Flat Kingdom
Review
Bit flat on delivery
by Matt Porter
reviewed on PC
Into another dimension
You’ve got your 2D platformers, you’ve got your 3D platformers, you’ve even got the occasional “2.5D” platformer. Flat Kingdom is a game that thinks that all of that is just plain wrong. It doesn’t believe you should mix your dimensions and takes place in a two dimensional world where something has gone wrong and the third dimension is starting to threaten the inhabitants’ way of life.
Flat Kingdom is kept in order using magic crystals, but when a sneaky fox steals one of them, it’s up to one… grey blob to save the day. You play as Flat - who must be pretty excited to be named after the entire country, or perhaps the country is named after him - who knows? You’re a tiny little character who can change shape at will between circle, triangle, and square. If you’re playing with a controller as the game recommends, you’ll be switching between the three shapes using the face buttons, while the fourth button will make you jump. If you happen to be using a PlayStation style controller, the shapes will even be matched to those on the buttons. Handy.
In circle form, Flat is able to double jump. Switch to triangle and he’ll be able to run at super speed after a short charging up time. When he’s a square, he’s slow and heavy. You’ll find yourself in circle form for most of the platforming sequences, but it’s in the combat and puzzle solving where you’ll have to be shifting shapes.
Square, triangle, circle
Flat Kingdom’s combat works using a kind of rock-paper-scissors system. For some reason, Square beats triangle, triangle beats circle and circle beats square. All of the creatures in the kingdom conform to one of these shapes so it’s up to you to quickly figure out what basic shape they are, and switch to the one that beats it. This can be tricky as it’s not always clear which is which. Is that a circle, or a square with slightly rounded edges? And is that a triangle or just an oddly shaped square? Then you have to quickly remember what shape beats what and, since it’s not the most intuitive system, you often have to stop and think for a split second. This unfortunately breaks up the flow of a game which is already quite slow paced.
To speed things up I would switch to triangle mode to get from place to place quicker. However the camera doesn’t keep up with the speed, so Flat is basically at the right hand side of the screen when going at full pace. If there’s an obstacle coming up, you’ll need quick reactions to stop in time. I often found myself taking a heart of damage while trying to get to the next area running into an enemy or spiky plant.
Not too exciting
The papercraft style of Flat Kingdom looks fine, but there’s nothing really interesting to look at. As mentioned, the main character is small and grey, and his only defining characteristic is a large nose which protrudes from each of the shapes he can turn into. Enemy designs aren’t all that exciting either, until you reach the bosses. These are often huge creatures that don’t really conform to the rock-paper-scissors combat. Instead you’ll be dodging attacks and looking for weaknesses, which normally means jumping up and turning into the square for a kind of butt-stomp attack.
After you’ve defeated a couple of bosses, the game opens up with the introduction of new abilities. For example, running at full speed with triangle and turning into the square launches you forward as a heavy projectile which can smash through obstacles. These combos do mix things up a bit and offer some welcome variety to the puzzle platforming sequences, but the platforming itself could use some tweaking. Some jumps require precise timing that isn’t needed elsewhere, and the checkpointing system isn’t great if you fail. In fact, if you turn the game off while you’re in a level, next time you begin it will take you all the way back to the start even if you’ve hit checkpoints along the way.
Flat on delivery
Flat Kingdom is a platformer with a neat premise, but the idea of a trinity of characters performing different abilities has been done before, and better. There are ideas here that work, but the issues outweigh the positives. Unfortunately, Flat Kingdom’s biggest sin is that it’s just a bit boring.
4.9
fun score
Pros
Cute premise, later stages see a good variety of abilities
Cons
Slow paced, platforming doesn’t feel precise, basic visual design
