Game Reviews

I am a brave knight

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| I am a brave knight
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I am a brave knight
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| I am a brave knight

Life is cheap in the world of mobile video games. Many of today's biggest hits see your little avatar meeting a grim end within seconds of hitting start.

Of course, you then hit restart, and it all starts over again. Nothing lost.

I am a brave knight is arguably even more brief and throw-away than any endless runner or Flappy Bird clone, but it sets out to be so much more.

Out of control

I am a brave knight is a game wants to tug at your heart strings, and to actually mean something beyond high-scores and twitch reflexes.

The trouble is, it doesn't really bear any scrutiny as a game, which makes it somewhat hard to judge.

It's more of an interactive story really - and barely interactive at that.

You're faced with a series of little vignettes taken from a single average life - a shared childhood viewing of The Never Ending Story, an argument between that same child and his parents years later, securing a job as an adult, meeting the woman of your dreams, and so on.

Sketchy

Each scene is told with a stylised image and a short line of text. Your sole task is moving this simple story forward by sketching out the letters of a thematically linked word or phrase.

When on a date, for example, you draw out the letters for 'Is this love?'

It sounds a little strange, and it is. While this certainly makes I am a brave knight feel unique, I failed to see the true point of it, or the relation between what feels like a child's handwriting tool and something more mature.

What's more, the handwriting system felt a little spotty to me, and I had to rethink the way I wrote certain letters ('N' and 'H' for example). The game simply wouldn't accept my way of doing it.

Given the fact that this is the game's sole interactive element, it's all the more noticeable.

Ever-ending story

Another reason such shortcomings are noticeable - and the reason I've tried to be sparing with the specific examples above - is because this is an extremely short game/story. We're talking less than 10 minutes for a complete run-through here.

When it's finished, you can play through again. And given the strangeness and uniqueness of the premise, you may well want to. But a third time? A fourth? Probably not.

Of course, this raises the old argument of how much game is enough game, as well as the one about mobile pricing. At 69p / 99c, I'd argue that any developer should feel free to experiment with form and pacing - as long as the result is concise.

Irrespective of the size of I am a brave knight's package (ahem), it simply doesn't make a strong enough statement during its limited running time.

I am a brave knight

A unique and interesting attempt at an interactive story, I am a brave knight is short but not quite sharp enough to see its bright concept through
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.