Knightmare Tower (PC)

Details: Category: Computer; By Cheryl Gress; 25.Jul; Hits: 8804

Game Info:

Knightmare Tower
Developed by: Juicy Beast Studio
Published by: Juicy Beast Studio
Release Date: June 16, 2014
Available on: Android, iOS, PC
Genre: Casual
Number of Players: Single-Player
ESRB Rating: Not rated
Price: $3.99

Thank you Juicy Beast Studio for sending us this game to review!

Ten princesses have been kidnapped and locked away in a tower by a mad man. The king sends for you to rescue them. Instead of climbing stairs to ascend this tower, a rocket gets you started and the rest of your momentum comes from hopping off of and slashing monsters into pieces. Each monster you slay will give you a speed boost and possibly some loot including gold, bombs, potions, or life hearts.

In the beginning you’re not very aerodynamic and have a dull sword. As you get farther and farther up the tower you’ll earn gold and rescue princesses to purchase upgrades and unlock new abilities. Each armor upgrade adds a heart to your life bar and oil upgrades reduce friction and allow you to move faster. Unlocking potions grants you temporary abilities like immunity, ghost and berserk.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Easy to control via keyboard or game pad, well balanced
Weak Points: Cannot adjust screen resolution
Moral Warnings: Cartoon violence, magic use

There are two gameplay modes including the story and survival mode. Survival mode becomes available after the villain is defeated in the story mode. All of the upgrades carry over into survival and the money earned in survival can be used to buy your way out of completing the thirty remaining quests.

In total there are seventy quests to complete throughout the game. The quests include various challenges such as having several perfect launches in a row or collecting a certain amount of items in a single launch. The forty quests in single-player mode must be completed in order to get the key to unlock the final bosses’ room.

Score Breakdown:
Higher is better
(10/10 is perfect)

Game Score - 88%
Gameplay - 17/20
Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 9/10
Stability - 5/5
Controls - 5/5 Morality Score - 93%
Violence - 8/10
Language - 10/10
Sexual Content - 10/10
Occult/Supernatural - 8.5/10
Cultural/Moral/Ethical - 10/10

Once the key and upgrades are acquired, getting to the boss only takes a few minutes. In fact, there is a Steam achievement for completing the campaign in three and a half minutes. Other achievements can be unlocked after beating the boss, completing every quest, or buying every possible upgrade. The survival mode is significantly harder and offers an achievement if you ascend to 100,000 meters.

Even though the game is a tad short, the fun it provides and the low price more than make up for it. The colorful and cartoony 2D graphics are bound to attract people of all ages. My kids enjoyed watching and playing this game. There is cartoon violence and the monsters look like ham as you slice them in two. There is no blood or intestines showing. The sound effects and music are pleasant to listen to. The hot sauce potion has a cute chiptune song that plays while the effects last.

Overall there is plenty to like in the Steam version of the game. You can play it for free at Kongregate. The Android version is free as well, but to fully unlock the game you have to buy it for $2.99. While the game looks great at lower resolutions, I was bummed I could not scale it to my monitors native resolution of 2560x1440. That’s my one and only complaint.