Game Reviews

Can Knockdown 3

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| Can Knockdown 3
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Can Knockdown 3
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| Can Knockdown 3

There appears to be an odd idea going around that setting your sporting game in a decaying industrial wasteland somehow makes it more extreme. If you want to compete at the highest level, don't bother showing up at a modern high-tech facility - the really hardcore competitors need crackling electrical switches and filth-encrusted girders.

Can Knockdown 3 is a prime example of this. It's a game about throwing baseballs, yet its levels include a power plant, an ironworks, and a toxic sewer. Layered on top of those settings is a weird realism, with each separate level rendered in impressive 3D.

Can of grits

Once you get past the oddness of it all you'll find a pretty entertaining ball-hurling puzzler that builds on the simple premise of knocking down cans by adding obstacles, tricks, and special moves.

In each level you've got three balls to chuck and a pile of cans to knock down. To begin with it's always pretty obvious where you have to throw your balls to create the most carnage, and the first few levels act as a primer for the single control you need to succeed.

Throwing your balls is as simple as drawing a line to the place you want them to hit. Quicker lines make for more powerful throws, and if your flick is strong enough your ball will blast out in a beam of white light, giving you bonus points.

New types of cans are introduced as you play. Some are explosive, some give you extra balls if you hit them, but the aim of the game never changes - smash all the cans to move on to the next level.

Tin can alley

Later levels are intricately built trials, combining swinging cans, switches, and moving obstacles to create clever and sometimes taxing texts of ball-tossing skill and your puzzle-solving abilities.

In spite of its slightly strange presentation, Can Knockdown 3 is still an engagingly simple game that spreads its metaphorical wings the more you play. It can get tough, but clipping a can that's been troubling you for a couple of minutes is a pretty satisfying experience.

It might not be as extreme as its aesthetic suggests, but there's still plenty to like in this time-honoured tale of ball versus can.

Can Knockdown 3

It's not as gritty as it thinks it is, but Can Knockdown 3 is still a decent way to waste a few hours
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.