Game Reviews

Bik

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Bik is going to divide its audience. Some will be overjoyed with the pixel-art graphics and the retro vibe that pulses through the game.

Others are going to find the whole thing a little too much to stomach. This is a game with both feet staunchly planted in the past, and it doesn't care how many friends it loses along the way.

That means that sometimes you're stumbling with cumbersome controls, fiddling with menus that feel a little superfluous on a touchscreen device, and grimacing at the thick, janky edged graphics.

But that's its charm. That's the heart of the experience. And there is a warmth to Bik that's impossible to ignore.

It might leave you feeling a little stranded sometimes, but this story of aliens, camping, abduction, and armageddon, is still worth a play.

Old schooled

I don't want to spoil any of the story here, because that would make me a terrible person, but it's safe to say there is one, it's pretty damn good, and you're constantly pushing on to find out what happens next.

The game is set in space, and features a cast of aliens and humans that veer from the sublime to the ridiculous. Sometimes in the space of a sentence.

The first puzzle sees you tasked with putting out a fire. There's a fire extinguisher on the wall, but obviously it's empty. The solution involves gravity boots, a super-computer, and a mop. And by the time the flames are extinguished you'll have most of a sandwich as well.

Unlike a lot of adventure games, death is par for the course in Bik. Within the first hour I'd been murdered by sentient sock beasts, consumed by an all-enveloping sink blob, and sucked out into the blackness of space thanks to a mis-placed grenade.

Every time you try something that's going to result in your death the game saves your progress. If you're a purist you can restart from the very beginning, but the less masochistic among you will probably just reload the checkpoint.

Bik it up

Bik isn't without its problems. If you're not a point-and-click fan then it's likely you'll find the lack of hand-holding a tad overwhelming. And while its logical jumps are usually pretty tight, sometimes it's the simple stuff that'll leave you scratching your head.

Often you'll end up poking around the screen trying to find the object you're looking for, and the item descriptions you're given don't really help that much.

But there's a rich thread of humour that runs through the game. Try giving a dog or a child some booze. Read the description of the disgusting sink.

Even just trying to combine items that won't go can make you chuckle. The dialogue is pretty amusing too, and there's enough good natured joking between the main characters to make them all endearing.

Bik is a rewarding experience if you're willing to put some time into it. But unless you're a point-and-click fan through and through you might find the whole thing a little daunting, and a little off-putting.

Bik

A warm but not exactly welcoming point-and-click adventure, Bik will delight some and infuriate others
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.