I have a few fears in my life with one of them being flying. Yeah I’ve read all the statistics about being safer than driving across town, but the fact of the matter is if my car stalls I can simply pull off the road with little trouble. My Second fear is clowns. Something about them just sets me off. I have this thought that usually it’s some deviant dressed in makeup so they can get close to little children.
So imagine my excitement when developer crawlspace offered me the chance to tie up some clowns and toss knives at them in their newest game entitled Knife Toss.
The gameplay in Knife Toss couldn’t be simpler. Tilt to aim your targeting cursor and touching anywhere on the screen to throw your knife. So after three hours of lobbing knives into the clown’s various body parts it came to my attention that I wasn’t playing the game in the manner the developer had intended. It seems the object is to pop all the balloons surrounding the clown while not hurting the clown. Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer to play it my way.
But for the sake of this review I will explain how “they” expect you to play. As the game begins the wheel will start to spin in a slow manner clockwise. Across the top will be the clowns life gauge, a timer and your score and your streak count.
It'-s all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked out.
Simply aim the cross-hairs at a balloon and let it fly. For each successful balloon you pop your score will increase. For successive hits your streak count and bonus will increase. Each knife that hits the clown will result in a reduction of the clowns health bar as well as change the clown’s demeanor. Once the clown’s health bar is depleted the game is over.
Randomly throughout each round various power-ups will appear around the edges of the wheel. If you manage to hit these items you will be rewarded with additional scoring as well as whatever gameplay element you hit. Some of these power-ups can double your score per balloon, speed, slow, or stop the wheel form spinning for a specified amount of time or entitle you to a bonus round where you can earn even more rewards such as healing the clown.
As you progress through the levels the game begins to mix things up by switching speeds and rotations of the wheel during the game. One area I would like to see improved is the clown’s reactions. I’d personally like them to add some animations and some squirming and some begging from the clown depending on the proximity of the knife.
The Game consists of 3 unlockable difficulty modes as well as OpenFeint scoring and achievements, and is child friendly.
Knife Toss is a charmingly simple game that drives you to play one more time. It’s got good graphics, and excellent controls and would qualify as a nice little time killer while waiting of an appointment or letting the kids play while waiting for dinner while out. The asking price of .99 is perfect for the amount of value and quality of the game.
great review about a game that really does look simple, addictive and fun, another game that looks fun for a little while but gets boring after a while, still worth the cheap price tag though.
Glenn,
Thanks again for reviewing the game. Snow_mani, that is a good idea and we hope to add more voice tracks and additional textures in the future. Its our first attempt at an iphone game and we are going to work hard at improving this game as well as get out a few other games this year. Thanks for the comments.
I’m a huge Krusty(r) fan, but clowns getting hurt… Yes, I see the appeal here.
What can I say I get some sick twisted pleasure from their pain. In fact Walmart has a commercial on right now with the clown, and I laugh each time he gets hurt.. Love that one..
“One area I would like to see improved is the clown’s reactions. I’d personally like them to add some animations and some squirming and some begging from the clown depending on the proximity of the knife.” LOL . The desire for more squirming from the clowns wouldn’t have anything at all to do with your dislike of them would it Glenn?! Heeheehee!!!