Game Reviews

King Oddball

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| King Oddball
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King Oddball
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| King Oddball

There's a thread of oddness that runs throughout King Oddball, as you might expect from its name. But in spite of all its kookiness it is, at heart, a simple physics-based thing-hurler in the mould of Angry Birds and its kin.

That's not to say there isn't innovation here, or fun by the barrel load, but once you peel away the strange veneer you're left with a solid, slightly new version of a game you've played plenty of times before.

King charming

The game casts you as the titular king, who turns up on earth to claim his throne and wipe out all resistance to his rule. To that end, you take on a variety of military personnel and vehicles by throwing rocks at them with your grossly elongated purple tongue.

Your only control over the rocks is when they come unstuck from the king's tongue. You need to tap anywhere on the screen when the swinging muscle is at the right angle and hope that the lumps of stone crash into their intended targets.

Those targets range from tanks to attack helicopters, and most are positioned behind rickety pillars, next to explosive crates, or teetering dangerously at the edge of platforms. A direct hit from a rock usually blows up an enemy, but ricochets are the real key to success.

If you hit enough vehicles with a single shot the rock gets put back in to your arsenal, giving you a larger margin for error and a better chance of finishing the level. Watching the carnage of a well-placed shot is pretty satisfying, with lumps of scenery cascading into unwary enemies.

Tank busters

King Oddball is certainly an entertaining experience, and its bite-sized levels are perfect for snatching a quick game on the go, but it lacks that electric spark that makes the very best of the genre stand out.

Still, if you like your destruction tempered with a wacky style and some reasonably interesting design ideas, and you don't need every single game you play to be different from the last, you could do a lot worse than taking this freakish king out for a spin.

King Oddball

While it might not be the most innovative or original game in the world, King Oddball is still an awful lot of fun
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.