Battle of Knights

-Ozura (2005)

Summary

Save an ancient land by whacking a massive fireball.

My Thoughts

The Kingdom of Nazaroth has declared war on the King of Holdoinda. To prevent a war that would consume the land the good king of Holdoinda sends out a lone knight with merely a shield and his wits. He is to engage two knights from each of the five kingdoms in fierce fireball combat. It seems that the battle of the ages can be stopped by two knights dueling in fireball pong.  

Battle of Knights is basically Pong with Knights. Actually, since it’s a little more than just plain old Pong it exists between that barren battlefield of Pong and the best pong-ish game ever, Warlords. Battle of Knights contains ten levels of fireball battling action. The goal is to destroy the other knight’s castle by getting the fireball to hit it. Unlike Warlords however, the castle doesn’t get destroyed brick by brick, but it does show cracks of damage the more the fireball strikes it. Each progressive castle takes more hits to destroy, but the opposing knights don’t seem more skilled in their ball deflecting. Surprisingly enough there is a bit a strategy involved in bringing down the castle wall. Only moving from side to side is going to get you nowhere in the game. The trick is to move forward and backward to throw off the angle of where the opposing knight thinks the fireball will hit. It may not sound like much, but it’s sure a lot better than just normal Pong.

The main problem with the game is the lack of a save or password feature. This means you need to bust down all ten walls in one sitting. Plus, all it really is just hitting a ball back and forth. It's pretty much the most basic form of gameplay. The atmosphere of a medieval setting reminds me of Warlords though, and anything in the spirit of Warlords is worth trying.

The graphics are good and many details are prominent on the castle walls. The only thing that separates the two knights is a very thin, very jumpable creek. Since knights can’t jump while wearing their heavy armor the creek works. I also find it odd that two opposing castles would be built so close to each other. The epic battles between the two would be immeasurably minute, but well designed for the time-honored tradition of pong battles.

The cute, big headed knights come in many colors with one female knight in the mix. We learn the names of only a few of them. The only one you need to remember is the emerald green knight with the best knight name ever, Sir Killalot. Sir Killalot is “a man of many skills.” Indeed I’m sure that he is, but if you have the name of Sir Killalot why would you wear pretty green armor? Then again, with a name like that you could wear whatever you wanted.

Battle of Knights may not be a game for everyone with its simplistic gameplay, but anyone who enjoys Pong or Warlords should give it shot.

Score: 6.5

-Shawn       

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