App Army Assemble: Kill it With Fire - Is incinerating spiders as entertaining as it sounds?

Kill it With Fire is a game where arachnophobes can finally revel in being able to ruthlessly murder their eight-legged fires in a variety of different ways. That being said, my distaste for spiders is so great that I don't even want to see them on my phone screen, even if I'll be able to promptly destroy them. So, we handed the game over to our app army, who are far braver than me when it comes to creepy crawlies.

Here's what they said:

Brian Wigington

I was looking forward to playing this on PC but I was also curious about the mobile version. After playing for a while I feel like the game is a better match for mouse and keyboard controls. You are basically tasked with finding spiders and various items with which to destroy the pesky 8 legged critters. While ridding the house of spiders you are essentially encouraged to cause as much destruction as possible. You can pick up and toss around many objects in the rooms and later even use destructive firepower to rain down terror on the arachnids. The game runs fairly smooth and the gameplay can be fun if since destruction is part of the gameplay.

However, the onscreen button for picking up objects and the button used to throw are too close together. Many times I accidentally threw objects at inopportune times. The ability to use a controller or to rearrange co tools would help a lot. The controls really do take patience and some learning, which can happen in mobile games, but it may be a deal-breaker for some. I suggest trying the demo and making the decision based on that. The game has potential and is a fun concept, but needs some polish in the controls. Still, I enjoyed reviewing the game and intend to play it more while hoping for a patch.

Oksana Ryan

Being arachnophobic I thought my review was going to read ‘opened the game, saw the spider, screamed, the end’ but I decided to brave it and play. It’s a good game if you’ve had a stressful day and want to let off some steam. You wander around looking behind, under and inside everything to find the spiders to annihilate the pesky critters. This can cause mayhem as things scatter everywhere. Use spider detectors, guns, flamethrowers, dynamite and other items to kill the spiders as they scurry around. There are tasks to perform to progress but they aren’t difficult. The controls are easy to use, though a little sensitive and there is very little background sound. In conclusion - not a bad game.

Michael Purdy

I gave this game a try several times through the weekend. I thought the concept was amusing, so I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, it was not an enjoyable experience. It runs terribly. Graphics are flat and unappealing. The animation is choppy. I could forgive it if it was fun, but the controls are so bad that I simply did not want to continue…

Roman Valerio

Nintendo Switch - iPad Air is such a miserable thing that it can't run even those games it supposedly should according to the list of supported devices. For the sake of this review, I had to test the game on my Nintendo Switch and this was probably for the best. Using Hori Split Pad Pro I had zero issues with controls in handheld mode. Moreover, having full-size triggers at my disposal definitely helped my aim, which is not such an easy task when you are to smash a crawling spider with a book or shoot it with a pistol.

Killing spiders is essential for your progression as you can enter certain doors only after achieving a designated kill count. Kill It With Fire is an unpretentious game that does not mean to impress you with its graphics, soundtrack or ground-breaking gameplay. I reckon that it is meant for fun-filled, stress-free entertainment, which is undoubtedly in store for you taking into account all those upgrades and weapons of spider mass destruction that I have yet to unlock. Besides that, KIWF might be a perfect way to tackle your arachnophobia and learn all the most efficient ways of getting rid of spider infestation without seeking the help of pest control professionals.

Nick Leibbrandt

The idea of this game got me quite excited to play it with the idea of running around squishing and killing spiders which seems like a very fun and good idea for this game. Unfortunately, I struggled from the get-go with gameplay. finding my character quite hard to control running into walls is quite common than having to find my barrings, I found that trying to aim to kill spiders was quite hard as well and just ended up being frustrating the design of the game is ok although the control buttons are little small and there placement could be better.

The sound is quite good and the music is decent. there is a lot of different weapons to use which does make the game a little bit more fun. Sadly there are a few glitches in the game as well that would need to be fixed to make this game a little bit more enjoyable before I would recommend spending any money on the game but once the game is fixed it could be quite fun with lots of potential.

Mark Abukoff

I love the idea of this game. I mean, who hasn’t thought about it right? But some faults really prevented me from fully enjoying it. First off, the control scheme could stand improvement. The attack button is too close to the inspect button. And when you have to switch from detect to inspect to attack, well, I found several times that the spider had run away. Plus it’s nearly impossible (for me, anyway) to aim the gun quickly and precisely enough to kill the spider by shooting it.

The music is minimal and fine. The sound effects are very good, reminding me of a Hitchcock movie. The random destruction you can mete out is emotionally satisfying, as is the fact that someone puts everything back where it belongs by the next time you open up the game. But the control issues and the amount of work that I had to do just to get through the first level took away a lot of enjoyment for me. This would have to be fixed before I could recommend this game. Once it is fixed, I would happily. Lots of potential, but needs serious work.

Zsombor Gálicz

This game gives off Goat Simulator vibes with its freedom, funny ways of limitless destruction and wonky physics. The main goal on each level is to kill a specified amount of spiders but there are also optional ones ranging from “Find all tools in the garage” to “Set everything on fire”, so there’s something to do other than luring out and murdering these small but terrifying beings. The large variety of weapons are incredibly fun, I lured out some spiders with Cheese Puffs to a C4 I planted earlier and let them have their best flight in their life.

The different spiders can also spice things up since they can do some crazy things like jumping across the room or explode, which can send nearby objects flying, killing even more spiders. Sadly nothing can hurt the player, so there’s no real challenge or threat by the spiders at all. The mobile port also suffers from quite a few flaws, the controls can’t be customized and the shoot button’s placement made me unable to see the Spider Radar correctly. Hitting the moving spiders with guns was also quite difficult.

Naail Zahid

The game is glitchy as heck. Seriously. Even on my flagship Galaxy Note 10 Plus, and S20 Ultra this game is all over the place. Our character is sometimes clipping through doors and walls, and obstacles due to the other objects being nudged between the rooms, and there are visual glitches here and there. On top of that, the controls are janky. On-screen buttons are tiny for selecting between "scan" mode and "attack" mode, and there's a delay between switching modes, and even if you do switch, there's a noticeable lag between when you click the button and attack.

And let's not forget the attacking of the "enemies", the spiders, is extremely difficult as your character moves as slow as a dying dog, and the spiders run at the speed of light. I get this is beta as of now, but there's a lot they need to work on before I feel like continuing beyond the first mission itself. And Doesn't get any better later on. It's a glitchy mess and sometimes the sound cuts off on me and I'm playing it as if I'm deaf. Not really feeling this game at all. The concept is neat, killing the little critters and all, but the execution has left much to be desired. It's like one of those beta Steam games that weren't left in the oven long enough to get properly cooked.

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