Knights of Rock

Needs a bit of ye olde polish

Reviewed by Shawn from afro-ninja.com

Wow, two rhythm games in one week? Seeing as how Beatmaster 3000 was just released, it’s going to be inevitable that I make a comparison between the two. Both make an attempt to further the rhythm game genre in flash, but how does Knights of Rock stack up?

In KoR you watch your little knight battle his way through a level, timed to the beat of a rock song. You must press the appropriate arrow keys as they move through your meter, or else your knight will be dead pretty quick. I personally liked the song in this game, but I can see how a lot of people don’t. It’s a standard thrash rock sample, so those expecting some DDR-techno will be a little miffed. People have also complained that the arrows move too fast. I think the speed is fine, but a little extra warning time wouldn’t have hurt. I still didn’t find it overly difficult to time the notes. That’s an advantage that this game has though, the notes seem to be synced to the song pretty closely. There’s definitely some off beats but for the most part it worked. The downside though is that the arrow combinations are never tricky. They all fall in the same rhythm and usually come in repeated sets. Left left left, right right right, down down down, etc.

I know it sounds odd, but I think the graphics almost hamper the gameplay experience. With a title like ‘Knights of Rock’ I was expecting some rugged knight dude engaging in a hardcore battle. Instead we get a more cartoony version, with some stiff animation. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really cool that the entire song has an animation synched to it, but the art just seemed a bit out of place. Delivering the ‘final blow’ at the end didn’t seem very powerful either. Also, during a couple spots the game lags a bit, causing the notes to slow down too.

Luckily the game tracks your score, along with a rating, which can be entered for a place on the score boards. This is something that Beatmaster 3000 made a big mistake of by leaving out. Bad part is that this is the only single way to play the game. No other songs, modes, or difficulties. This is where Beatmaster trumps KoR, offering more overall gameplay choices. Beatmaster, although more off-synch than KoR also mixes up the note patterns a bit more. Like I’ve said before, I have much respect for any flash game that attempts this genre. And while Beatmaster and KoR both have their strengths and weaknesses, I have to give the nod to Beatmaster on this one.

Click here to play Knights of Rock

Graphics	Sound	Gameplay /Control	Presentation	Overall
6.5	7	7	6.9	6.8
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