The Daily Click

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Author:	Rick (AntiMatter Entertainment)
Added:	09/04/2008
Overall:
Average:	8.5/10

PRESENTATION
I'm new to the Legacy of Flan games, and as such didn't really know what to expect when I booted this game up. You're faced with a title screen with no options, just an auto-start of the game itself, which is unrestrictive but a help screen would have been nice. The reason for this is that the screen that follows is a briefing of sorts, but it doesn't really cover any of the fundamentals of gameplay or explain the layout of the battle screens. The presentation would probably have to be my biggest niggle with the game, because your first couple of battles are going to seem all over the place. What's nice though is that before each battle you're faced with a screen that shows a random flan in the game, complete with a cool little description. In case you haven't deduced it yet, 'flan' are the strange jelly creatures that make up your team, performing abilities to attack for you.

Once you're in the midst of a battle, the first thing you'll notice is that there's counters everywhere, most of them without an accompanying label. The abilities of your flan are sorted into large coloured buttons which look nice but can sometimes appear behind the on-screen stats. While the timed effect icons on the sides of the screen look nice and tidy, it would be nice if you could hold your mouse cursor over them to get an idea of what they are, because until you get used to them by watching what goes up when you use an ability, you'll have no idea which ability to use to keep the timed effects going. Keep in mind that every counter does in fact have a purpose, it's just that they're kind of messily arranged. Still, don't judge the game based on the presentation alone. On with the rest of the review!

GAMEPLAY
Ah, the gameplay. This is where this game really shines. Shroomlock has put a lot of work into making sure the battles kick major arse, and I haven't found a single bug to speak of. At first the battles are going to seem bland, because you start with the most basic of flan. You've got three flans that can attack, and a basic healer (which can also attack but healing is important in the early stages). The attacks you start off with are very basic, which betray the awesomeness of the battle engine. As soon as you get your first few flan drops though, you're in business. At random during the battles your flan will get options to change their type, based on how good the types of flan in your group are already. Declining a change adds to your experience pool, but accepting it changes the flan right then and there. Each flan has different abilities, and some of the attacking abilities in this game are just awesome. You've got everything from meteors and acid rain to summoning attacks and blasts of lasers.

Unless it's a straight-out attack, abilities create a timer next to an icon on-screen that keeps that effect active. For example, if you use the Summon UFO ability, it can appear at any time during the battle (at random) as long as the accompanying counter still has time left. This leads for some amazing battles with 20 different attacks blasting the enemy at once, and with the variety of flan there's a deep strategic element involved (especially against later bosses and enemies). You can have flans that reduce enemy stats while your attackers rip them a new one, and other flans to heal you or buff your own stats or attacks. Each one is different, as previously stated, and due to the changing nature of your party you will always be refining new strategies.

After battles you are awarded a 'flavour drop' every time. I'm not sure if these are dependant on your luck stat also (the flan drops you get are), but you can get some very interesting ones that further increase the strategy and overall ability to kick major arse. They range from basic stat boosts (minor strength, defense, speed) to helpful effects (shields, status effect prevention, HP regeneration boosts), and also damaging (acid rain, laser rain, sleet, roast). It's a bit annoying that there's no real description for them when you get them, but most of them are self explanatory. It would be nice to have a management system for the flavour drops to mix and match them before important battles, but the current system works. Just hold on to your better ones and don't experiment unless you can afford to.

The battles are where the game lies. Outside of them, you're pretty much just walking around waiting for your next battle, or completing self-confessed 'fetch quests' (which are annoying but worth doing due to the permanent bonuses you receive). And that's pretty much it. There's a radar to tell you vaguely which direction the next boss is in, and that's as far as it goes outside the battles. While the areas aren't too tricky to navigate (go behind trees if you can't see an opening), the lack of a map can leave you wandering a bit, at least until you find the static one in the Crash Site. The obligatory 'maze' level (Dead Flan's Pit) is a bit annoying but it's not too difficult.

GRAPHICS
The graphics in this game are crisp and finely rendered in 3D. In particular, the enemies look amazing (especially later on). The flans themselves look suitably alien and strange, all with their own little gimmick related to their name or the attacks they are affiliated with. They aren't as high quality as the enemies but they're still decent. Some of the levels, though, are a little ho-hum. The first two are nicely varied but after that it's more or less the same background objects blocking your way in each location. For example, in the Crystal Mountain the same crystal block is used repeatedly as an obstacle, and in the Crash Site the same lava-encrusted rock. There's a few nice terrain effects to help seperate the areas (sparkles in the Crystal Mountain, green rain in the Mushroom Swamp, overhead dead trees in Dead Flan's Pit), but after the first two areas where there's different types of trees, little shrubs and flower patches on the ground, etc. it's almost like the creator got a little lazy with the backgrounds later on. Also some of the background objects just weren't meant to be placed directly next to each other, for example the volcanic terrain type and the icicle terrain. A few 'transition' background graphics would have been nice. Still, you spend most of your time enjoying the battles so this isn't a major flaw by any means.

SOUND/MUSIC
The music in this game is a awesome, and doesn't wear thin because it changes with each location you go to. I'm not sure if they're the developer's original works but they suit the game and give everything a funky, fun sort of feeling. The battle music is the same throughout but it's a good piece, and it does at least change for the boss battles (into a pretty awesome tune complete with 'boss' guitar riffs). The sounds are also suitably varied, with only a few abilities using the same sample. There's nothing particularly amazing about the sound but each sample is well chosen and is appropriate for the action it is paired with. No problems here.

LASTABILITY
This game isn't exactly epic in terms of the ground you cover (but it is quite large), but there are more than enough flan types, different party strategies, and flavour drops to keep the experience suitably varied and enjoyable. Due to the fact that it's an RPG and you spend some time levelling up your abilities and waiting around for better flan types, this also increases the lastability score. You may not play through twice, but I think I will, just to see what I end up with the second time. The randomness of the game isn't a flaw but rather a virtue, as each player is guaranteed a unique experience in terms of the party they end up with and need to adapt a strategy for. Quite a clever way of filling out an otherwise straight-forward genre. I'm not sure if there's unlockable content yet, because I haven't quite finished the game. Apparently though there's a secret or two (I still haven't discovered that flan that shows up as a silhouette and a question mark in the pre-battle scenes, and I hear talk of a "secret, SECRET" boss), so I'm probably going to go through each area with a fine toothed comb until I find it. Apart from the diversity of the team you can have, there isn't a lot else to keep the game going... but it's enough.

OVERALL
I have to say that I was sceptical of this game at first, although I can't say why. Klik RPGs tend to lack the depth and real RPG-ness that I look for in the genre, and definately don't have a reputation for being complex, varied, or unique. However, this game took my low expectations, trampled all over them, burnt them with a rain of meteors and lasers, and turned them into anticipation for what came next. This game is an absolute winner in almost every respect. Even my 50 year old Dad is playing this game (I just had to show him, he's an RPG nut like me), and we both absolutely love it. While it may lack a few obvious features (like a proper tutorial, or the ability to store flan / flavour drops for later use), there's enough content in this game to make it a flagship of Klik RPG gaming, and it really does add enough unique touches to an established genre to make it unique in its own right. I challenge you to play this for a significant amount of time and not enjoy yourself. Absolutely amazing work, Shroomlock, your game is just excellent. I look forward to your next title in the series, assuming there is going to be one. One of the in-game characters hinted there might be...