In the olden days, whenever a princess happened to find herself on the receiving end of a kidnap scheme you could bet your bottom dollar that a banner of valiant knights would soon be on her tail, chasing glory, fame, and possibly a peck on the cheek from the rescued damsel.
Unsurprisingly, that’s exactly the scenario presented to you in Wind-up Knight, with the big difference being that our plucky hero is basically a jumped-up child’s toy.
As is befitting of someone with a wind-up key stuck in his back, the protagonist of Wind-up Knight is constantly running. In fact, you have no control over his speed - the knight auto-runs for the entire duration of the game.
Winding me up
The aim of the game is to dash for fame and fortune. You can jump to avoid gaps, swing your sword to dispatch enemies, roll into a ball to sneak into narrow places, and raise your shield to avoid being crushed or burned by traps.
These actions are mapped to on-screen virtual buttons, but if you’ve got a Sony Ericsson Xperia Play you can use the phone’s physical controls to take charge of the on-screen action. Played in this manner, Wind-up Knight becomes even more alluring.
Along the way you’ll collect coins which you can use to upgrade your armour and other equipment, as well as magical keys that give your knight a bit of additional wind-up power. These prove to be vital pick-ups, because running out of juice means you fail the level.
Knight in shining armourWind-up Knight does an excellent job of slowly easing you into the various motions you’ll need to master, but before long you’ll be expected to string together several moves in quick succession.
Indeed, the difficulty ramps up very quickly, forcing you to display almost super-human responsiveness. However, rather than being frustrating, the compact level design encourages you to pick yourself up and try again.
In terms of presentation, it’s hard to fault Wind-up Knight. The 3D visuals are beautiful, with highly detailed levels and charming characters. Some of the vistas you dash through are so striking that they’re almost a distraction.
Wind-up merchantThe only real problem you might have with this charming game is the way it's sold.
Although it’s listed as a free app, you only get the first world to begin with. You can - through dogged perseverance and hours of playing - earn enough credits to unlock the three additional worlds, but the developer is inevitably hoping that buy them outright with cold, hard cash.
Each world costs $1.99 (approx £1.24) to obtain, although you’re offered a one-time deal to grab them all for around £2.50.
But only the grumpiest of gamers would suggest that Wind-up Knight fails to offer value for money. The later levels are supremely challenging, and there are plenty of secret rooms and alternative routes to discover.
If you’re after an old skool platform adventure with brilliant visuals and oodles of challenge, then we’d advise that you cough up the required monies for this hugely likeable download.