Review

PCXBLAPSN

7:21 PM on 4/27/2009 by Katrina Pawlowski

FLOCK! is a game of herding, and abducting sheep in a challenging puzzle format. Different terrain, various obstacles, time limits, and stubborn sheep or other farm animals will put your wits to the test, or break them. Now, lets go flock some sheep. Don't look at me like that, we'll be using space ships to do it properly.

I don't know that I can properly describe FLOCK! without sounding like a crazy person, so I won't bother hiding it. You are a space ship, and your goal is to successfully herd skittish sheep, chickens, and other barnyard animals into a mothership dubbed the "Motherflocker". You are given a quota of animals to herd to the Motherflocker within a set time limit, with puzzles on your way to the finish line. Puzzles range from environmental to downright silly, for example soaking your sheep in water which shrinks their wool to get through fences, or using cows to smash through obstacles.

Since FLOCK! is a very puzzley arcade game, score is everything, so get all of the animals quickly and safely to the Motherflocker. While the actual goal of aforementioned spaceship herding is pretty unclear, I would imagine the game is a kind of social commentary on farmers, crop circles, and UFO sightings. Or perhaps it has to do with an alien affection for agriculture. Who the flock knows? Humor plays a huge part in this game, which is always something to look forward to.

As you progress through the campaign, you unlock special terrain and obstacle items for custom maps. In the co-op mode, you progress and unlock co-op specific items for the custom maps. This is definitely a cool feature since it allows you to create co-op specific maps to share extending the experience further. Unfortunately, at the price point of 1200 Microsoft Points (14.99 on the Playstation Network and PC), none of my friends have played or made maps for me to try out. Likewise, I didn't have anyone to share maps with online, so I didn't get the full experience of it.

Author

Katrina Pawlowski
Former Editor

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