but what I'm saying is true. This game makes me think of ways to use the mechanic it's showing off. It makes me want to use the ideas it puts across, and I'd venture to guess that this is a result you want from it.
The game is great. It makes me want more, not in a selfish kind of way, but in an inspirational kind of way.