The Daily Click

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Author:	s-m-r
Added:	12/01/2014 23:28:07
Overall:
Average:	8/10

Black Knight is very professionally presented. The title screen has some eye-catching graphics, a high score table, and easy-to read instructions that will have you in the game seconds later. The gameplay screens are uncluttered and wide, offering you plenty of room to admire the artwork and control your character. Although there's little in the way of innovation with Black Knight and the traditional life-ending timer can be somewhat unforgiving, the whole package seems like a solid entry in the arcade beat-em-up genre.

If you're a fan of the mid-90's side-scrolling, arcade beat-em-ups like X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Punisher, and others, then you will feel right at home. Old-skool button-mashing fun awaits you, with loads of exquisite enemies approaching you from all angles, and hideous bosses awaiting you at the end of each stage. There's a resemblance to Altered Beast that cannot be ignored, including larger than life characters and three exotic animal forms you can choose from, each with a distinct look and assortment of powers. In terms of controls, it's an accessible title. If you're tired of smashing buttons, simply hold down the attack button and you'll be smoothly unleashing one attack after another. There are also special attacks and several bonus pickups that will add to your health, your score, or your transform "power meter." When the power meter is full, you jump to another screen, select your animal avatar, and are back into the thick of it. Gameplay is fast and satisfying for those who enjoy hordes of enemies you cut through with either a big sword, claws, or weird spell blasts. There are a few band-aids here and there (the main character and more often the pickups will be bounced around the screen in certain situations), but no show-stopping bugs that I noticed.

Screenshot 1

If your youth and teenage years consisted of scrawling horrible, sharp-toothed, tentacle-shrouded creatures from another world in your school notebooks, you'll see what they could have become if you hadn't thrown them away when you went to college. A wide variety of ghoulish monsters await you in Black Knight: reptilian demons wrapped in dingy robes, foating green horrors, legless levitating fire demons...The list goes on. The bosses are inspired reinventions of the classics: skinless giants, a swamp monster consisting of merely an eye emerging from the muck, vomiting dragon-headed beasts, and more. If you want to indulge in some visceral creature designs straight out of the best 80's metal band album covers, look no further than Black Knight.

Screenshot 2

Music is another area that shines in Black Knight. Rich, minor-key tunes and odd melodies are paired with some excellent percussion samples to make a suitably epic, genre-fitting soundtrack. The sound effects are a bit of a mixed 8-bit and creepy voice sample bag, but it doesn't detract much from the arcade feel of Black Knight. It's a fitting platform for the score, composed by Epic Music VN.

Screenshot 3

I've not beat it yet, and I want to go at the game focusing on the different animal avatars in one run-through. The addition of the high score table makes this game worth revisiting as well. I've been impressed with LordHannu's work in the past, and this title doesn't disappoint. I'll be sure to visit when I want to chop the heads off some demons. The entire game experience is very inviting for "old heads" like myself who played D&D and then went to the arcade to slay monsters.

Screenshot 4

Overall, I was once again impressed by LordHannu's efforts with Black Knight. While a linear and straightforward experience, it's not different from others in the genre. All the bells and whistles of this game are found in the graphics and music, which suck you right in and have you chopping up demon meat like a classic arcade game should. Nice work, LordHannu!