Gamertell

Product: Flipper Critters
Price: $14.99
Rating: 4/10
Pros: The dialog can be pretty entertaining and the game is challenging.
Cons: The visuals will make your eyes and ears bleed.
Overall: Too challenging for kids, too grotesque for adults.

I sincerely think that if Ignition Entertainment and Zen Studios had perhaps spent another 6 months working on the graphics in Flipper Critters, the game wouldn’t be the visual eyesore it is today. As is, Flipper Critters looks like a box of 64 crayons got drunk and puked all over your DS. Not pretty. It also is somewhat perplexing, as it has a storyline and characters which would appeal to children and yet has a difficulty level and dialog which would be more suited to adults. Its best not to over-think things like this though. Its a waste of time and can take a toll on your sanity.

Flipper Critters was designed to be an adventure pinball game, along the lines of Devilish. The difference is that Devilish was actually good. (Or at least good when compared to this.) Horrid level designs and graphics which not only induce seizures but also cause temporarily blindness prevent players from progressing too far.

Supposedly there are guide symbols to tell you where to hit the ball, but in the flurry of colors and shapes it is impossible to find them. Playing is all about dumb luck. Hit the ball (which is really supposed to be a tiger or monkey rolled up into a ball) and pray to whatever higher power you believe in that it hits something that lets you progress to the next level.

If, thanks to a hollow promise that you will build several temples in Yoshitaka Amano’s name (you pray to your gods, I’ll pray to mine), you manage to make it through a level, then a mini-game interlude will begin. I think this is to give your eyes a chance to recover after the trauma. The mini-games are somewhat easier both on the eyes and on your fingers.

At the very least, things aren’t a constant cacophony of random colors as they are in the pinball levels. There are three mini-games included, a flying level, an undersea level and a general platforming level. I’m not sure if its random which one you get or what, as I only managed to make it to the “Flying Battle” once. It was almost enjoyable, and reminiscent of Space Invaders. I suck at those kinds of games though, and so I perished before making it to the next stage.

The funny thing is that the story isn’t half bad. Its as though the writers realized it was horribly asinine and decided to take potshots at everything along the way. The ‘main’ story is that the leader of Ylwitch, Fluffy ‘Bull’ von Gigglestein, is sick and Gruff ‘Billy’ Goat, the wise, old sage, has asked Gawain ‘Tiger’ Chesterton and his best friend/sidekick Bubba ‘Monkey’ McManus to find a way to cure him. The characters can be delightfully sarcastic and come up with some surprisingly funny one liners. This little injection of humor prompted me to actually read the instruction book, which has funny little character profiles for each critter.

Of course it is a sad thing when the best things about a game are the instruction book and the occasional snippets of dialogue. If only some extra time had gone into fixing the wretched graphics, this could have been a whole different story. Flipper Critters is a pinball game which needs to be put down for the good of the children. Now if you would excuse me, I have some temples to build.

Product Page [Gamestop] Site [Flipper Critters] Site [Flipper Critters]

Keep up with the latest Gaming news! - Subscribe to our feed →