Genre : Puzzle
Publisher: Capcom
Players: 1-2
Retail Price: $15
Availability: PC, Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network
It still amazes me that, for the most part, nobody remembers the PS1 game Sheep, which tasked you with getting a herd of sheep from one section of a level to another while avoiding various death traps. Flock is very, very similar to Sheep, so much so that when I first heard of the game I thought it was a remake. It’s not, but the premise is very similar: now you’re a UFO, herding sheep, pigs, chicken and cattle back to your base ship (the Mother Flocker) in order to… well, if there’s a story, it’s not included in the main game. Dave assumes they’re food while I instead posit that there are probes involved. It’s just how I roll.
Unfortunately, you can’t control the animals directly. Instead, your ship scares them away, so you have to get behind them and chase them in the direction in which you want them to go. Each of the four animals reacts differently to its surroundings: the sheep are the generic critters, while pigs roll and can bounce off of pinball bumpers (a staple on any farm). Chickens can fly a short distance between sections of land, while cattle can trample over fences and, when pushed too far, stampede out of control.
The levels offer various topographical challenges: sheep too big to fit through a gate? Have them walk through some water so they shrink, or have some cattle plow it down. Sometimes there will be an insurmountable gap, so you pile a bunch of animals onto a specially marked square and then hit the corresponding launcher with your depressor beam or a large rock and send them flying over, catapult-style. Some levels take place at night, and so you have to be sure to stay close to your animals lest the Nighttime Predator sneak up in the darkness and eat them.
These new mechanics are doled out slowly, generally no more than one per level. As there are a lot of mechanics, there are a lot of levels: certainly more than enough to keep you busy if flocking is your thing. I’m not sure if it’s mine, though: I appreciate the diversity in tasks, but at the end of the day I’m still running around behind animals, getting frustrated when the goddamn sheep doesn’t walk through the goddamn fence like it’s goddamn supposed to. That’s not to say that the game isn’t inherently unfun: it is instead one of the things where the core mechanic will appeal to some and not others, and while I don’t hate it by any means, I’m not its biggest fan.
The art style of the game is very cartoony and stylized, with everything looked sewn together from various bits of fabric and stuffed with fluff. It’s very colorful and family friendly looking, meaning you can feel free to play it with young children as long as you’re willing to explain (or ignore) why it says they’re ‘Flocking around.’ Like many games recently, Flock exudes an innocent charm that works very well to its benefit.
Beyond the main campaign, there’s a lot of emphasis on user-generated content. Completing each level yields at least one item that can be used in the level editor, so if you fancy yourself an arteest then you still have an impetus to play through the single player levels. There’s also multiplayer, featuring puzzles that require a friend to complete: one ship uses their tractor beam to lift a gate while the other herds the animals through, for instance. These also yield objects for custom levels, and all your creations can be posted online for others to enjoy.
Despite all its charm, I still wasn’t as enraptured by Flock as I had expected to be. This may be personal preference: my perfectionist, anal-retentive nature doesn’t do well with things that aren’t under my direct control. There’s plenty of content in the game and a decent amount of variety, but nothing ever different enough to keep you coming back if you get bored with the initial formula. Your mileage may vary, of course, and the more patient among us will likely be able to get past the frustration of obstinate pigs and have themselves a grand old time.
